The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Director:

Robert Wise

Writers:

Edmund H. North (screenplay)
Harry Bates (story)

Release Date:

28 September 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

A robot and a man . . . hold the world spellbound with new and startling powers from another planet!

Plot:

An alien lands and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Robot | Spacecraft | Hospital | Flying Saucer

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Michael Rennie	...	Klaatu
Patricia Neal	...	Helen Benson
Hugh Marlowe	...	Tom Stevens
Sam Jaffe	...	Professor Jacob Barnhardt
Billy Gray	...	Bobby Benson
Frances Bavier	...	Mrs. Barley
Lock Martin	...	Gort
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Patrick Aherne	...	General at Pentagon (uncredited)
Holly Bane	...	Army Captain (uncredited)
Oscar Blanke	...	Peddler (uncredited)
Marshall Bradford	...	Chief of Staff (uncredited)
John Brown	...	George Barley (uncredited)
John Burton	...	British Radio Announcer (uncredited)
Wheaton Chambers	...	Mr. Bleeker (uncredited)
Jean Charney	...	Mother (uncredited)
Beulah Christian	...	Secretary (uncredited)
John Close	...	Captain (uncredited)
Louise Colombet	...	French Woman (uncredited)
James Conaty	...	General at Pentagon (uncredited)
Frank Conroy	...	Mr. Harley (uncredited)
Eric Corrie	...	British Soldier (uncredited)
John Costello	...	Cockney (uncredited)
James Craven	...	Businessman (uncredited)
Marjorie Crossland	...	Hilda (uncredited)
Jack Daly	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Elmer Davis	...	Himself - Commentator (uncredited)
Lawrence Dobkin	...	Army Physician (uncredited)
Jim Doyle	...	Medical Corps Major (uncredited)
Roy Engel	...	Government Man (uncredited)
Charles Evans	...	Major General (uncredited)
Edith Evanson	...	Mrs. Crockett (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum	...	Extra in Office Building Corridor (uncredited)
Michael Ferris	...	British Soldier (uncredited)
Elizabeth Flournoy	...	Emma - Jewelry Clerk (uncredited)
Grady Galloway	...	American Radar Operator (uncredited)
Bill Gentry	...	Sentry (uncredited)
Paul Gerrits	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Glenn Hardy	...	Interviewer (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Scientific Delegate (uncredited)
Harry Harvey	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Gabriel Heatter	...	Himself - Commentator (uncredited)
Gil Herman	...	Government Agent (uncredited)
John Hiestand	...	TV Announcer on Truck (uncredited)
H.V. Kaltenborn	...	Himself - Commentator (uncredited)
Hassan Khayyam	...	Indian Radio Announcer (uncredited)
Harry Lauter	...	Platoon Leader (uncredited)
Freeman Lusk	...	General Cutler (uncredited)
George Lynn	...	Colonel Ryder (uncredited)
Herbert Lytton	...	Brigadier General (uncredited)
Michael Mahoney	...	Sentry (uncredited)
Sandee Marriott	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
David McMahon	...	Air Force Sergeant (uncredited)
Tyler McVey	...	Brady (uncredited)
Harold Miller	...	Military Officer at Pentagon Meeting (uncredited)
Ralph Montgomery	...	Government Man (uncredited)
Bruce Morgan	...	Government Man (uncredited)
Howard Negley	...	Colonel (uncredited)
Dorothy Neumann	...	Margaret - Secretary (uncredited)
Sammy Ogg	...	Sam (uncredited)
Robert Osterloh	...	Major White (uncredited)
Gayle Pace	...	Captain (uncredited)
Drew Pearson	...	Himself - Commentator (uncredited)
Ted Pearson	...	Colonel (uncredited)
House Peters Jr.	...	Military Police Captain (uncredited)
'Snub' Pollard	...	Cab Driver (uncredited)
John M. Reed	...	Tank Driver (uncredited)
Barry Regan	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Fay Roope	...	Major General (uncredited)
Pola Russ	...	Russian Woman (uncredited)
James Seay	...	Government Man (uncredited)
Charles Sherlock	...	Government Man (uncredited)
Peter Similuk	...	Russian Pilot (uncredited)
Bob Simpson	...	Colonel (uncredited)
Marc Snow	...	Government Man (uncredited)
Olan Soule	...	Mr. Krull (uncredited)
Kim Spalding	...	Army Orderly (uncredited)
Murray Steckler	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Harmon Stevens	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Charles Tannen	...	Voice of Radio Announcer (uncredited)
Harlan Warde	...	Carlson (uncredited)
Gil Warren	...	Government Man (uncredited)
Kipp Whitman	...	Sentry (uncredited)
Rush Williams	...	Military Police Sergeant (uncredited)
Wilson Wood	...	Government Man (uncredited)
Carleton Young	...	Colonel in Jeep (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert Wise

