From the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, It's Retro Nerd Girl with a film review for you.
Today I'll be reviewing the movie Forbidden Planet released in 1956.
Starring:
Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen
Directed by:
Fred M. Wilcox
Genre:
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Rating:
G
Budget:
$1,900,000 (estimated)
Current IMDb Rating When Reviewed:
7.6
The Synopsis is:
A star ship crew investigates the disappearance of a planet's colony only to find two survivors and a deadly secret.
Story:
Originally the screenplay was written by Irving Block and Allen Adler in 1952 under the name “Fatal Planet”as a "B" picture because at the time, most science fiction films were avoided by large studios. It was loosely based on William Shakespeare’s last play, The Tempest (approx. 1610–1611?). An Earth expedition headed by John Grant is sent to Mercury to rescue Dr. Adams and his daughter Dorianne, who have been stranded for twenty years and escape an invisible monster.
After being rejected by B movie studios, they then decided to try their luck at a big studio and the script was green-lighted by MGM.
MGM handed off the screenplay to Cyril Hume with a name change of “Forbidden Planet”, to enhance its box-office attraction. The visiting planet and names of characters were changed, but the theme remained.
A little bit about the source material, The Tempest: the similarities only exist in the fact that there is a stranded father, a daughter, a ship of men who arrive, and a man on that ship that falls in love with the daughter. Beyond that, the story is original with strong imaginings of a future evolution for humans that has been emulated in TV and cinema ever since.
It was said that the theme of the Tempest was Shakespeare’s farewell to his audience, but also an allegory for Europeans colonizing foreign lands. Forbidden Planet features notes on colonization, but also one particular profound message that men are not Gods and are prone to reckless destruction if given such power.
Pacing:
At 1 hour and 38 minute it’s short and sweet. It always blows my mind that the pacing is referred to as slow and boring by many critics. I was into this movie from the start with wide eyes and a big smile on my face. Even through the credits we are learning about the story through the unease of the music and the world we are entering. It worked well for me.
Challenge:
Technically there's no obvious villain in the film. However there is a monster that is not conventional.
Just to give you a little context for my thoughts, the discovery of hyperdrive led to light speed and that led to deep-space colonization. Twenty years before the events of this film, a party of scientists from the Federation of Planets was sent to the Earth-like planet, Altair IV on the ship, Bellerophon. Over time they lost all contact with the Federation and a United Planets cruiser C57d was sent to search for survivors and answers.
Led by Commander J.J. Adams, the ship are warned by Dr. Edward Morbius, who they find on Altair 4, not to land on the planet and if they do he is not responsible for what happens to them. Already the plot thickens as they ignore his warning to obey protocol.
Dr. Morbius greets an away team of the Commander, his executive officer, and the ship’s doctor informing them that he has discovered an extinct but advanced civilization of the Krell who colonized Altair 4 millions of years ago.
The Krells were working on a machine that would “free them from instrumentation.” This is kind of a wish maker. They could use it to build cities, vehicles and landscapes with a thought.
The Bellerophon team of scientists were hoping to report the technology to the Federation. Interestingly enough, soon after making that decision, the team was killed off by an unknown monster leaving only Dr. Morbius and his daughter alive.
As soon as the Federation men arrive he sets out to impress them with what he calls parlor tricks. He shows off his robot, Robbie and tons of information about the Krells. It's almost as if he can't help himself because he is dominated by his Ego.
What’s cool about the storytelling here is that you would expect that all of this footage of Dr. Morbius showing off the wonders of Altair IV to just be a superfluous time waster. But it’s not, every bit of it pays off within the story along the way. One of the pieces of technology is a brain boosting device that Dr. Morbius has been using to enhance his mental capacity.
After Dr. Morbius enthusiastically shows off the Krell technology, the Commander decides that this must be information to be shared with the Federation and that is when an invisible monster begins to sabotage the ship and kill the crew mates of the C-57D.
If red flags are waving for you that it seems highly likely that Dr. Morbius and the invisible monster are connected, you are not wrong, however, the connection is not intentional. Dr. Morbius is the only person that has survived using the Krells brain booster which also connects him to their ultimate wish making machine.
The machine also turns subconscious thoughts into reality as well. Dr. Morbius is a reasonably well mannered person, his selfish desires to keep the Krell technology to himself makes him create what the film calls an “Id monster”. As well, it is theorized that similar "Monsters from the Id" brought about the Krell’s extinction.
The Id talks about Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, identifying the Id as a “primitive and instinctual part of the mind”. A person’s Id can be revealed in dreams, and Dr. Morbius indicates that he has terrible nightmares and premonitions about the things that the Id is doing.
The jealousy of sharing the Krell technology created the Morbius Id monster that killed the Bellerophon team and then went after the C57b crew.
