Forbidden Planet (1956)

A starship crew goes to investigate the silence of a planet's colony only to find two survivors and a deadly secret that one of them has.

Director:

Fred M. Wilcox (as Fred McLeod Wilcox)

Writers:

Cyril Hume (screen play), Irving Block (based on a story by)

Stars:

Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Walter Pidgeon	...	Dr. Morbius
Anne Francis	...	Altaira Morbius
Leslie Nielsen	...	Commander Adams
Warren Stevens	...	Lt. 'Doc' Ostrow
Jack Kelly	...	Lt. Farman
Richard Anderson	...	Chief Quinn
Earl Holliman	...	Cook
George Wallace	...	Bosun
Robert Dix	...	Crewman Grey (as Bob Dix)
Jimmy Thompson	...	Crewman Youngerford
James Drury	...	Crewman Strong
Harry Harvey Jr.	...	Crewman Randall
Roger McGee	...	Crewman Lindstrom
Peter Miller	...	Crewman Moran
Morgan Jones	...	Crewman Nichols

Storyline

When Adams and his crew are sent to investigate the silence from a planet inhabited by scientists, he finds all but two have died. Dr. Morbius and his daughter Altaira have somehow survived a hideous monster which roams the planet. Unknown to Adams, Morbius has made a discovery, and has no intention of sharing it (or his daughter!) with anyone.

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Plot Keywords:

alien civilization | invisible monster | alien technology | spacecraft | father daughter relationship | 

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Taglines:

Nothing Like It Ever!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 June 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fatal Planet

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,900,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Perspecta Sound encoding) (Western Electric Sound System) 4-Track Stereo (4 channels)

Color:

Color (photographed in) (Eastman Color)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In preparing this film for production, MGM borrowed a print of This Island Earth (1955) from Universal Pictures.

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Goofs

When the Monster is burning/melting the metal door, as it turns white hot and lumps start to fall, you can see a member of the crew in a heatproof suit prodding the material from behind to make it fall. Watch the second and third holes for movement behind the door. Then again, this motion could be taken to be the monster doing the poking...

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Quotes

Dr. Morbius: Because my daughter is alive in my brain from microsecond to microsecond.

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Alternate Versions

In Australia, however, that kissing scene was screened, uncut, in the early 1960's in the children's Saturday matinée called the Kine Club, at Hoyts Cinema, in Port Adelaide.

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Connections

Featured in Brows Held High: Anonymous (2014)

User Reviews

Unusually thoughtful sci-fi for 1950's (and even for today)

At a time when science fiction movies were invariably cheap rubber monsters attacking our cities and scaring our women, "Forbidden Planet" offered an usually thought-provoking plot that worked on a number of levels. Today, too many sci-fi movies are nothing but computer-generated special effects extravaganzas masking the lack of thoughtful plot and characterization. "Forbidden Planet" had awesome special effects for their time (many of which still hold up well today)--but these were used to effectively support the multifaceted plot and characterizations, not try to compensate for their lack.

The Shakespearean ("The Tempest") and Freudian ("Id-monster") elements have been noted by many critics. In the 1950's, with the atomic and hydrogen bombs so new and terrifying, other sci-fi movies had asked whether man had the wisdom to use all the new science for good rather than evil. But they usually dealt with that solely on a surface level, by just having some monster created with the new science that comes out and kills a bunch of people. Only "Forbidden Planet" dared to actually delve into the depths of human psychology to see what our baser instincts are capable of when given full rein. It directly refuted the notion that all that new science and technology was somehow civilizing humanity. The Krell, a far more advanced race than we, are never seen on screen (only their artifacts are shown, leaving you to imagine what they looked like). But their disappearance is a warning that even a far more advanced race like they, couldn't escape the baser instincts and subconscious drives deep within their own brains--so what of man?

One subplot that is less often discussed, but equally well thought out, is the scenes with Altaira and the tiger, an allusion to the myth of the virgin and the unicorn. Until Altaira meets the male crew of the C-57-D, she is virginal and the tiger is a tame beast in her presence. After she has her romantic interludes with Farman and the captain, the tiger attacks her. (Being the 1950's, the dialogue only subtly suggests what has happened.)

For "Star Trek" fans, it's worth seeing "Forbidden Planet" just to list all the parallels between "Forbidden Planet" and "Star Trek: The Original Series". The basic theme (a "United Planets" spaceship explores a strange new world), the characters and characterizations, the weapons, and even the special effects all seem to have unconsciously inspired Gene Roddenberry to create his own vision.