"The Day The Earth Stood Still" (1 Viewer)

[Lance Nichols]

Wonderful film, great story, always tried catching it while it was broadcast on TV (anyone remember Saterday Night at the Bijou on PBS Spokan?).

I remeber thinking to myself the first time I saw it... sounds familier. Then Years later I remembered the short story it was based on. Love them both.

It will be intresting to see what sort of elements they can bring to gether, and to hear Wise's take on it now, and then.

 

[RobertR]

The first time I ever saw the film was on NBC's "Saturday Night at the Movies". The scenes of Gort leaving the ship to retrieve Klaatu REALLY scared me, because of how the black and white photography and brilliantly eerie Bernard Hermann score were done.

 

[Bill Huelbig]

RobertR: If you're talking about the first NBC showing in February 1962, I was there too. And so were a lot of other people - that showing of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL was the highest-rated movie shown on network TV up to that time (with the exception of THE WIZARD OF OZ). I remember reading that fact in Variety a long time ago. A lot of faithful fans of that movie were created on that night 40 years ago.

--Bill

 

[John Koehler]

My God! I was there too! It was the Herrmann score that absorbed me into the movie. From that day on I began to pay attention to film score composers. My Dad had taken me to see Mysterious Island about that time. Again the music enthralled me, and again it was Herrmann.
TDTESS left an indelible impression on me, even on the 19" TV screen in 1962! It is gratifying to see so many others equally appreciative of a turly great film.

 

[RobertR]

Yeah Bill, that was it! Thanks for the details! I remember it felt like a big movie event on TV!

 

[Kevin Matthews]

Oh my god! Saturday night at the Bijou! That brings back such wonderful warm memories...I even remember the oldtimey Rag music they played over the Bijou titles before & after the movies.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Praise be to Zardoz! Guys, that's when I first saw the film, too! Had my next-door neighbors over that night. All week long we were looking forward to the film. It was the buzz in grade school (yep, I know I'm revealing my age here). What a revelation.

My sister made popcorn. And once Gort emerged from the ship after Klaatu had been shot, and that spacey Bernard Hermann music kicked into its "threatening" mode ... WOW! Everybody in my parents' living room jumped a bit.

Been a fan of the film ever since. Well, that's obvious.

 

[Bill Huelbig]

I've got a story about that night that demonstrates the power of a great movie like THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. I was 7 years old and was staying at my aunt and uncle's house. My cousin Annette was going out on a date with her boyfriend Eddie to see some new 1962 release at the movies. While Annette was getting dressed, Eddie watched THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL with me and really got into it. When Annette was ready, and the movie was about halfway finished, Eddie reluctantly left for the date.

About 5 minutes later they came back inside. Annette went to her room and angrily shut the door, and Eddie went back to THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. He must have gotten into trouble over that, but who can blame him? I defy anyone to watch the first half of that particular movie and not want to see how it all turns out.

--Bill

 

[Scott Strang]

This movie is truly addictive. There's something about it that I just can't get away from.

 

[Steve Christou]

Ok people here it is, a link to a site that is every 'Day The Earth Stood Still' fans wet dream....
Link Removed
I've been on it for over an hour, can't believe how much stuff this guy has found on this film, everything you can wish for bar the movie itself is on here, incredible!!

 

[Lance Nichols]

Yeap, loved watching Saturday Night at the Bijou. If me fuzzy memory serves me right they had on "Maverick" and "Have Gun, Will Travel" on before.

Back to TDTESS, God I want to see this film come out on Disc SO BAD.

 

[David Von Pein]

Steve C.: Thanx for that TDTESS link. Nice!



I didn't check out all of the FAQ's on that great site, but I'm wondering if this observation was in there (a bit of a blooper that I've noticed while watching the film on VHS).....



During the "Special radio/television broadcast" on the UFO's landing in Washington, the announcer dramatically exclaims, "Just a minute, ladies and gentlemen, I think something is happening!" Has anybody ever noticed that when the spaceship is next shown [right after the announcer has FINISHED this complete statement], NOTHING has in fact yet "happened" at all! The ramp of the ship has not even begun to emerge from the side of the ship until AFTER those words are spoken! A blooper indeed, wouldn't you agree?



I guess you begin to see these small things after viewing a picture for the 129th time!



How about another small "blooper", if you will.....

