Discussion of “The Day the Earth Stood Still”

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) is an American science fiction film directed by Robert Wise and starring Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, and Hugh Marlowe. The supporting cast includes Sam Jaffe, Frances Bavier, and Billy Gray. Lock Martin portrayed Gort, the robot.

A flying saucer lands in Washington, D.C. and is quickly surrounded by the United States Army. The alien says he comes “in peace and with good will.” But when he displays an object that looks like it could be a weapon, a nervous soldier shoots and injures the spaceman. Gort, a tall and imposing robot destroys the soldiers’ weapons causing the amassed crowd to run in fear.

Klaatu, the alien, is taken to Walter Reed Hospital and recovers quickly. He escapes from the hospital and finds himself at a boarding house where Helen Benson (Neal) and her son, Bobby (Gray) live. “Mr. Carpenter” befriends the Bensons and tries to learn more about the people on the planet he has come to warn.

Slowly, it becomes obvious that Mr. Carpenter is the man from space. Helen’s boyfriend Tom Stevens (Marlowe) discovers this and is willing to turn him in for the “prestige” he thinks it will bring.

Klaatu’s message for the world: stop fighting with one another and be careful in your development of nuclear weapons or we will destroy your planet!

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