*Classic* Forbidden Planet (1956) Starring: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen Director: Fred McLeod Wilcox Plot: Sent to rescue a long-distance colony, a spaceship crew become prey to a deadly invisible force after finiding a lone survivor and his grown-up daughter inhabiting a desert paradise built upon the ruins of an ancient civilzation. Review: One of the most influential science-fiction films of its era along with The Day the Earth Stood Still and The War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet was, and still is, an impressively staged big-budget affair. Audiences experiencing the film for the first time upon its release might have been amazed at the gorgeous production values and decidedly serious tone of the movie, not so much pulp daring-do adventure as low-brow drama capitalizing on a sense of wonder. Lavishly portrayed with extravagant matte paintings, intricate scale models, and then-impressive special effects, it was one of the most expensive pictures ever made. The eerie, primitive electronic score (then a first) also gives the film an added layer of other-worldliness, as do the strangely colored tones of the footage. Played straight as it it, the surprisingly smart script might be a tad campy to modern eyes, and the tad misogynistic behavior of the all-male crew harkens back to the social mores of the '50s, but there's no denying that the sci-fi tale itself, a loose adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest, is intriguing and well constructed. In fact, in plot and production, the film is reminiscent of old 1960's Star Trek episodes, a series which was undoubtedly inspired by the film. Though getting third-billing, a young, swaggering Nielsen is really the star of the picture. Pidgeon, playing the Prospero role as the "mad scientist", is adequately theatrical and over-the-top. The rest of the cast is adequate but rather dull and are trumped by the antics of the "man-in-suit" contraption, the delightful Robby the Robot who was first introduced here and
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