The Day the Earth Stood Still

In Robert Wise's 1951 sci-fi classic, based on the short story "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates, Michael Rennie delivers an unforgettable performance as Klaatu, a visitor from another world who openly lands his spacecraft in a park near Washington D.C. and is (surprise) taken prisoner by the military. Being somewhat more advanced than the Pentagon, however, Klaatu easily escapes from captivity and spends a brief period living among humans, before being discovered by the U.S. Army, whose "shoot first, ask questions later" philosophy is part and parcel of the reason for the alien's visit in the first place. Aided by Gort, his iconic robot traveling companion, Klaatu delivers a straightforward message to the Earth's heads of state: humanity will learn to live in peace or be obliterated before it can infect other worlds with its irresponsible behavior. The fifth release in Fox's "Studio Classics" line, The Day the Earth Stood Still has been fully restored and boasts a spiffy new digital transfer, as well as a nice stereo soundtrack that showcases Bernard Herrmann's eerie score. Extras include insightful audio commentary by Wise and director Nicholas Meyer, plus an excellent 80-minute 1995 documentary, featuring Wise, costar Patricia Neal (whose charming and funny comments are one of the highlights), director Joe Dante, and various sci-fi collectors. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)[DVD/Blu-ray Review—Jan. 6, 2009—Fox, 92 min., G, DVD: 2 discs, $19.98, Blu-ray: $39.99—Making its second appearance on DVD, and first on Blu-ray, 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still boasts a great transfer and Dolby Digital mono sound (standard DVD) or DTS-HD Master Audio sound (Blu-ray). DVD/Blu-ray extras include two audio commentaries (one by director Robert Wise and filmmaker Nicholas Meyer; the second by film and music historians John Morgan, Steven Smith, William Stromberg and Nick Redman), an isolated score track, “A Brief History of Flying Saucers” (34 min.), a 24-minute “making-of” featurette, a 17-minute “Decoding ‘Klaatu Barada Nikto': Science Fiction As a Metaphor” featurette, “Edmund North: The Man Who Made the Earth Stand Still” on the screenwriter (15 min.), “The Astounding Harry Bates” on the author (11 min.), a 1951 archival “Fox Movietonews” segment (7 min.), “The Mysterious, Melodious Theremin” on the soundtrack (6 min.), a main title live performance by Theremin maestro Peter Pringle (2 min.), the “Race to Oblivion” short, a live reading of Bates' original short story “Farewell to the Master” by voice actor Jamieson K. Price, an interactive pressbook, still galleries, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are an “Interactive Theremin: Create Your Own Score” feature and the “Gort Command!” interactive game. Bottom line: an excellent extras package for both the standard DVD and the Blu-ray versions of this classic that far outshines the recent remake.]