The Day the Earth Stood Still | 
 enlarge | Director: Robert Wise
Actors: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Lock Martin, Frances Bavier
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $6.86
You Save: $8.12 (54%)
New (55) Used (30) Collectible (1) from $4.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  337 reviews
Sales Rank: 1033
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dvd-video, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: G (General Audience)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 92
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5 x 0.6
MPN: 024543050056
UPC: 024543050056
EAN: 0024543050056
ASIN: B00005JKFR
Theatrical Release Date: 1951
Release Date: March 4, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: *5 STARS SELLER!!* Brand New AUTHENTIC *beware of counterfeit* DVD, Sealed from Publisher!!!
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Product Description
Rennie stars as Klaatu, an advanced alien who comes to earth to put a stop to nuclear proliferation. With him comes his robot Gort. They are forced to use superpowers to get the attention of the scientists.
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: G
Release Date: 2-MAR-2004
Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com essential video
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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| Customer Reviews: Read 332 more reviews...
 How is this blu ray? October 11, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Im wondering how they make a black and white movie into blu ray?Im guessing they colorize it first and then turn it into a blu ray movie.I cant imagine how this will look seeing as it was a black and white movie to begin with.
TDTESS info October 1, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
This is supposed to be B&W not color - a listing error
Extras for this release include:
Commentary by Robert Wise and Nicolas Meyer
Commentary by Film & Music Historians John Morgan, Steven Smith, William Stromberg and Nick Redman
Isolated Score Track
The Mysterious, Melodious Theremin
The Day The Earth Stood Still Main Title Live Performance By Peter Pringle
The Making of The Day the Earth Stood Still
Decoding "Klaatu, Barada, Nikto": Science Fiction as Metaphor Featurette
A Brief History of Flying Saucers Featurette
The Astounding Harry Bates Featurette
Edmund North: The Man Who Made the Earth Stand Still Featurette
Race To Oblivion: A Documentary Short Written And Produced By Edmund North
Farewell To The Master: A Reading By Jamieson K. Price Of The Original Harry Bates Short Story
Interactive Pressbook
Fox Movietonews from 1951
Theatrical Trailer
Advertising Gallery
Behind-The Scenes Gallery
Portrait Gallery
Production Gallery
Spaceship Construction Blueprints
Shooting Script
some say an ad trailer for the new movie will now be included, I expect to be disappointed in the new movie but will check it out anyway
- Steve R , great nephew of Bernard Herrmann who did the original music for this movie - this DVD will contain an isolated music track for those who want to hear just the music at some point
Join and live in peace or face obliteration. October 1, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
1. Aircraft traveling 4,000 miles per hour tracked by radar at 2,000 feet in altitude traveling toward the East Coast.
2. Aircraft lands on a baseball field in Washington. Military Tanks and personnel are immobilized to surround the craft. Panic and hysteria emerge but the media broadcasts propaganda to claim the public. No sign of life. A huge crowd of curiosity seekers gather expected something to happen.
3.An alien greets the crowd with a message of "peace and goodwill". The alien presents a gift, for the President to study life on other planets, but a solder shoots the alien; the alien is wounded; an robot sentry defends the alien with energy beams that melt weapons and tanks.
4.Kaltu is greeted by Mr. Harley, Secretary of the President. Kaltu has traveled 250 million miles. Kaltu wants to meet with all represents from all nations of the earth. Mr. Harley tells Kaltu the proposal will be impossible because of tensions due to the cold war.
5. Kaltu has a human anatomy, 78 years old, with a life expectancy of 130 years. Kaltu bullet wound is healed in one day.
6. Kaltu tells Harley, "I will meet with no one nation.", "I'm impatient with stupidity", "maybe I should go out among your people." Harley confines Kaltu to his room. Kaltu escapes and walks the streets of Washington. Kaltu takes the alias name Carpenter. The media calls Kaltu, "a bitter enemy", but maybe, "our friend". The public knows Kaltu, as the "space man". The space man becomes a monster that must be tracked down and destroyed, a menace from another world.
7. Kaltu forms a friendship with Bobbie. Kaltu gives Bobbie diamonds in exchange for currency. Diamonds are the currency in Kaltu's world.
8. Kaltu and Bobbie go to see Professor Bernheart and leaves clues to solving a celestial mechanic problem. Mr. Brady works for Professor Bernheart. Mr. Brady finds Kaltu and takes him to Professor Bernheart (Jewish Scientist).
9. Kaltu tells Bernheart, the alien civilization have been watching earth and discovered breakthroughs in earth nuclear energy development, rockets, and soon interplanetary travel which will threaten the universe.
