Forbidden Planet (1956)

Director:

Fred M. Wilcox

Writers:

Cyril Hume (screenplay)
Irving Block (story) ...

Release Date:

15 March 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Amazing!

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Electronic Music Score | Single Father | Murder | Invisibility | Magnet

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Walter Pidgeon	...	Dr. Edward Morbius
Anne Francis	...	Altaira 'Alta' Morbius
Leslie Nielsen	...	Commander J. J. Adams
Warren Stevens	...	Lt. 'Doc' Ostrow M.D.
Jack Kelly	...	Lt. Jerry Farman
Richard Anderson	...	Chief Quinn
Earl Holliman	...	Cook
Robby the Robot	...	Himself
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

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor) (as Eastman Color)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Perspecta Sound encoding) (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:G (re-rating) (1972) | USA:Approved (certificate #17605) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | UK:U | Argentina:Atp | West Germany:12

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The movie's poster was as #5 of "The 25 Best Movie Posters Ever" by Premiere.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Robby uses the blaster on the plant in the garden, an unidentifiable shadow suddenly appears on the green V support directly behind Commander Adams.

Quotes:

Robby: Quiet please. I am analyzing.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hard Hunted (1992)

Still my favorite sci-fi film

A number of factors make it easy for me to state that I still think this is the most important science fiction film ever made, despite some of the acting, outdated dialogue etc.

First, there is the scale of imagination in describing the Krell, a humanoid race native to the planet, now all dead, who were 1 million years more advanced than Earth humans(us), and their technology, particularly the 8,000 cubic mile machine.

Second, there is the music and sound effects, which are inseparable from each other. It creates an eerie, unearthly feeling, unlike "2001", which had traditional classical music.

Third, its "monster" is not only the most powerful and deadly ever envisioned, it's also based on real science and doesn't break the laws of physics and biology.

Finally, and most importantly, Forbidden Planet is the only movie ever made that attempts and, more incredibly, succeeds in making an honest, intelligent and mercilessly logical statement on the limits or ceiling of human (or any other biological entity's) development, no matter how long we survive as a species.

In other words, it predicts our inevitable destiny.