The Day the Earth Stood Still

An early cautionary tale

Many early 'creature features', such as Frankenstein and the 'atomic monsters' flicks, had a similar theme: that there some subjects that Man was just not meant to mess with. The unspoken (or sometimes spoken) assumption is that we are unworthy to meddle in what should be the sole preserve of God.

The Day the Earth Stood Still, released in 1951, took a different tack. It wasn't our technology that was the threat, but our warrior heritage. If we couldn't outgrow our propensity for fighting amongst ourselves, we would not be allowed to join the space-going races.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

A simple flying saucer causes havoc when it lands in Washington DC. The pilot, Klaatu (Michael Rennie), emerges with news that he represents the rest of the galaxy. He is injured by over-eager or petrified soliders, and Gort, his robot bodyguard, vaporizes all their weaponry.

Taken to a hospital for treatment (and leaving Gort to guard his ship), he informs us that he brings a message that he must convey to all the world's leaders. Since, of course, on any given day, half the world's leaders aren't speaking to the other half, he is informed that this is impossible.

Disturbed at this proof of humanity's incorrigible hawkishness, he checks himself out of the hospital and vanishes, to find out what humanity is really like. He finds himself at a boarding house, where he meets Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) and her son Bobby (Billy Gray), who 'adopt' him as an honorary uncle, not knowing his extraterrestrial background.

Deciding that world leaders are a lost cause, Klaatu decides to speak to 'the world's smartest man', Professor Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe), who happens to be an Einsteinian figure conveniently located in DC.

Bobby helps Klaatu locate Barnhardt, and Klaatu presents his problem - how to gain the attention of the world to his message. He finally decides on a simple demonstration of his power - he will halt all electricity for half an hour. Thus, The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Rather than prove that he is someone to be taken seriously, of course, this demonstration is taken as proof of his hostility, and the military shoot and kill Klaatu. This almost sets off a cataclysm as Gort the Robot prepares to rampage, stopped by Helen remembering in the nick of time the controlling phrase: Klaatu Barada Nikto.

Gort takes Klaatu and Helen back to the saucer, where Klaatu is raised from the dead. Realizing that mankind has quite a distance to cover before they are fit to join the rest of the universe, Klaatu leaves Earth, leaving behind a number of Gort-type robots to enforce the edict: if we ever take our warring ways into space, we will be obliterated.

The Film

Filmed in black and white, The Day the Earth Stood Still was almost an instant classic. The message resonated with the Post WWII, Early-Cold-War viewers. In the Sixties, everyone knew 'Klaatu Barada Nikto'. The Day the Earth Stood Still was directed by Robert Wise, who went on to direct huge hits such as The Sound of Music, and in a wonderful full circle, the first Star Trek motion picture.

The Allegory

The messianic nature of Klaatu's visit to Earth escaped no one. To pound the point home, Klaatu uses the Earth-name 'John Carpenter' when incognito in the boarding house. The death and resurrection are obvious.

The ultimate resolution of Klaatu's mission - the guardian robots to keep us on the straight and narrow - is almost religion personified; Do good, not because it is right, but if you don't, you'll go (literally) to Hell.