"The Day The Earth Stood Still

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The Day The Earth Stood Still is an interesting film and certainly deserving of its cult status. While some of it's elements date it, seen as a microcosm of it's time, it stands up very well indeed. The opening sequences where we see and hear radio announcers spreading the news of the progress of the oncoming space ship are almost documentary in feel, albeit rather embarrassingly stereotypical in places.

There is little to criticise in the direction, lighting, pace or editing. The whole thing moves at a steady and relentless pace, events are always meeting expectations and there isn't a foot of wasted film anywhere.
The film is full of symbolism, the most obvious and, maybe heavy-handed, being the religious parallels. Someone comes along preaching peace and understanding, performs some miracles, goes beyond self-interest, puts his life on the line to save the world and gets betrayed and executed for his trouble. Then he gets resurrected, preaches his message once more, and then disappears in the general direction of upwards. Reminds me of a character in another very similar story. He was a Carpenter too.

The film is very film-noir in places. The creative use of light and shade emphasises the feeling that something is waiting in the shadows. In other places there's a definite influence of German expressionism.

The scene in the ship where Gort is positioned almost on top of the camera while communicating with his home planet, while the Helen Benson character is seen in forced perspective in the background is a good example.

This again emphasises the enormous power represented by Gort, and how mankind is dwarfed by comparison.
There are lots of little directorial touches which make the film something special, some of them quite subtle and easily missed. Take Tom's betrayal of Klaatu for example. He makes a lot of it making him the "biggest man in the country" and how he'll be able to "write his own ticket". For this he's willing to risk the life of someone who has not harmed anyone, and maybe even contribute to the destruction of the planet. He makes his call, only to be thanked insincerely and be peremptorily cut off by a General who doesn't even ask who he is.

The name of the game is paranoia; it spills out of every corner. We have the obvious stuff – the people in the rooming house talk incessantly of plots and cover-ups – the radio is full of exaggeration and distortion – the military are keen to clamp down on anything and everyone. Even the radio interviewer who talks to Klaatu at the spaceship is only willing to listen to trite comments or talk of fear – he cuts Klaatu off in mid-sentence when it becomes obvious he's got something "serious" to say. In addition to the obvious signs of paranoia, there are lots of little directorial and symbolic touches which you only really notice on a repeat viewing, such as when the military hatches one of it's plots literally behind Gort's back.

So, if this were real life, would we become co-operative, trusting and join the great galactic empire in peace, love and mutual understanding? Not a chance! Klaatu understandably beats a retreat as soon as he can fulfil his contract and deliver the message. After all, he's been shot, wounded, locked up, treated with constant suspicion, heard himself described as an animal who should be hunted down, had his ship and companion tampered with, shot again - this time in the back - and effectively killed. Despite the resurrection, he's still going away with a reduced life expectancy. You can imagine what kind of report we're going get, back in Klaatu-land. Get the asbestos suits out, folks. It's being-reduced-to-a-burned-out-cinder time!