Forbidden Planet [HD DVD]

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In 1956 MGM released Fred Wilcox's Forbidden Planet. Originally conceived as a B-movie the film has taken on a personality and a cult status that brands it as one of the most unique American films made. The film has been the inspiration for Star Wars and Star Trek and just about every modern space opera references it.

The story is not a simple one and a great deal of Cyril Hume's screenplay is exposition that manages to take somewhat complex themes and make them accessible to a Saturday afternoon audience. A space cruiser piloted by Commander J.J. Adams (Leslie Nielsen) lands on the planet Altair 4 and meets the mysterious Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) and his daughter Altaira ( Anne Francis). Morbius is studying the artifacts of a strange civilization called the Krells. The Krell civilization was incredibily advanced. It had wiped out war, disease and had explored the universe 2000 centuries ago before it was itself wiped out.

The story is a reworking of Shakespeare's The Tempest and the story hold up quite well after 52 years. The special effects were amazing for the time period and the matte paintings used for the backgrounds still look fantastic. The film was nominated for the 1957 Oscar for best special effects.

If there is a problem with Forbidden Planet it is that the story of Monsters of the Id is somewhat dated. The film needs to be seen for the special effects production that it was. It does not need to be analysed for its story telling ability.

The edition I viewed was the single disc released by Warner Brothers. There have been at least two editions released since mine came out and I understand are much more complete. The picture, while not perfect, is quite good. There are scratches and abundant markings for reel changes and the like but they do not really mar the viewing experience. The sound is a standard mono mix but is easy to understand. The disc does not feature any special features other than the trailer. The trailer features a floating yellow scroll that was duplicated to great effect in the Star Wars movies.

Get yourself some popcorn pop this one in and enjoy the golden age of sci-fi moviemaking.

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Forbidden Planet [HD DVD]

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I WAS IMPRESSED. DAVE HAD A STROKE 10 YEARS AGO, I (HIS WIFE) AM TYPING THIS RESPONSE FOR HIM.

Guest

Forbidden Planet [HD DVD]

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This is one of the best SciFi movies of all time (#1 being "The Day The Earth Stood Still"). Based (loosely) on Shakespeare's play "The Tempest", it brings together an outstanding cast (look at the cast list) to tell the story of genius ultimately controlled, then destroyed, by the "mindless primitive". The special effects are astounding; espcially for the time. I find the electronic music to be sometimes distracting and there are places where it's impossible to tell if the sound you are hearing is a monster, wind in the rocks, or the soundtrack. The movie, with its award winning special effects and soundtrack and its fine cast of actors appears to be quite rough in places (more on that later) but this is the way the movie was made. The acting is quite good. Walter Pidgeon is perfect as Morbius. Leslie Nielsen as Adams does a credible job in a dramatic role (but you can't help slipping to "Naked Gun"). I won't run down the rest of the cast except to say that Earl Holliman is, at best, light comedic relief; I could never figure out why he was really in this movie.

The disc set containts the movie, specials, and trailers on one disc with "The Invisible Boy" (which I have not yet seen) on the second. One special is a set of "lost" footage which is really a set of test shots of scenery but which is really quite interesting (watch as the camera moves around the planet and note that it looks like you are really circling a planet and not looking at a prop)

The other special contains scenes that were shot but not part of the original release. A couple of notes here. There is one scene of Adams dressing down three of his officers just after the communications officer is killed. The disc has that as a deleted scene and it is missing from the movie on this disc but that scene is included in every version of this movie I have ever seen. Another deleted scene is the "unicorn explanation" that I have never seen but that perfectly explains why Altaira has the affinity for animals that she does and why the tiger must later be killed. I had already surmised the reason but this was the actual confirmation (after 50 years!!). There is also a scene that seems to be rewritten on the disc (where Morbius asks Altaira to deny her love for Adams. When I watched the disc she just stands there but I recall her as saying something to the effect "No, not even if I could").

One of the specials also describes how the movie was apparently left roughly cut to rush it to general release instead of waiting for a finished product. I'd always wondered why there were obvious cuts in the film; now I know.

I bought this set to fill in my collection of great, old, classic, SciFi films. And, while I have seen the film at least 50 times, I still enjoy it and I still see something interesting in the special effects or the sets. It's worth getting.

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