Our retro movie-showing for this week by Alan was 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', which was originally released in 1951. Alan stated before we watched the film that is isn't really considered a 'B-movie' as for it's time it had a large budget and wasn't a small-movie by any means. The film was a benchmark for early Science Fiction, based on a short story from 'Astounding Science Fiction Magazine' it tells the story of a UFO landing in Washington D.C and bringing with it an Alien 'man' and a large threatening looking robot, who lays dormant in the park waiting for instructions (Who in the film was played by an actor measuring 7'7" tall)


The film follows the Alien who landed, as he is tracked and hunted by the military and police for being a possible threat to mankind. The Alien begins to lodge with a family who take him in and trust him, leading him to eventually be discovered and captured by the authorities. Overall, the special effects in the film are really impressive for their day, the shots of the UFO landing and taking off are well done for such an early film. The shot structure is also very quick for something from the 1950's with there being a lot of action sequences and fast-paced storytelling.



I enjoyed The Day The Earth Stood Still, it still holds up very well almost Sixty years later and I wish I'd seen this original before the remake starring Keanu Reeves which was no-where near as entertaining.