The Day the Earth Stood Still [VHS]

The Day the Earth Stood Still [VHS]
by Robert Wise

The Day the Earth Stood Still [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: Billy Gray, Hugh Marlowe, Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Sam Jaffe
Director: Robert Wise
Cinematographer: Leo Tover
Editor: William Reynolds
Producer: Julian Blaustein
Writer: Edmund H. North
Writer: Harry Bates
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog; French (Original Language); Hindi (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 92 minutes
Release Date: 1998-06-30
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Studio: 20th Century Fox

VHS Movie Reviews of The Day the Earth Stood Still [VHS]

Movie Review: FAST DELIVERY AND GREAT PRODUCT!!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars

I ordered this movie as a Christmas present for my dad. I'm amazed at how quickly I received the product as well as the product's great quality!!! My dad was like a little kid on Christmas...HE LOVED IT!!!!

Movie Review: A Robert Wise Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars

Robert Wise has got to be the most successful underappreciated directors in movie history. His resume includes: WEST SIDE STORY, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, THE SAND PEBBLES, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE and, from the early 1950's THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Now I have seen the remake. Save your time and money. As is all too often the case Hollywood tried to update something and came up with an albsolute turd. Some things can't be remade because they are shaped by the time in which the original was made. Such is the case of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Roughly based on Jerome Bates' story "Farewell to the Master", the Earth is stirred by the arrival of Klaatu (Michael Rennie) and his giant robot Gort (Lock Martin). Firmly fixed in the hysteria and fixation on nuclear war, TDESS is a cautionary tale about how would other species beyond the earth look at a hostile, violent human race bringing such baggage with them into the cosmos. Terrific performances by Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe as a scientist meant to represent Albert Einstein and Billy Gray. Incredible score by Bernard Hermann. Extras includes a long documentary about the making of this sci-fi classic. Thank God this was done at a time when Wise was still around.

Movie Review: Don't let the atrocious remake fool you. This is an outstanding movie.
Summary: 5 Stars

I only recently started posting reviews on Amazon which is why this one is so late...

When I first saw the trailer for the recent remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, I knew vaguely about the plot. I generally make every effort to see the original or read the book before I see a remake or adaptation. So, before the remake came out I sat down at my PC and pulled up Netflix. I was truly blown away by this movie. The acting is superb, the story is amazing and the pacing perfectly builds tension. I never thought a movie from the 1950's would have me on the edge of my seat but this one did.

By todays standards yes the special effects are of course extremely dated, but for that time they were absolutely cutting edge and really considering when this was made they are actually quite well done. No strings on the spaceships no obvious use of miniatures. They used forced perspective to make Gort look 12 ft tall. Really ahead of their time.

My main point is everything in this movie is done well, and I can see why this is considered a masterpiece of Science Fiction.

The 2008 remake? not so much.

Movie Review: THIS MOVIE IS A CLASS ACT...Good story line
Summary: 5 Stars

A SPACE SHIP LANDS IN WASHINGTON AND TROOPS ARE SENT TO GUARD THE PREMISES...
ATTEMPTS ARE MADE TO GET IN the ship TO NO AVAIL...
when the spacecraft finally opens Klaatu a immisary sent by
the interplanetary commission greets the people outside the ship and
and reaches in his vest to get a gift for earth and he is
shot by a nervous soldier...Gort the Robot starts to retaliate
and looks as though he could destroy the whole city with the rays
emitting from the slowly opening eye shield....the concerned Klaatu
issues Gort a command and the robots face shield closes..Klaatu is
taken by the military to a facility....

Klaatu tells the general why he has come and needs to speak to world leaders
but is still held by the military...impatient with progress he slips away
and the news media causes panic because the spaceman is on the loose...

This movie is a classic and more concerned with a moral statement than
special effects...and if you are looking
for a noisy, bloody sci fi with continious action
this is not for you..but enough suspense for those
that like a well done story...this movie can be enojoyed
by any age...

Micael Rennie(KLaatu) and Patricia Neal are some
of the classiest actors of their day and far more interesting
than actors today.....

Movie Review: "Klaatu Barada Nicto" means "I love you"
Summary: 5 Stars

The Shakespearean actor Michael Rennie lamented that he would be forever remembered for a few words of gobbledygook ("Gort---Barenga!") instead of "What a piece of work is man!" but the beautiful thing about this ageless 1951 classic is that it IS Hamlet's Soliliquy. Rennie plays Klaatu, an interstellar ambassador who lands in Washington DC to bring peace to the planet Earth. Unfortunately, he's immediately shot by a soldier with an itchy trigger finger. After recovering, he decides to go incognito to observe human society.

He quickly makes the acquaintance of Patricia Neal, a single mother boarding in his rooming house. She begins to think there's something unusual about "Mr. Carpenter," but Klaatu is never frightening. Quite to the contrary. He is a soft-spoken, pacific, and gentlemanly sort who, though occasionally dismayed by human nature, recognizes it for what it is---evolving.

Even after being shot, killed, and regenerated by his android assistant Gort (played in a rubber suit by the very tall doorman of Grauman's Chinese Theatre), Klaatu asks for nothing more than an opportunity to address Earth's combined leadership. The scientific community applauds his request, but the military-industrial complex shudders. Things reach a climax when Klaatu uses the immense power of his culture to de-energize all Earth machines for one hour. The Earth stands still. Faced with such awesome power, humanity listens to this quiet, articulate, reasonable space visitor.

This is a thoughtful and intelligent film, short on effects but long on story, a tale of hope and of the ultimate redemption of the human spirit. It's antiwar message strikes just the right balance. The choice is ours.

Given it's era, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL could have degenerated into a paranoid red-baiting fantasy, but it doesn't. The anxiety of the time is present and destructive, but is rendered understandable. The threat of nuclear annihilation is very real, and is the one thing really to be feared. At this time, the U.S. was destroying atolls in nuclear tests, Russia had just developed the bomb, and the hydrogen bomb was in final development.

The early Cold War has given us a parable of tolerance, a critique of xenophobia, one that addresses what's best in human nature while never ignoring what is worst.

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Summary of The Day the Earth Stood Still [VHS]

A hallmark of the science fiction genre as well as a wry commentary on the political climate of the 1950s, The Day the Earth Stood Still is a sci-fi movie less concerned with special effects than with a social parable. A spacecraft lands in Washington, D.C., carrying a humanoid messenger from another world (Michael Rennie) imparting a warning to the people of Earth to cease their violent behavior. But panic ensues as the messenger lands and is shot by a nervous soldier. His large robot companion destroys the Capitol as the messenger escapes the confines of the hospital. He moves in with a family as a boarder and blends into society to observe the full range of the human experience. Director Robert Wise (West Side Story) not only provides one of the most recognizable icons of the science fiction world in his depiction of the massive robot loyal to his master, but he avoids the obvious camp elements of the story to create a quiet and observant story highlighting both the good and the bad in human nature. --Robert Lane

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