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Day the Earth Stood Still (The)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Jeremiah Chin & Noor Razzak (8th January 2009). |
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The Film
 At the rate things are going, Hollywood may run out of movies to remake before it gets enough original projects in to remake them later on, though there are enough books and novels to adapt into films (and then remakes of those films based on novels). It’s a bit of an overstatement, but certainly becoming closer to being prophecy rather than hyperbole. Sometimes remakes can work, sometimes they are so far off the mark that it’s just painful to see, but maybe the best thing about some remakes is that they spark interest in the original, even causing a re-release of the original on to DVD. Thankfully this is the case with “The Day The Earth Stood Still” (1951) whose 2008 remake has inspired a 2-disc 'Special Edition' that really does the film justice. The film begins as a flying saucer descends upon Washington D.C., inspiring a panic among the army who promptly gathers around the landing site. Soon the human-looking alien Klaatu (Michael Rennie) emerges from the ship with a small device in his hand, causing a panic among the army who promptly shoot him. Klaatu is taken into custody where his wounds mysteriously heal and he manages to escape into the outside city of Washington D.C. where he blends in with the locals and stays in a boarding house, trying to find a scientific mind to whom he can explain his purpose for coming to the planet. Inside the house, Klaatu befriends Bobby Benson (Billy Gray) who takes him to the home of Professor Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe) the smartest scientist in Washington. Klaatu asks the professor to assemble a meeting of the best scientific minds on Earth so that they can discuss his intent and the reason for his otherworldly arrival. Much of the story has the feel of an old episode of “The Twilight Zone” (1959), even though “The Day The Earth Stood Still” was released around 8 years earlier, as it’s an overtly political film and a message told through the genre of science fiction. Klaatu’s message to Earth is a basic call for the United Nations and the need for peace in the midst of the Korean War and the opening hours of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. There are a few hokey lines and some scenes farily obviously put in to try and avoid any religious comparisons (even though comparing Klaatu to the biblical Jesus isn’t too far off in terms of tone). Otherwise the script is solid early science fiction, pointed and intriguing as it engages political attitudes without naming any names, though it’s fairly obvious who the message is directed at. Robert Wise’s directing compliments the writing well, some very classical monster-movie styled use of shadows and lighting, though the way the movie is portrayed in posters, and even the title, is far more menacing than the film itself. Much of the film’s effects are outdated, but add to the more classic charm of the feature. “The Day The Earth Stood Still” stands out as an interesting counterpoint to some of the films like the first “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956) that was a fairly blatant regurgitation of the red scare; encouraging fear and conflict with communism rather than the direct ‘peace at all costs’ message of “The Day The Earth Stood Still.” Overall, “The Day The Earth Stood Still” is a fine piece of early science fiction, it has a few problems with pacing and some of the acting, but the underlying message of the story and Wise’s directing are great to watch and stand out in the infancy of the Science Fiction genre within U.S. popular culture.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 1.33:1 full screen, this image is delivered onto Blu-ray in high-definition 1080p 24/fps and has been mastered using AVC MPEG-4 compression. The film has been given a seriously good restoration from the folks at Fox. The black and white image is solid in its presentation, contrast is excellent, blacks are deep and bold, whites are clear and grey scales are spot on. The higher resolution afforded by Blu-ray provides for added clarity, depth and texture. The detail is excellent for such an old film, skin textures especially look good as do backgrounds. The effects are dated (obviously) but hold up well within the layout of the film. There;s light grain, which is to be expected from a film of its age. There are a few specks and bits of dirt but nothing that distracts. Overall it's an excellent transfer of a vintage film.
Audio
There are four audio tracks presented here, in English DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 presented at 48kHz/24-bit as well as the film's original English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono and standard Dolby Digital 5.1 surround tracks in both French and Spanish. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with both its DTS-HD track and the original mono audio. The DTS-HD track has up-mixed the film's audio using the original elements, the result is good, but it still suffers from lack of depth and overall tinny sound to it. Dialogue is clear and distortion free and the film's music is rendered well, for a 5.1 track its primarily front focused and only ambient sounds and occasional music cues use the surround channels. The film's original mono audio fares a little better, as it's more suited for the film it feels less tinny. Optional subtitles are included in English, Spanish, Cantonese and Mandarin.