The doctor said that human beings weren’t ready to handle the power of the Krell technology, yet he thought that he alone could? He meant well, but he wanted to be the only person to master and control the Krell technology.
What’s so special about him is that he’s not an evil maniacal mastermind, he just has maniacal thoughts and he’s too close to the problem that he cannot see the connection between himself and the monster. And it's an allegory for individuals who seem nice to everyone, but yet hold within themselves the true identity of being a monster. It’s identifiable and lends empathy for this human being.
I enjoyed that nuance and mystery that was baked into this revelation like peeling the layers of skin on an onion.
There is so much you don’t know. You don’t really know what the Krells looked like except for the odd shape of their doorways and you don’t really see the Id monster until the very end. What we do see is an impression of the monster which is even more suspenseful. This was an incredible challenge for our protagonists.
The concept of a spirit type Id monster was also in a movie that I reviewed on this channel, Project X 1968 that manifested into the real world and affected the story.
Empathy:
Commander John J. Adams is in charge of United planets Cruiser c57d now nearly a year out on a special mission to find out what became of the missing Bellerophon team. He’s a man by the book that cares about his men and takes his responsibility seriously.
Adams displays incredible courage right in the beginning by facing off with an unwavering stance when Morbius orders Robbie to shoot the commander with a gun. The look on his face is priceless. He's not going to back down from fear and yet he does not know what is going to happen. He has to be the commander in front of his men.
Even though the commander is looked down upon for not having the highest IQ, he is savvy enough to actually solve the mystery behind the Krells and the Id monster before Morbius does. I thought that was an amazing turn of events for his character.
On planet Altair IV , he falls in love with Morbius’ Daughter Altaira Morbius, who he sometimes calls Alta. He is typically stern, but fair, however in his interactions with Altaira he shows more tenderness and it’s nice to see that he’s not just one note.
Altaira is modeled after the character Miranda in the Tempest. She’s intelligent, naive, and beautiful, but a lot of critics had some problem with her. Some people said she was too demure and didn’t have enough to do in the film.
I don’t disagree with that entirely, but I cut the film a lot of slack for the character being modeled after a Shakespearean female character and it being 1956. I felt that Alteira earns the right to be a passive character because she is the representation of the feminine in its most innocent form as it was perceived at that time.
In 1956 and Shakespearean times daughters were subordinate and obedient to her father. Fathers give away their daughters to a husband, giving away their power. Many wives were then expected to be obedient and subordinate to their husbands. So I find it interesting that Alteira and Miranda both follow that trajectory in their stories.
She has never seen another human except her father, so when she sees the away team of men, she says “they are beautiful. The two ones on the ends are just incredible.”
She doesn’t hold back what she feels and for a character in 1956 that was ridiculously bold. And even for today, I thought that was a very honest forward thinking moment for her character. She’s without a filter and so refreshing.
For her era, Alteira appealed to boys for her sex appeal as a diversion in a sea of men. Alteira appealed to girls too because she is headstrong, smart, the animals were her friends and she designs her own clothes covered in sapphires and diamonds whenever she pleases.
Alteira does have a dramatic arc in the film as she falls in love with the Commander and makes the conscious choice to turn away from the shelter of her father because she witnesses his brutal arrogance.
I'm actually glad that the last scene between her and Commander Adams is not a kiss but it is one of him consoling her and also speaking about the loss that they have sadly endured in this adventure. It's a real somber moment about accepting and understanding the tragedy that has happened.
A quick word about Robby the Robot is that he was more of a tool than a character, however, impressive and he went against the trope of the evil or malfunctioning robot.
The lore is that after receiving the brain boost, Dr. Morbius “tinkered” Robby together within the first few months that he arrived on the planet Altier 4 with the three laws of robotics laid out by Isaac Asimov in the book iRobot in 1950. One of the short stories in the book features a small robot by the name of Robby.
I like the fact that Robby is not the savior in the film, but again, used as a tool to help mankind. At one point Robby says “if you do not speak English I am at your disposal with a hundred and eighty seven other languages along with their various dialects and sub tongues.” Sounds familiar? In the Star Wars franchise, C-3PO says "I am fluent in over six million forms of communication."
I also like the fact that he’s treated fondly, like part of the family at least to Alteira.
Technical:
Science fiction movies were typically filmed in black and white then decades later they were colorized. Since this was a big studio film they spared no expense shooting it in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope. This was especially needed to show off the fantasy element of being in a strange new world. One of the most beautiful shots was of the Morbius home and garden, filmed on the same stage as "The Wizard of Oz (1939)". You may vaguely notice it as the Munchkin Village filmed 17 years prior.
