Ill-Informed Gadfly

I can see how remaking this one was irresistible. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” works wonders with the special effects and cinematic sleight of hand available in 1951, and it remains both charming and compelling. Despite its obvious political allegory, it’s an effects-driven picture, and, for better or worse, moviemakers have come a long way in their ability to represent alien invasions. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” gets its kick from the flying saucer that lands on the ballfields adjacent to the National Mall, and from the 8-foot-tall robot, Gort, that emerges from the UFO and vaporizes guns and tanks with a beam of light from its head. This is cool stuff, and sure, you can see the seams, but unless you’re pitiably literal-minded it’s still visually persuasive.

It’s also great at capturing ’50s paranoia. After the UFO lands, it’s surrounded by tense, trigger-happy soldiers, and when a humanoid creature steps out, announcing that his mission is peaceful, he gets a gunshot wound for his trouble. The alien, Klaatu (an elegant Michael Rennie), is badgered and persecuted during his stint on earth, arousing little more than suspicion and incredulity from a smug and arrogant U.S. government. Unsuccessful in his effort to address the world’s population through official channels, he goes rogue, trying to gather scientists and intellectuals to disseminate his stark message: Earthlings must embrace peace or face extermination. The anti-nuclear message is firm if a bit simplistic; the filmmakers don’t seem to have grasped the implications of the alternative they propose. As Nicholas Meyer, who had nothing to do with the film, points out in his commentary with director Robert Wise, the utopia Klaatu describes, with invincible Gort-like robots enforcing the peace, is disturbing and Orwellian.

The movie deserves credit, though, for having more depth than perhaps Wise intended: He also confesses in the commentary that he did not realize during the shoot that Klaatu was a Christ figure. Let’s see: Klaatu takes the name “Mr. Carpenter” when he’s undercover and is persecuted and ultimately killed by the government for his message of peace. Then he’s resurrected. I have to wonder whether Wise is or was a bit thick-headed! Nonetheless, he’s a good director. He presents the fantastical elements matter-of-factly, with a no-frills shooting style punctuated by occasional elegant, atmospheric lighting. And Wise, who worked as an editor before becoming a director, does fantastic work integrating second-unit and stock footage. It’s amazing that the main cast and crew never did any work on location in Washington, because there’s so much great D.C. footage. Wise also manages to suggest the global reach of Klaatu’s power, especially during the sequence that gives the movie its title, when he shuts off electricity to the entire world.

The lanky, dark-haired Rennie plays Klaatu with impressive calm and confidence, and Patricia Neal is at her luminous best as the war widow whose young son takes a shine to the alien. The middle third of the movie, which unfolds largely from the boy’s perspective, has a lot of flab. He’s a stock movie child, cutesy and vanilla. You feel like Wise is biding his time for the next big set piece. How little things change in movieland. But the time spent with Neal pays off at the climax, when she delivers one of the great gibberish lines of all time: “Klaatu barada nikto!” The words are remembered not only because of Neal’s impassioned delivery but because they sound just familiar enough to please the ear. I have not seen the 2008 remake of this movie; perhaps I never will. I doubt it’s anywhere near as good as, say, Peter Jackson’s “King Kong,” which for all his skill proved anew that you can’t top the crazy inspiration and roughhewn perfection of the original. The same, I’m sure, applies to “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”