FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956)
Directed by Fred M. Wilcox
Starring: Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Warren Stephens, Jack Kelly, Robbie the Robot
On the distant planet of Altair IV, a group of scientests mysteriously disappears. Commander J.J. Adams (Neislen), captain of United Planets Cruiser C57-D (they couldn't come up with a catchier name?) and his interepid crew travel to this strange world in search of survivors. Before landing, they are contacted by Dr. Edward Morbius (Pidgeon), who urges them to turn back, and that if they land, he will not be held responsible for any misfortune that may befall the crew.
Once on the planet, they are met by Robbie the Robot (played brilliantly by himself) who doesn't seem all that threatening. Robbie takes them to meet Dr. Morbius and his daughter Altaira (Francis). When asked where the rest of Morbius' team has disappeard to, he tells them they were all killed by a mysterious monster. It all sounds logical, but there is an element of doubt about Morbius and his story, especially when the crew attempts to bring Morbius and Altaira back to Earth and they refuse.
I won't go into much more detail about the story, as there are plenty of cool little twists and turns, and I don't want to spoil it for you.
Now this is a film that I thought was going to reinforce the sci-fi stereotypes. You know: cheesy effects, lousy acting, terrible, preachy writing. I'm happy to report that most of these tropes are averted. Given that the film was made in the mid 1950's, one can forgive a certain amount of lack of sophistication in the visual effects department. They didn't have computers, after all. But the good thing is, they didn't need them. They had one of the best visual effects departments in the business at the time, headed by Joshua Meador, a Disney animator loaned out to MGM. As such, the effects definitely look animated, but they don't look fake. In fact, one of the better effects is shown when Dr. Morbius takes Neilsen and his crew below the surface of the planet to show them the work of the alien civilisation that once lived there (crap, I just gave too much away!).
As far as the acting goes, it's...okay. It can get very over-the-top at times, especially with Walter Pidgeon as the tortured Dr. Morbius. And I know fans of the Naked Gun series will probably balk as seeing Leslie Neilsen in a "straight role," but as a dramatic actor, he really does hold his own. Anne Francis is also good-not-great, though one look at her skimpy wardrobe, and you know she wasn't necessarily hired for her acting talent.
Finally, as most sci-fi films of the time were wont to do, Forbidden Planet gets rather preachy toward the end. However, instead of the usual left-wing spiel about togetherness or environmental threats or the evils of war - all valid points, by the way - we are given a speech by Neilsen, who tells us that we are all pretty much evil inside, which is why we have laws and religion; a rather right-wing point of view. And whether he is right or wrong about it is for the scholars to debate. All's I know is, it was really over-the-top and out of place. And when you're getting attacked by an ivisible monster, save your lectures for after you're safe (crap, I keep spoiling! Sorry!)
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Well, that wraps it up for Sci-Fi Month! For my next trick, I will perform an endurance test: a month of films that are at least three hours long. Is bigger always better? We'll find out, won't we!
