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starring Michael Rennie as "Klaatu", with Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlow, Billy Gray and Lock Martin. Directed by Robert Wise, "The Day The Earth Stood Still" is one of the best SF films to come out of the fifties in terms of it's intelligent plotting, top notch acting and tight direction. Based on a short story, "Farewell To The Master" by Harry Bates, it encapsuates the time period perfectly and manages to be both an SF thriller and a brilliant study of paranoic behavour.

The population of Washington DC are out sunning themselves in the park, when the shadow of a Flying Saucer moves over the area. The saucer descends and is surrounded by troops and a curious crowd. A ramp extends from the side of the craft, a door slides open and a humanoid figure emerges from the door. There is much panicky gun pointing from the military as the visitor extends his arm in a gesture of peace and, speaking in perfect English says, "We have come to visit you in peace, and with goodwill". Descending the ramp he extends a device we later learn is a gift for the President, and is gunned down for his trouble.     As he writhes in agony on the floor, an enormous silver robot emerges to stand at the top of the ramp, then walks purposefully down to the injured alien. The robot's helmet visor opens and a horizontal beam of light inside begins to pulsate. Without warning, a thin laser beam rapidly focuses on the soldier's rifles which they are forced to drop as the weapons begin to glow and melt. The beam continues to focus on, and melt, gun carriages and tanks. The alien manages to shout out an order to the robot who then stands motionless.        Later, in hospital, it transpires that the visitor is Klaatu, a representative of an alien planetary federation. He has a message of utmost importance, concerning the fate of the entire world but will only deliver it to all nations simultaneously. He tries to arrange a meeting with the leaders of the world, but they cannot even agree on a meeting place, letting pettiness, pride and self-interest stand in the way. "I'm impatient with stupidity." he says to the Government mediator," My people have learned to live without it". Escaping from the hospital and assuming a false identity, he takes up residence in a rooming house, befriending Bobby, the young son of recently widowed Helen Benson. There are several other guests in the rooming house, and Klaatu takes the opportunity to observe them but is unimpressed with the paranoia and distrust which both they, and the radio reports they listen to, exhibit.

Spending an afternoon with Bobby, Klaatu takes him to see the spaceship and they later go to see Professor Bernhardt, an influential scientist who might be able to help Klaatu's mission. He is out but, as a calling card, Klaatu uses a blackboard to provide the answer to a problem in celestial mechanics which the professor has been working on. Fearing his visitor might be a spy, Bernhardt sends the FBI to pick him up but Klaatu reveals who he is and the terrible truth behind his mission.     He represents an integalactic community who are concerned that the Earth is developing weapons and technology which could be a threat to the rest of the galaxy. He is there to warn the governments of Earth that, unless they adopt a policy of peaceful co-existence, they are likely to be destroyed by an Intergalactic Police Force made up of robots like Gort, the one who still stands guard outside the saucer. As a compromise to Klaatu's insistence of an international meeting, Bernhardt agrees to arrange a meeting with as many scientific representatives as possible so that they can hear the grave danger which the Earth is in. The scientific community will then help persuade their respective governments but even they will require some proof.     Klaatu says he will arrange something and leaves. Later that evening he goes back to where he parked the saucer and signals the inert Gort using a flashlight. Gort knocks out his two guards, giving Klaatu time to re-enter the saucer and we see the interior of the vehicle for the first time. The design is spartan, with a single, enclosed room containing a central seat and control desk covered with a transparent bubble.    The wall console has a comprehensive set of hand-activated light controls which Klaatu uses to illuminate a large circular communications screen. As the screen comes to life and he begins a report to his home planet in his own language, the scene fades.

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