Writing credits
Edmund H. North		(screenplay)
Harry Bates		(story)

Produced by
Julian Blaustein	....	producer

Original Music by
Bernard Herrmann		(music)

Cinematography by
Leo Tover		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
William Reynolds

Art Direction by
Addison Hehr
Lyle R. Wheeler		(as Lyle Wheeler)

Set Decoration by
Claude E. Carpenter		(as Claude Carpenter)
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Travilla
Clinton Sandeen		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Gene Bryant	....	unit manager (uncredited)
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	executive in charge of production (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Stanley Hough	....	assistant director: second unit (uncredited)
Bert Leeds	....	second unit director (uncredited)
Arthur Lueker	....	first assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Harry M. Leonard	....	sound
Arthur von Kirbach	....	sound (as Arthur L. Kirbach)

Special Effects by
Melbourne A. Arnold	....	robot builder (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Fred Sersen	....	special photographic effects
L.B. Abbott	....	effects team (uncredited)
Ray Kellogg	....	effects team (uncredited)
Emil Kosa	....	effects team (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Perkins Bailey	....	costume designer: Klaatu
Charles Le Maire	....	wardrobe director
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Orven Schanzer	....	first assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Bernard Herrmann	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Samuel Hoffman	....	musician: theremin (uncredited)
Paul Shure	....	musician: theremin (uncredited)

Other crew
Samuel Herrick	....	technical advisor (uncredited)
Anthony Jowitt	....	dialogue director (uncredited)
Steve Pritko	....	stand-in: Michael Rennie (uncredited)
Clifford Sales	....	double: Billy Gray (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (presents) (as Twentieth Century-Fox)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1951) (USA) (theatrical) (released by)
• Centfox (1952) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1962) (USA) (TV)
• Fox Films (1952) (Finland) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• CBS/Fox (1988) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Encore Entertainment (1998) (UK) (video) (laserdisc)
• Fox Video (1995) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1996) (Finland) (TV)
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (2006) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (2008) (Sweden) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD) (collector's edition)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD) (2-disc special edition)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

92 min | Germany:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Hindi

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Portugal:M/12 | Italy:T | USA:Approved (PCA #15271) (original rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1969) | Canada:G (video rating) | South Korea:12 (2004) | Brazil:Livre | Germany:12 (f) | Netherlands:12 | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Ireland:G | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:K-12 | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

RKO Encino Ranch - Balboa Boulevard & Burbank Boulevard, Encino, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Some reference works state that "Adventures of Superman" (1952) star George Reeves appeared as a television news reporter with eyeglasses in one sequence. This is not true. The actor playing the role bears no resemblance to Reeves, and in a 1995 interview with Reeves biographer Jim Beaver, director Robert Wise stated unequivocally that it is not Reeves in the role. It appears that someone jumped to conclusions based on the image of a reporter wearing glasses and thus resembling roughly the image of Superman alter-ego Clark Kent. Reeves had nothing to do with the film in any capacity.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Klaatu mentions he traveled a distance of 250 million miles. That distance would put him between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. This would seem to indicate that he traveled to Earth from the solar system's asteroid belt, whose orbital path stretches from 200 million to 300 million miles from the sun. A straight line from here to there would put him past the belt itself (250 million miles from here would be an orbital distance of 342 million miles, or 3.7AU) but you can't travel in straight lines in orbital mechanics, so a travel distance of 250 million miles should put him somewhere in the belt.

Quotes:

[first lines]
American Radar Operator: Holy Mackerel! Call headquarters. Get the lieutenant.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Exhumed (2003) (V)

One of the ten best Sci-Fi movies of all time!

This was one of the first sci-fi movies I ever saw and one by which I gage all others. Before there was 'Star Wars' there was 'The Day The Earth Stood Still'. It brought together all that later sci-fi movies strive for. A solid story, believable characters and, for the day, great special FX. It was an examination of society at the time and the racial prejudice that permeated all levels of life. It studies mans fear of the unknown and the violent reaction it produces even today, and how the love of one person can change the course of events for the better. It's a movie that can still stand on its own even by today's standards and should never be remade.

But that's just my opinion.