ElMaruecan82
Now here's sci-fi movie that meant -and still means- business, hooking any audience of any time and any place from the very start. The eerie (and then-unprecedented) Theremin sounds announce an ominous arrival, the title pops up on the screen making our hearts standing still as well, then a fast-paced editing shows well-known commentators (apparently real-life broadcast journalists) telling the world that the UFO is coming and this time, it's not a radio-hoax. Every shot lasts less than ten seconds but make the first important point of the film: the whole world is concerned, from Calcutta to Paris. And that means the viewers, too.Of course flying saucers, international reaction shots, Theremin sounds are all part of the sci-fi iconography but Robert Wise's pioneering film never exploits this material in a way that undermines the credibility of the story, it's a straight-to-the point directing that doesn't leave even a modern audience the time to activate the wiseass radar. The documentary-like style should have at least earned the film an Oscar nomination, because Wise found the proper tone to tell the story, which is to make it look 'normal' with a few bits of abnormality to increase the tension. That's the stuff suspension of disbelief is made of.Take the arrival for instance, which has become one of the most iconic moments of science-fiction. One could easily laugh at the sight of the astronaut coming off the saucer, waving his hand and saying that he comes in peace, but as if he anticipated it, the aptly named Wise made Klaatu's salute immediately followed by the gift-opening and the firing from a nervous National Guard soldier. That moment is dramatic because we stop seeing the alien as a "creature in space suit" but as an unfortunate object of misunderstanding before the more intimidating Gort appears, prompting the civilians to run away before his visor takes care of the soldiers' guns and shows them who's the boss.It all takes place in five minutes but these five minutes say in actions what will be explicitly stated in humanitarian (not anti-military) words, this is a friendly visit but not with friendly visitors. It might sound odd but there's an element of danger that reminded me of "Dog Day Afternoon": we knew Al Pacino's character wouldn't kill the hostages so the risk-factor was carried by John Cazale, more unstable and trigger-happy. Gort is under the control of Klaatu, played by the amiable and refined Michael Rennie but we know his good behavior all depends on the way Klaatu is treated. In that "good cop/bad cop" pairing, you have the timeless and universal spirit of their mission.And this is the mark of the great sci-fi movies, to have kept their resonance across the years, as if the original novel of Howard Banes, written before World War 2, was less driven by a desire to thrill the readers with alien stories but had an intuitive notion of how the world would evolve... and history proved him right. "The Day the Earth Stood Still" is powerfully metaphorical in the sense that it presents the universe as a macrocosm of Earth: an interplanetary organization under the commandment of a central agency and with the use of destructive robots as a police force. They achieved peace at the expenses of sovereignty but was it such a big price to pay? Today, there's no powerful nation in the world that would accept to sacrifice sovereignty, maybe because it threatens identities, or there's something scarily irrevocable about it, maybe it's against human nature but all utopia put aside, one of the main delights served by the film is to see the Earth treated like an axis of evil or a potential one. Yet the political commentary is fair in its judgment, and doesn't to target or glorify one nation (a remarkable achievement in the McCarthyism context). Klaatu informs a White House representative that he needs to send the message to the entire world and he can do it with the help of the most powerful country's leader. In fact, that's the only reason they landed in Washington DC, subverting the common sci-fi trope of American being the the "chosen country" and mentioning in the process that even in the UN, not every country is represented.It is for marks of subtlety like this that the nuanced screenplay should have been nominated along with the documentary-like editing and the black-and-white photography, so many achievements that turned "The Day" into a movie powerful enough it didn't need any emotional amplification to sustain it... apart from the score, another missed Oscar contender. Bernard Herrmann composed a piece of music that admirably soars with the film's main theme and foreshadows the use of synthetized music, bizarre and eerie sounds that takes us back to modern ages yet remind us of our primitive instincts, incarnating the essence of science fiction, a genre that confronts science to humanity. And with the intermediary of the Einstein-like scientist played by Sam Jaffe, it's only fitting that Klaatu confronts humanity through scientists. Remember what Einstein said about the infinity of the universe and human's stupidity?The film is even more brilliant than whatever its misleading posters suggest, it's more than a giant robot carrying a damsel in distress, on the contrary, the talented Patricia Neal is the one who controls the robot, with one of the immortal lines of cinema: "Klaatu Barada Nikto", whatever that means. And don't believe either that the film is as good as the "landmark" of the same year: "The Thing of Another World", there's a reason why Robert Wise's film is in AFI's Top 10 Sci-fi classics and not Christian Nyby's. Both try to convey the same atmosphere of fear and suspicion in the Atomic age, but their reaches are incomparable. You might laugh at "The Thing" but "The Day" hasn't lost one ounce of relevance, and it's certainly no laughing matter.
brucehogman
The script gives more emphasis to the story and the characters than the action.
The robot's abilities are underplayed and yet remarks hint at great power.
Direction is understated in general. I saw very effective acting skills by several in the cast. Billy Gray is most effective and understated. He provides the "glue" to move along communication. You must, absolutely, follow the speech by each person, as the spoken word is vital to understanding the plot.
I compare this film very favorably against the present films that appear shallow by comparison. The director, and script author perhaps, exploit first reaction by extras and then emphasizes reactions through more extras. This adds depth to the thoughts and emotions. The plot is multidimensional, hardly shallow.
They used the technology of that time effectively.
reb-warrior
Just saw this recently at Netflix. I thought it was funny that Klaatu, an alien, looked exactly like humans. That aside, the story and message were really good, and in some ways relevant to today: We need to stop being so violent and warlike before we destroy ourselves and/or other planets and possible other lifeforms that may be out there as we continue to make further advances into space. Also the idea of being afraid of the unknown. Klaatu was polite, non-violent, and direct in his quest reach a message to all nations. But the military saw him as a threat and did not want to listen. They wanted to control him and then kill him. A lot of this made me think of how some people today are xenophobic and are afraid of other cultures. Instead of getting to know one another, it's easier to be paranoid and violent.Some miscellaneous stuff: I wonder if Gort was an influence for Cylons in the Battlestar Galactica 1970's version? Ha. If you watch you'll see what I mean. The idea we've seen in Star Trek about there being an organized Alien presence with rules, laws, and a system, etc. is also in this movie. I love the way the ship seemed seamless when it closed.Anyway, it sort of seemed like a satire using science fiction to get a message across. Good job.
