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Forbidden Planet
Massively influential classic sci-fi. but still not all that fun to watch
1964
Review: October 3, 2005
Director: Fred W. Wilcox
Starring: Walter Pidgeon, Leslie Neilson, Anne Francis, Warren Stevens, Richard Anderson
I wouldn't. The first hour of this is SO BORING.
THE SETUP:
Ship travels to distant planet to check up on civilization there, find only a doctor, his nubile daughter, a robot, and an invisible monster.
DISCUSSION:
This is one of those movies that is better to have seen than to actually sit through. And yet see it you must, especially if you're into science fiction, because it is obviously so influential, and you will see whole elements of Star Trek and Star Wars lifted intact right out of it. It's also pretty gosh-darn fabulous in a lot of ways [mostly related to mattes and set design], it's just that the story moves in such a slow and leaden way..
The movie concerns a spaceship that looks more than a little like The Jupiter Two from Lost in Space [complete with central navigation device in the center of the bridge], traveling to a distant outpost to check up on the people there. This crew is commanded by Leslie Neilson. Yes, THAT Leslie Neilson, and it's more than a little bizarre to see him in a serious role. Also on the team is a young Richard Anderson, who would go on to become Oscar Goldman on The Six Million Dollar Man.
So the ship lands against the warnings of Dr. Morbius, the only inhabitant of the planet, so far as they know. You will immediately notice the fantastic matte paintings of the distant mountains and bizarre planetscapes, all of which pretty much sum up all that is classic sci-fi. They are greeted by Robby the Robot [only the young among us will not know who this is, and for them there is Google image search] who takes them to meet the doctor. It's a bit of a shock now to see a sci-fi film in which the characters are amazed to see a robot, and wonder "is it male or female?"
Oh, but I guess I'm getting ahead of myself. By now you will have noticed that this film packs in more exposition than-well, I don't even know where I've ever seen more exposition just heaped upon the viewer. Then they go into this beam thing [clearly, and later acknowledged by Gene Rodenberry as, the inspiration for the Star Trek transporter], which lights up, though I'm still not sure what it does. Did it disinfect them? Where they in hyperspace? Did it trim their body hair? Rid them of lice? Give their hair volume and body? Is this a form of liposuction? I may never find out, because I'm probably not going to sit through this again.
Anyway, so back on the planet they meet the doctor, who again warns them off, and they go inside and are soon meeting his daughter, who favors tight white dresses with tiny little skirts. She says "I so terribly wanted to meet a young man, and now three of them at once!" One of the ship's officers starts coming on to her HARD, seconds after meeting her, and within full view of her father! And you're like: WHERE is this going? And WHY is it going there?
Later this daughter, Alta's her name, discovers what it's like to kiss a man [she's never heard of such a thing and it sounds silly to her]. The Captain discovers this, sends the guy away, tells Alta she dresses like a whore and that "It would have served you right if he had..." Well, it IS 1956, if that's any excuse. So she asks Robby the Robot to make her a new dress [this is after another guy asked Robbie if he had any whiskey]. And at this point you're like; "Am I watching Porky's Space Adventure?" Anyway, so the Captain pulls rank on his junior officers in order to get the girl [but he just wants to protect her, natch], after which he comes back and tells the guys "something new has been entered." HUH?!?
Some have mentioned that this story is based on Shakespeare's The Tempest, and the father and his naïve daughter alone on an uninhabited place part is very close, but the rest of the story is so different, and not even based on related themes, that I would advise against going into cocktail parties with that as your only theory.
Meanwhile, some invisible beast has slain some guy, and there are those always-fun effects of footsteps appearing with nothing making them. Then we get pounds and pounds of exposition about the Krell [not to be confused with Krull, Krill, or Prell hair care products] which I'm not even going to go into, but here's where you start to see the shit that was stolen wholesale for Star Wars. Especially these huge caverns of machinery with little catwalks going over them. It seems the Krell boosted their brain power by placing tiny light bulbs on their temples, and what's more they integrated one of those swing-a-hammer-hit-the-bell-at-the-top strength measurements of it. Then the ship gets attacked by the invisible monster [that looks remarkably like the Tasmanian devil, from what I can tell]. Please note that this little relic is from before the days of green screen acting, and you'll notice that, when they're testing the electronic field around the ship, the field sputters and makes loud sounds [added later] and the guy standing next to it barely reacts at all.
>>>SPOILERS!!! Then all of a sudden Leslie Nielson knows the secret and delivers it in massive tons of expository speeches, each delivered in a sneering tone of contempt. It seems that the Krull boosted their intelligence, but their base instincts were left intact, and it is those that ended up killing them. Since Dr. Mobius used the machine himself, he unleashed his own id monster, and that's the one that's been attacking the fellas. And it's implied that the reason this happened is that secretly he wants to maintain his life with his daughter [and her short skirts] intact and free of the intrusion of other men. This whole thing made me like the movie a lot more. I like it when things get perverted.
But by now Alta and Leslie Nielson "have been joined forever" [huh, seemed like just a few tepid conversations to me], and she's leaving anyway. Anyway, please note that after the truth has come out, then the doctor calls Leslie Nielson "Son." Ah-ha! <<<SPOILERS END
Anyway, when you watch the TRAILER, you will see still MORE aspects that were taken for Star Wars, most notably a long crawl of yellow letters traveling at an angle through space, just like the opening crawl of Star Wars, and a bright yellow word starting at the screen and moving backward, just like when the words "Star Wars" appear on screen at the head of each of the movies. Nothing wrong with any of this, just interesting to note.
SHOULD YOU WATCH IT?
Probably, just be aware that while you'll be glad you did afterward, it can be kind of a bummer to sit through.
