OK film fans, posting late on a Saturday night and since Sunday is Valentine's Day we'll leave the mushy stuff until then. For tonight I still have something for the lover's out there... the lovers of all things nerdy. Now, I am not a nerd per se, I'm more on the cusp of nerdiness. I like to read (I come from a whole family of readers where as a kid going to the big public library was a treat second only to Dairy Queen), I like Jazz (preferably before 1972), I am fascinated by all things scientific and least we forget, I like black and white films (don't worry, we'll get to some of them) and those with subtitles (more reading!). So for tonight here's a romantic story hidden in a film you may not be aware of but, if you like a little Shakespeare (no, I'm that nerdy) then you will recognize the narrative.
Forbidden Planet has been one of my favorite films since I first saw it in the 7th grade. You horror buffs may recognize it as one of the films the kids are watching on TV in the original Halloween. It's by far my favorite of the original spaceship-ray gun-alien world films made in the 50s, standing the test of time and still looking good over fifty years later. That's a bold statement, but when you see it you'll understand. This forefather of the genre was the basis not only for TV shows like Star Trek but also for films like Star Wars and, sadly, Avatar.
Forbidden Planet raised the bar on films which at the time were considered basically filler for Saturday Matinee's and Drive-Ins. MGM took what was popular with audiences at the time and gave it a full make over, using not only the top of line special effects of the day but competent writers and quality actors as well. It may not have been an "A" list film, but the cast and crew treated it with a respect that helped it transcend others in its genre, including classics like The Day the Earth Stood Still (the original is still a big favorite of mine as well) and The Thing from Another World.
The plot is a combination of the basic interpretation of Freud's theory of the Id, the primal brute within all of us no matter how evolved our "civilization" becomes, and Shakespeare's The Tempest. Capt. Adams (Leslie Nielsen, yes this one) lands the United Planets star cruiser C-57D (also used in several Twilight Zone episodes) on planet Altair 4. This is easily the most beautiful spaceship landing ever filmed and sets the tone for the new level of visual and sound effects unveiled to the audiences of 1956. They are met upon arrival by Robby the Robot, in his first appearance, and ushered to meet Dr. Edward Morbius (the late great Walter Pidgeon, who also starred in another favorite of mine, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) and his daughter Alta (Anne Francis). Dr. Morbius and his daughter are the only survivors of the scientific mission to explore Altair 4, the rest of the crew decimated by a mysterious malevolent force some twenty years earlier. But this belated rescue mission quickly turns into a nightmare of destruction and murder.
At the center of the mystery is the imperious Dr. Morbius, who desires nothing more than to be left alone on the planet with the suspiciously advanced robot he has created and his beautiful, brilliant and naive daughter. Having never seen another human beyond her father, Alta soon finds herself the center of attention from "eighteen competitively selected super-fit physical specimens with an average age of 24.6." Her rapid maturity in light of the arrival of possible suitors acts as the catalyst for subconscious energies harnessed by the former inhabitants of the planet, the phenomenally advanced Krell (now a very advanced and expensive audio company), a super-race whose miles-wide cavernous machines, still maintaining itself for action, may have annihilated them thousands of centuries ago.
Forbidden Planet was one of 2 nominees for Best Effects, losing to The Ten Commandments (which as an Easter tradition I watched every year on TV for about twenty years straight). It used extensive matte paintings, yesteryear's green screens, (a-la Avatar) to achieve beautiful alien landscapes and spectacular Krell technologies, all filmed in gorgeous CinemaScope. In addition to spectacular special effects it was also the first film to use an all electronic music score, made even more unique since a theramin was not used, a common instrument for electronic sounds in most sci-fi films of the day.
There isn't a thing about this classic sci-fi prototype I don't love. Every time I sit down to watch it I feel like I'm 12 years old again, eating air popped popcorn, drinking a Shasta soda and waiting for my mom to tell me to stop wasting a beautiful day and go outside. Of course, she was right, but every now and then when I feel like wasting some time, even on a gorgeous day, I take out my well used DVD and find myself rocketing back in time to see a long lost future.
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