Review of Day The Earth Stood Still, The (Special Edition)

Introduction

The Day The Earth Stood Still is a science fiction film from the 1950s. Although you might think you`ve never heard of it, it`s likely that you have seen it many times on television - it`s been on a lot.

The plot is fairly standard fare - alien lands on Earth, alien comes in peace, humans shoot at alien, alien is injured, alien escapes, humans try to capture alien, humans engineer their own downfall, etc etc. It seems simple, but many are comparing parts of this film to the current situation with George Bush and Iraq, and events of September 11th.

I`ll refrain from passing comment on such comparisons.

Video

A black and white transfer in the academy ratio (that`s 4:3 or 1.33:1 to you and me). It`s been cleaned up a few times over the years, and is now looking better than ever. It still looks like its 50 years old, but at least someone`s looked after it in those 50 years.

I could go on all day about the dated 1950s effects, designs etc. but I`ll spare you that - you`ll know what it looks like as you`ll have seen something like it.

Audio

A choice of DD2.0 mono soundtracks - English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Apart from the dubbing they are pretty identical - 50 years old but reasonably looked after. It all comes across clean and clear, which at times is a shame as some of the dialogue is horrendous and cringeworthy! And some of the sound effects are worthy of a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Features

The extras on this disc include a commentary with Robert Wise and Nicholas Myer which is worth listening to, some 1950s newsreel footage and a feature on the restoration of the film. This shows clips before and after they were cleaned up.

We do miss some extras from the R1 disc though, which is an annoying habit that studios can`t kick even in 2003. We miss a documentary, script and galleries.

Conclusion

Some people view this film as a classic, but I thought it was a tired and dated piece of science fiction. I remember watching it many years ago and I was quite impressed by it back then, but now I`m older it just seems slow and painful to watch, with tedious narrative and moralising, and a number of big holes in the plot which many people gloss over - they irritated me.

If you`re interested in old science fiction you might want to watch it just one more time but I can`t see too many people wanting to buy it. It`s a cult hit, but cult isn`t always good.