The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) (U)
SCREENING AS PART OF FROM PAGE TO SCREEN FILM FESTIVAL
Tickets: Adult £6 | Cons & U25’s £3
Robert Wise had edited a bunch of Hollywood classics including Citizen Kane before turning his hand to his masterpiece, a grown-up McCarthy era parable by ex-army screenwriter North. Its siren message to 1950s USA – unless we Earthlings change course, we are headed for self-destruction – still resonates. When benign alien Klaatu (Michael Rennie) and his robot sidekick emerge from a flying saucer with their message of peace, they trigger mass hysteria and military attack. Bemused by the hostility of both government and people, Klaatu creates a show-stopping global event to galvanise the world. Resourceful working mom Helen (Patricia Neal) and her open-minded son Bobby (Billy Gray) – templates for Spielberg sci-fi classics – step up to avert disaster. Bernard Herrmann’s influential theramin-laced score launched a thousand spooky soundtracks.
Don’t miss The Future We Make exhibition tour for all ages with designer Caroline Greville-Morris after the screening.
DIRECTOR | Robert Wise
STARS | Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal and Hugh Marlowe
SOURCE TEXT | Farewell to the Master by Harry Bates
SCREENWRITER | Edmund H. North
Reviews
“This is a superbly crafted, landmark film which invested a much-derided and frequently ludicrous genre with a welcome degree of dignity and respectability”