The Day the Earth Stood Still: There are old movies worth watching

  This is the movie of an alien from another planet that has come to Earth to proclaim a message. What that message is, is unclear until the very end of the movie. But between the time of his arrival and his parting, he is able to see what mankind is all about (if you consider Washington D.C. a proper sampling of the Earth. It shows how U.S. Centered the writers were.


It is a message he wants to say to the entire world at the same time. Kind of weird and shows how centered he is on speaking to those in control and not the people themselves. That is impossible even in this world and even if you speak to the leaders, it is still the people that determine what happens. This can be through democracy (I mean a republic), Terrorism, joining an army (of any kind), etc. So it was a weird concept to me and showed the character of the alien that came to visit the world.


The true beauty of this movie is the writing. It is one of the most well written movies I have ever seen. It reminds me of many old plays and the acting I have had the privilege to be a part of. Timing is almost as important as the lines and the timing is perfect. The interaction between the characters is also of great importance and very well done. While this is not a movie that will find its way into my collection, it is well worth seeing if you want to see some good performances.


The editing is also very well done. This is one of the key parts that kept the movie going and interesting. It also gave you different views that made the world believable and real.


It is a story of a space alien exploring real life of people in Washington. He does this covertly and is able to see humans for what they really are. Not for what he is afraid they will become (although that part of the story is true too.)


The pacing for the most part is done will. The pacing is carried mostly by the dialog with bits of action here and there. The dialog reminds me so much of good books I've read and plays I have been part of or watched. It is beautifully done. There is suspenseful scenes that do slow down the movie but I think they are perfectly inserted and still keep the interest of the audience. So was it perfect pacing for the action freak side of me? No. But for the intellectual side of me I thought it was perfect.


The special effects are pretty basic. It is like the star trek effects where a object disappears after the camera stops filming, takes the object away, the starts filming again. The camera is on a tripod the entire time and does not movie. Very simple technique by our standards (even though it is still used today) but it works, and they did a perfect job with this technique. So even though the effects are basic, they are still well done. But don't worry, not many special effects were used.


The music itself is awesome for its era (done by Bernard Herrmann). Heck it's awesome for any movie. It hits the notes when necessary and has an emotional tone to it. Kind of a mysterious emotional tone. I really like it but I'm not inspired enough to buy the soundtrack (if it even exists.) And there are a lot of parts that do not have any music which was fine in my book.


And by the way, this is a black and white movie.


Replay value
For me it isn't very high. I'll watch it again on TV if I'm bored, but with as many movies as I need to review, I seriously doubt that will happen.


The key players
Director: Robert Wise
Writing: Edmund H. North (screenplay)
Harry Bates (story)
Music: Bernard Herrmann




Ratings
Yahoo users: B+
Yahoo critics: Not listed
IMDB user ratings: 8.1
Metacritics users: Not listed
Metacritics critics: Not listed
RT community:93%
Rotten Tomato: 94%
My score: 4.5


MPAA rating: G (I think it should have been PG due to some deaths.)


Running time: 92 minutes


Released: 1951


My recommendation.
This is a classic movie that has stood the test of time and will continue to stand the test of time. It has more of a classic theatrical feel to it then modern movies has, and this is not a bad thing at all. In the end movies should be about telling a story. This can be done through action or words. This movie chooses to do it by words and does a good job of it.


Other Science Fiction movie reviews
Serenity
Star Trek II
Men in Black