The scene when we first discover that Klaatu has escaped from Walter Reed Hospital....The security guard, not knowing at this point that the room he is about to enter will be Klaatu-less, bursts immediately into the room, as if he knew, before opening the door, that something was amiss!! (Check these bloopers out for yourself...I bet you'll agree with me.)



Minor mistakes, indeed. Not nearly enough to even slightly dampen the appeal of such a great motion picture! TDTESS will forever remain a landmark in sci-fi flicks!



I loved Billy Gray in this film too. He was very natural, I thought, as Miss Neal's son. He also had one of the best lines (that made me laugh quite hard): "You don't seem to know much about anything, do you Mr. Carpenter?"



That DVD better be coming soon (Gort willing!). 5.1 mix would be welcome too!



Hopefully, the DVD will contain some of the great stills included on the site Steve (above) mentioned. Looks like plenty of material is available for an extensive "photo gallery" on the DVD.



Here it is again.......

Link Removed

 

[Johnny Angell]

During the "Special radio/television broadcast" on the UFO's landing in Washington, the announcer dramatically exclaims, "Just a minute, ladies and gentlemen, I think something is happening!" Has anybody ever noticed that when the spaceship is next shown [right after the announcer has FINISHED this complete statement], NOTHING has in fact yet "happened" at all! The ramp of the ship has not even begun to emerge from the side of the ship until AFTER those words are spoken! A blooper indeed, wouldn't you agree?

I think it is a very common editing technique where there is a reference in something happening off camera, cut to that event, and go back in time a few seconds in order to show the entire event.

 

[Mattias_ka]

I agree with you John Koehler they cannot outdue that one!!
The Signature Edition laserdisc boxset (only 2500 made with a autographed by Wise) is sooo cool!
The CD soundtrack is also a 24K release!
And you also get a PCM soundtrack instead of the probably DD soundtrack the dvd will have.
I think I will watch it later this week again.
The new dvd? No, the ld is all I wanted!
And NO THANKS to a new DD 5.1 remix!
Keep the movie(s) as true to the original as possible!

 

[Douglas R]

The Day the Earth Stood Still must be coming to Region 1 soon. The UK magazine "Ultimate DVD" lists it for release on June 10 in the UK. Fox USA releases always come out well before the UK version.

 

[David Von Pein]

Can someone explain away this apparent error in TDTESS ......... Everything on Earth stops running from Noon to 12:30PM (with the exception of "hospitals, planes in flight, that sort of thing").
Why then DOESN'T Patricia Neal's watch stop running during said thirty-minute time frame?
Her watch, I suspect, needs to keep working so it can "fit the script", and illustrate the exactness of the precise half-hour "Earth Stops" period. But everything else stops, even automobiles.....Why wouldn't her watch stop as well??
Oh, The Humanities! WHO can explain this to a beleaguered nation?!
Did Gort act alone in keeping Pat's watch among the working Timex's on that fateful day?? Or was it a conspiracy? Only Oswald [and Klaatu] know for sure!!

 

[Parker Clack]

Like Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, The Day The Earth Stood Still is a piece of work that others have tried to copy into their own works. As is true of all classics it has stood the test of time and is still as great today as it was when it first aired. Can you believe that almost 40 years have gone by since it first aired on TV?

Personally the part that got me was the beam that was shot out of Gort's "eye". The sound effects used in this movie were way ahead of their time.

Knowing Peter Staddon and the work that he had done with the DVDs that Fox releases this is going to be one killer of a disc. It will be well worth any wait.

Parker

 

[Francois Caron]

David, maybe her watch kept working because it's a purely mechanical device requiring no electricity whatsoever to function properly. Vehicle engines still need an electrical spark to fire off the cylinders, and that was most likely neutralized by Klaatu.
However, it doesn't explain the boat on the Thames...

 

[Jeff Koch]

Parker,
Love that eye of Gort as well! Amazingly enough, some of the sound effects used when Gort fires his beam are actually bullet and ricochet sound effects played in reverse. Talk about an incredibly creative sound department! Overlay that on top of musical effects called "rays" created by Bernard Herrmann and you have one heck of a soundtrack. This is the first film where I really took notice of film music and I've been a Bernard Herrmann fan ever since. Definitely in my top ten favorites of all time.
Jeff

 

[John Tillman]

Two TV viewings had a major impact on me. This movie, and one of the Thriller series where a women turns into a monster when she removed her wig. Wigged me out .
I knew The Day The Earth Stood Still was a classic. Some things in life happen only once, it was my first Sci-Fi memory that never went away.