The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
Saturday, 2:00 pm, Library of Congress Packard Campus
Director: Robert Wise
Writers: Edmund North, Harry Bates
Cinematographer: Leo Tover
Cast: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal
Running Time: 92 min
One of the most iconic science fiction films of the 1950s, The Day the Earth Stood Still begins with the startling image of a flying saucer landing in Washington, D.C. The U.S. military encircles the craft with soldiers, tanks, and heavy cannons. When the craft opens and a humanoid extraterrestrial walks out, his peace offering is mistaken for a weapon and he is fired upon. From the craft then emerges a giant indestructible robot with a disintegration ray.
Klaatu, the alien, has come to Earth with a critical message that mustn’t be told to just any one person or nation, but to representatives of all the peoples of the planet. When arranging such a meeting is argued to be impossible in the cold war political climate, he struggles to find a peaceful way to get the attention of world leaders.
Under the skilled direction of Robert Wise, The Day the Earth Stood Still is shot with a cinematic gravity ahead of its time. Though it was made 18 years before Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, the emergence of Klaatu from his craft feels as if Wise had studied that future moment in history. More than a space invader film or a message against atomic warfare (though it is the latter), the film triumphs in its exploration of outsiders and perception. It captures the fear that is harbored in and after times of war toward aliens, but more subtly it also addresses the arrogance that outsiders often bring when seeking to intervene in the conflicts of societies they deem to be more primitive.
When an emissary of the United States expresses doubt about getting representatives of all the nations to sit down together, Klaatu responds, “Apparently I’m not as cynical about Earth’s people as you are.” Steeped in idealism, the statement ultimately shows the alien’s ignorance of a world unlike his own, which has no wars. It is only through living amongst everyday people that he eventually learns how to realistically accomplish his mission.