10. If conditions are not meet, the earth will be eliminated. A demonstration of force is designed to be arranged, to communicate the seriousness of the mission.
11. Kaltu uses a flashlight to active the robot, disable the guards, and enter the spacecraft. Bobbie witnesses the complete event. Bobbie reports what he saw to his mother, who does not believe him at first, but after the diamond is discovered, the group thinks Mr. Carpenter is a diamond criminal.
12. The first demonstration is all power is cut off for thirty minutes around the world from 12-12:30 pm. Tom wants to contact the Pentagon and tell them about Carpenter, the space man. Mrs. Benson fails to convince Tom not to contact the Military.
13. The Joint chiet want Kaltu dead or alive. The robot is encased in a plastic which is stronger than steel.
14. Robot Gort can destroy the earth. Mrs. Benson must remember "Kaltu, Varta, Victu" or the robot will destroy the earth.
15. Gort retrieves Kaltu and brings him to the ship. Using advanced technology Kaltu is revived from death, but for a limited period.
16. Kaltu speaks to the represents of nations. Kaltu speaks against aggression and promotes the Universe Policeman, and preserve the peace. The robots act automatic against the aggressor. Force peace determined by ultimate power granted to the robots, a system, against violence. Join and live in peace or face obliteration.
 Classic September 25, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The other day I bought the DVD of one of my favorite all-time films: The Day The Earth Stood Still. In watching it I was struck by how relevant this sci fi classic from over 50 years ago is to today's political milieu. In brief, a flying saucer lands in Washington, D.C. Its occupant is a creature that looks human enough, named Klaatu (Michael Rennie). He is injured by fearful humans as the military surrounds the spacecraft. He is rescued by an all-powerful robot named Gort, who vaporizes the military machinery.
Klaatu decides to infiltrate human society under the pseudonym Carpenter and takes up residence at a local boarding house, where he meets a widow named Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) who has a 10 year old son Bobby (Billy Gray of later Father Knows Best fame). In short, Klaatu is hunted down and killed by the military, then resurrected by Gort, who is aided by Helen, who knows the phrase that can control Gort: Klaatu Barada Nikto. Upon leaving Earth Klaatu issues an edict: either humans can change their ways or they will be exterminated if they spread their nuclear terror to the stars. Klaatu has only been an emissary from an organization called the United Planets. Gort is merely one of many all-powerful robots that police the UP registry and battle warring instinct with extermination- a policy all UP members submit to. With this knowledge Klaatu and Gort leave Earth to ponder its fate.
Of course, the film has provoked many philosophical, ethical, and political salvos through the years. Made during the early years of the Cold War its symbolism was obvious, and its `message' later became standard fare for much of the early `real' UFO lore, depicted by the `Contactees' of that era. But, its message still resonates today, in the post-Cold War restiveness of dying religious Fundamentalism's death throes. Especially since Rennie plays a near-Christ-like character.
It has also been vociferously attacked as `liberal' propaganda. Many Leftists of the day saw the film as a plea against the insanity of the nuclear arms race, which was insane- not because of the arms race mentality, but because total annihilation could occur by error, and not intent. Rightists pointed out that the `peace' offered by Klaatu, Gort, and the UP comes only if humanity is either content to remain earthbound, or submit to the tyranny of the Gortian robocops. Counterarguments span range from the social compact gambit- i.e.- that while Earth is our home and we can do what we like the universal society at large has every right to set up its own laws and penalties. After all, we are free to parade around naked in our own homes, but not in public- to the sanity defense- that any society advanced enough to discover interstellar travel will likely create weaponry capable of planet destruction, therefore only a preemptive ban and enforcement can work.
Yet, there does seem something amiss with Klaatu's UP. Klaatu shows he has the power to utterly immobilize human machinery (hence the film's title) yet it is oblivion or else- no degrees of shading, such as `we'll take away all your nuclear toys if you humans are bad'. It's Armageddon or compliance. The UP has no problems with hypocrisy or `benevolent' dictatorship. If we are too violent, by UP standards, they will counter with the ultimate violence. This is their law, and will be applied without any research into why humans fight: exploitation, racism, sociology, and ideological differences as reasons are all equally wrong, even if in self defense. The query rises- is peace without freedom a virtue?
It has been counter-argued that there is such a thing as limited freedom- we do not have the right to infringe upon others' rights with our own. Klaatu claims the only freedom the UP has given up is the freedom of violence. Violence is the only freedom that is policed by Gort and his robotic brethren. The film has thus been seen as posing the question How would society function if disputes had to be resolved without violence? And it's a good query.
The Day the Earth Stood Still September 9, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
One of my all-time favorites. Simple story, well-acted, a must-see. I hope the remake is good too.
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