An Ominous Message
Before receiving this new DVD and Blu-ray for review, I hadn’t seen this critically acclaimed classic. The premise seemed almost boring at the outset, but within just a few minutes I was captivated by the excellent acting and direction the film had. For those who don’t know, the story begins with a UFO circling the Earth at 4,000 MPH. Scientists are unsure what this UFO could be. It suddenly decides to land in Washington, DC in a park. Citizens scatter and the military is called in and on hot standby to destroy the ship, a flying saucer, should the need arise. Finally, the door to the ship opens and a humanoid looking character steps out, Klaatu his name we eventually find out played by the great Michael Rennie. He comes in peace, but ends up being assaulted, put in a hospital from which he escapes. Klaatu spends a couple of days ‘undercover’ in DC in the company of Helen Benson, played by Patricia Neal and her son Bobby. Klaatu’s primary goal is to try to deliver a message to all of Earth’s citizens about the dangers of constant war and the current arms race that is being watched by others in the galaxy, and is seen as a threat. All the while, Klaatu must combat the short-sighted, scared ideals of the citizens of Earth that are so sure he’s a major threat.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about The Day The Earth Stood Still is how intense the film is for its ninety minute duration, while at the same time very little action occurs. The atmosphere and fear that Edmund North, Robert Wise, Harry Bates, and all of the crew and the cast were able to create through great acting and script is astounding. I honestly can’t say that many films have been as captivating as this one and yet be so genuine at the same time.
Special Edition DVD
On DVD, this classic film looked and sounded just fine, no major complaints. Obviously it’s an older film so don’t expect a fresh, blasting Dolby 5.1 surround sound or even color, but that shouldn’t stop you from appreciating this film and this special edition release.
That said, this two disc set is loaded with extra features:
-Sneak Peek at the upcoming 2008 film – You can view a nearly eight minute long sneak peek trailer of the new The Day The Earth Stood Still. It’s an interesting enough trailer, but it looks like the producers are going to take some liberties with the original tale – I doubt it’ll be as good as this original classic, but I’m intrigued nonetheless.
-Audio Commentary – Director Robert Wise and Nicholas Meyer (director of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn) team up for the first audio commentary.
-Audio Commentary – Film/music historians John Morgan, Steven Smith, William Stromberg, Nick Redman do the second audio commentary track.
-Isolated Music Score – Just as it says, this feature allows you to play the film but only have the score or soundtrack playing without any dialogue, etc.
-Making of – The making of feature runs about twenty-four minute and includes interviews from a variety of people. The widow of Producer Julian Blaustein speaks about his career and his work on this film, for example. Recordings of director Robert Wise are also included along with interview excerpts from his widow. There are also dozens of production stills shown during their interviews.
-The Mysterious, Melodious Theremin – Five and a half minute feature with Peter Pringle who talks about the strange instrument used for the main theme in the film, among other things. Peter gives us plenty of history on the unique instrument and insight to how it works.
-Main Title Live Performance by Peter Pringle – A two minute feature with Peter playing the main theme on his Theremin.
-Farewell To the Master: A Reading by Jamieson K. Price of the Original Harry Bates Short Story. Three readings are split into chapters, audio only.
-Fox Movietonews (1951) – A six and a half minute feature that shows lots of various vintage footage from the 1951 era and includes a typical heavy-toned narrator voice.
-Trailer – Trailers for the the original and upcoming films.
Disc 2
-Decoding Klaatu Barada Nikto: Science Fiction As A Metaphor – Several people were interviewed regarding the important phrase “Klaatu Barada Nikto” used in the film and its relation to events in the real world during that time. An author of a book about Robert Wise films as well as Curtis Peebles, an aerospace historian, and several others talk about the parallels of the film and the intense political/military events on Earth during the early 50s. This feature runs about sixteen minutes.
-A Brief History of Flying Saucers – This thirty-four minute feature includes interviews from various people about flying saucers. Cases like Roswell are talked about as well as the town of Roswell as seen from the eyes of residents.
-The Astounding Harry Bates – Various authors and people in the book industry talk about Harry’s life. Audio recordings of Harry Bates are played, too.
-Edmund North: The Man Who Made The Earth Stand Still – A look back at Edmund’s life and films including interviews with his daughters and director Lewis Gilbert. Scenes from his various films are shown. This feature runs about fifteen minutes.
-Race To Oblivion Documentary Short – Edmund North was passionate about nuclear disarmament and created this twenty-six minute piece about it. It’s basically a old documentary about the arms race and worst outcomes, etc.
Disc 2 also features several image galleries:
-Interactive Pressbook – A collection of print material, some with a zoom ability that allow you to zoom in on a vintage newspaper clipping or page from a magazine to read an article about the film. There are about twenty images total.
-Advertising Gallery – A collection of twelve movie posters, some foreign.
-Behind The Scenes Gallery – About fifty images from behind the scenes during filming.
-Portrait Gallery – Seventeen or so images of some of the main cast including Michael Rennie and Patrica Neal.
-Production Gallery – Twenty or so vintage images from production.
-Spaceship Construction Blueprints – Another twenty pictures of the original production notes and plans for the design and construction of Klaatu’s ship.
-Shooting Script – There must be over two hundred images here that include the full script for the film.
As you can see, there are a ton of extras on this release, more than enough to keep even the most ardent fan busy.