Extras
The disc set comes well equipped with extras including two audio commentary tracks, an isolated score, eight featurettes, a documentary short, photo galleries and an interactive pressbook among other supplements. Below is a closer look at these extras. The first audio commentary on the disc is with director Robert Wise and Nicholas Meyer director of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn" (1982). This is a good look at the history of the film and it’s production, Meyer does a good job of keeping the conversation moving and keeping Wise talking about all the different experiences on the film, though Meyer has a tendency to tangent off into talking about his own movies which may or may not be relevant to the current conversation about the film. Overall it's a quality commentary with good insights about the original production and putting the entire film together. Next is the audio commentary with film and music historians John Morgan, Steven Smith, William Stromberg and Nick Redman. This track focuses more on Herrmann’s score rather than the film itself and provides an interesting supplement to the apparently groundbreaking soundtrack that marked Herrmann’s breakout into becoming a film composer and the establishment of some genre standards that would last for years to come like the use of the theremin to generate the otherworldly sound at the beginning of the film. An interesting commentary that does cover some of the same ground as the first, but has a huge amount of additional points about the soundtrack that are worth listening to. The isolated score track (presented here in DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1) is exactly as it sounds as all of the audio except for Herrmann’s scoring is removed from the film, giving it a sort of silent film quality that lets you listen to the soundtrack on it’s own. A nice touch for all the soundtrack aficionados out there, though the score doesn’t run through the entire film so there are some long gaps without any sound whatsoever. Next is a section entitled "The World of Theremin" which features three extras: - “The Mysterious, Melodious Theremin” runs for 5 minutes and 40 seconds. This featurette talks with musician Peter Pringle who talks about the history of the Theremin, how terrifying it was for 1950’s audiences and then goes into a full demonstration and explanation of the instrument itself. A cool featurette about an instrument that’s incredibly well known in sound, though not particularly well recognized by name. - “‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ Main Title Live Performance By Peter Pringle” runs for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. In this featurette Pringle plays the Theremin track for the opening titles of the film, showing how the odd instrument is played supplemented with clips from the film during the segments where the Theremin is not being played. Another interesting look at the instrument in action. - "Interactive Theremin: Create Your Own Score" interactive feature, by using this feature you can create your own score, use your remote to chose from a series of 1 second notes to create a 30 second piece of music. You can preview your score and then apply it to the film. You can access this feature on any profile player, however I had this feature freeze on me a couple of times, so I guess it depends on the capabilities of your player as to how well it processes this extra. Following that is the "Gort Command!" interactive game, this is a first person shooter game that you can play using your remote. It's not that great, you're better off moving onto the other extras. Next is “The Making of ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’” which runs 23 minutes and 52 seconds. This featurette talks with film historians about the production of the film from inception to the actual production of the film, speaking with people who actually knew those involved in the film, like the producer and director’s widows and children or even delving in to well restored archival interviews with those directly involved in the film to create a full image of the production of the film. A well put together making of that goes farther in-depth than I would have expected, bringing in all kinds of archival footage, photos and audio that really delve into the making of the film. The next of the featurettes is “Decoding ‘Klaatu Barada Nikto’: Science Fiction as Metaphor” runs for 16 minutes and 13 seconds. The phrase Klaatu uses in the film is used as a jumping point to talking about science fiction in a historical context, talking with historians and scholars in different fields along with producers and biographers of the director. An interesting featurette that expands on the points brought up by Wise and others in the different commentaries, adding a more layered understanding of the film within it’s time and place. There’s a great use of old newsreel and clips from the film to supplement the interviews to make for a fascinating look at the historical context and commentary of the film. “A Brief History of Flying Saucers” runs for 34 minutes. This featurette collects a history of flying saucer and U.F.O. sightings talking about both the conspiracy views and the historical views of the growth of the U.F.O. within United States popular culture, going through terminology and the origins of those that research in the field. The Theremin soundtrack adds a level of campy fun to the featurette of people who take their research incredibly seriously, as they discuss the different researchers and thoughts about flying saucers. Overall it’s a good balance between stories of UFOs and the general culture of flying saucers that emerges in the United States, even delving in to the commercial success Roswell has achieved following the popularity of the Roswell crash story. “The Astounding Harry Bates” runs for 11 minutes and 2 seconds. This featurette develops a broader history of science fiction in literature, talking with different writers and historians about the fairly unknown life of Harry Bates. There are some interesting audio clips of interviews with Bates, but overall it’s a fascinating look at the development of the pulp/science fiction literature within the mid 20th century as well as a good comparison of the book and the film itself. The featurette “Edmund North: The Man Who Made the Earth Stand Still” runs for 14 minutes and 43 seconds; here varied people who knew North, such as family and friends, talk about the screenwriter’s life and ideology. This featurette presents an interesting look at the screenwriters that aren’t always acknowledged, focusing on his entire life and the creation of the film. Another solid addition to the set that adds a lot of depth to the variety of people involved in putting the film together. “‘Race to Oblivion’: A Documentary Short written and Produced by Edmund North” runs for 26 minutes and 41 seconds. This short film argues for nuclear disarmament in the fashion of a school edutainment feature, talking with a Japanese woman who survived the nuclear attacks at Hiroshima and a group of doctors and scientists in the 80’s about the medical and psychological effects of nuclear war. This short is a further example of the lengths the set goes through to establish the historical scenario for the film, another display of North’s fierce anti-nuclear sentiments that come through subtly in the film and very overtly in this short piece. “Farewell to the Master: Reading by Jamieson K. Price” runs for 41 minutes and 27 seconds in total. Much like an audio book this featurette is prepared in 3 chapter segments, comprising the different parts of the original science fiction short story in which the film is based. An interesting perspective on the story of the film and a good acknowledgement of the basis for the film. “Fox Movietone News” runs for 6 minutes and 21 seconds, this featurette is simply a newsreel from 1951 that does a great job of showing off the attitudes within the United States with some timely jabs at ‘the reds,’ communists and soviets that help to set the tone of the day. A brilliant addition to the set that helps for those of us far removed from the era. The teaser trailer for “The Day the Earth Stood Still” runs for 1 minute and 1 second and the theatrical trailer runs for 2 minutes and 9 seconds. There are a series of galleries, which include: - The interactive pressbook contains 19 images of the pages within the pressbook, with an option to zoom in on the different articles within for closer reading. - The "Advertising" gallery, which contains 14 posters and promotional images for the film. - The "Behind-The-Scenes" gallery has 57 images of conceptual art, makeup, and general behind the scenes stills from the film. - In the "Portrait" gallery are 20 profile and general close-ups of the actors for the film. - The "Production" gallery contains 58 images from on set focused on alternate angles or positioning during the filming. - “Spaceship Construction Blueprints” has 24 images of the construction plans for the flying saucer prop on the production. - Finally is the entire “Shooting Script” broken down into still frames, 424 frames in all. There's a bonus trailer for “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (2008) runs for 1 minute 48 seconds. And also an extended start-up sneak preview for “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (2008) which runs 7 minutes and 49 seconds.
Overall
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