The Day the Earth Stood Still

The years between the late 1930s and late 1940s have been dubbed the “Golden Age of Science Fiction” in America, a historical period characterized by prolific literary output by top-level authors (Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, Robert A. Heinlein, Alfred E. van Vogt, etc.) who skillfully employed the genre to convey the worries, anxieties, and hopes of the time. Profoundly influenced by the Golden Age, movie studios quickly released an unprecedented number of sci-fi films in the 1950s, a good number of which are marked by what has been justly defined as “Cold War hysteria”.

Basically, moviegoers got plots driven by a climate of anxiety and alarmism, in which an outsider (usually an alien) tends to symbolize the Soviet enemy, or, more generally, the communist menace (“Red Scare”). Against this backdrop of paranoia and suspicion, “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is truly a rare breed. Drawing inspiration from Harry Bates’s short story “Farewell to the Master” (1940), the director levels a bitter criticism of mankind’s imprudent conduct by taking aim at governments around the world and their perennial tendency towards conflict.

From this point of view, the alien Klaatu represents the embodiment of level-headedness and a capacity for good judgement, which is why his visit manages to inject ethics and accountability in addition to serving as a warning that we must undertake a course of cooperation and solidarity or face our destruction.

Never having been one for dramatic showmanship, Wise treats his pet concepts with restrained elegance. Additionally, the intelligent dialogue, Leo Tover’s refined B/W cinematography, and Michael Rennie’s unforgettable performance as the extraterrestrial are elements that further enhance what is, for all intents and purposes, an essential classic in the history of cinema (it was no surprise that this film was among the first titles selected for preservation in the US Library of Congress National Film Registry).

A remake – that no one asked for or wanted – was released in 2008.