The Day The Earth Stood Still depicts the arrival of an alien dignitary, Klaatu (Michael Rennie), who has come to earth with his deadly robot, Gort (Lock Martin), to deliver the message that earthlings must stop warring among themselves--or else. After being shot at by military guards, Klaatu is brought to a Washington, D.C. hospital, where he begs a sympathetic but frank Major White (Robert Osterloh) to gather all the world's leaders so he can tell them more specifically what he has come to warn them about. Losing patience, Klaatu slips into the human world, adapting a false identity and living at a boarding house where he meets a smart woman with a conscience and her inquisitive son. Both mother and son soon find themselves embroiled in the complex mystery of Klaatu, his message and the government's witch hunt for the alien.
A hallmark of the science fiction genre as well as a wry commentary on the political climate of the 1950s, The Day the Earth Stood Still is a sci-fi movie less concerned with special effects than with a social parable. A spacecraft lands in Washington, D.C., carrying a humanoid messenger from another world (Michael Rennie) imparting a warning to the people of Earth to cease their violent behavior. But panic ensues as the messenger lands and is shot by a nervous soldier. His large robot companion destroys the Capitol as the messenger escapes the confines of the hospital. He moves in with a family as a boarder and blends into society to observe the full range of the human experience. Director Robert Wise (West Side Story) not only provides one of the most recognizable icons of the science fiction world in his depiction of the massive robot loyal to his master, but he avoids the obvious camp elements of the story to create a quiet and observant story highlighting both the good and the bad in human nature. --Robert Lane

Customer Rating:
Summary: Movie screen format
Comment: Being upgraded to blu ray doest't mean that the movie will be 'restored'to widescreen format with 5.1 sound. This movie WAS shot in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio witch is closer to a TV standar format than the modern 16x9. You must remember guys that a lot of the early cinema was shot in 1.33:1. That's why the analog TV copied that format, because movies were shot that way. Check any movie database site to look after your favorite movie aspect ratio to be sure that this matchs with the info in the disc you're purchasing.

Ah, and about the movie, one of my favorite classics.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Original "Day The Earth Stood Still"
Comment: This upgraded DVD is sensational for the purest. Every detail is covered and the film looks better than ever - this is the "Mona Lisa" of early sci-fi and should never have been redone. Always a favorite and definitely a watch again film.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A must to see
Comment: This movie is very good and very thought provoking. If they would have kept the same theme with the new movie it would have been as good as this one made in 1951.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: good
Comment: My DVD of The Day the Earth Stood Still was in good condition and got here in record time.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: I come in peace
Comment: I suppose with the remake showing this is as good a time as any to watch the original classic again. In fact this timeless film demands to be watched again and again. The premise is simple and yet profound. An alien visitor that looks human arrives on Earth to give Earth's people a message about the future of mankind; however political red-tape and our own personal problems prevent him from delivering the message because he needs to assemble World leaders for it to happen and they just can't because of divisions. So instead he shows a sign by making all machinery stop around the world for a limited amount of time and in doing so this causes the military to kill him. It's an essential piece for any movie collection and the moral to the message doesn't change and still matters today. There are also a lot of religious undercurrent themes (such as bodily resurrection, miracles and signs) but in the context of a highly developed race with advanced technology that should amuse the scientifically-minded.

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