This was the first film set entirely on a strange planet and utilized a 89,000 square feet sound stage which featured the outdoor sequences in the film including landscape shots surrounded with props and realistic matte paintings. It looks vast, but alien, especially with that green sky.
The 1933 novel "When Worlds Collide" by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer was the source of choosing that color for the sky on Altair IV scientifically explained by inhabiting a species of green algae on the planet. That's just one example of the details that were put into this production.
One cool feature of the film is that the humans in the film arrive on an alien planet in a flying saucer. Up until then flying saucers were the space crafts designated for aliens and creatively that represents the fact that humans are the aliens on this world. It's the epitome of visual storytelling beautifully done.
The incredible landing of the ship on the planet was achieved by a variation of sizes of the ship edited together and employing in-camera effects. Hand drawn animation was used to create the light rays. No computers were used to create any of the effects and no realistic computer images would be available until the 1990’s. So what they were able to achieve here was astounding. I imagine that seeing this in the 1950’s must have been so incredible and inspiring.
The sets created for the interior shots of Dr. Morbius’ home and the Krell underground world was an impressive task. I especially appreciated the blending real world props and designs with camera tricks to achieve a massive technological underground world.
One of the most astounding and memorable features of the film was Robby the Robot built by washing machine designer Robert Kinoshita over five weeks. It took a team of five men to create the prop for roughly $125,000 and was the most expensive prop at this time.
In November 2017, the Robby the Robot costume and its transport sold for $5.375 million.
This film featured the first planetary explosion on screen later seen in Star Wars 1977 and frequently used as a plot point in subsequent films.
It was the first movie to use a hologram and such techniques you can see influenced Star Wars as well where Princess Leia leaves a message for Obi-Wan inside of artoo-detoo that he is his only hope. This was achieved with superimposed film footage of the charge from an electrical generator, hand-drawn animation, and footage of Anne Francis.
MGM borrowed artist Joshua Meador from Walt Disney Studios to animate the Id monster and about 29 other animation effects of energy and laser beams.
A striking feature of the film were the costumes worn by Anne Francis which were the first mini dresses worn in a Hollywood picture. This was scandalous for the time in 1956 that Forbidden Planet was banned in Spain until 1967. However it was fashion-forward as mini skirts became the rage in the mid to late 1960s.
Avant-garde electronic musicians Louis Barron and Bebe Barron were discovered in a nightclub in Greenwich Village, New York, and hired on the spot to score the film.
Louis Barron invented electronic circuits called a “ring modulator” to create the score which were full of tones, or what the film calls tonalities. Louis and Bebe worked for three months to produce the sounds which were manipulated and combined to give the audience a special experience of dread, fear, and mystery. I absolutely loved the musical tonalities giving the audience a sense of unease at something weird is happening. It feels very alien. Very out of this world teasing your mind to wander into various imaginations. It was perfectly in support of the storytelling of the film. It’s one of the shining highlights of this film in a sea of amazing highlights.
Being one of the most unique and groundbreaking scores you would think that this could get an Oscar, or even nominated. However, the musicians' union blocked the Barrons from being credited as "composers", and thus ineligible for an Academy Award.
Performances:
All the roles are played extremely seriously and that made all of the difference. In more modern times, many of us are familiar with seeing Leslie Nielsen in comedic roles. It’s so nice to see him early in his career playing such a serious role. He’s so good at playing a dramatic leading man. I wished Hollywood would have utilized him more in this capacity. This film showcases his range of acting from stern to tender. I enjoyed him in this film.
Anne Francis was enchanting and delightful as Alteira. I particularly liked the way she spoke at times, pronouncing words with interesting inclinations. She portrayed the character with an upbeat innocence and curiosity that was endearing.
Walter Pidgeon played Dr. Morbius. He had an amazing screen presence of power. The character of Dr. Morbius is complex and I felt, he gave him shadows of warmth within his cold exterior. I enjoyed the character because he played him with the nuance that he wasn’t an evil person. This is not an easy achievement.
Enjoyment:
The original poster for this film is iconic, featuring Robby as a possible monster robot with a terrified woman in his clutches. That was false advertisement, put together by marketers because it was a common theme in successful genre films. Unfortunately, it was not enough to bring a lot of people to the theaters. The film barely broke even at the box office. However, it did receive critical acclaim, giving big studios confidence in making sci-fi movies in the future.
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was inspired by the movie and many influences appear in the original TV series.
The 3 main characters, the captain, the first officer, and the ship’s doctor.
The use of terms like Federation and United Planets.
The transporter technology looks a lot like the hyperdrive DC station used in this film.
The dresses for female officers are much like Alteira’s designs.
By Any Other Name (1968) the true shape of the alien Kelvans was implied to be non-humanoid but never shown like the Krells.
1701, which is the serial number of the Starship Enterprise emulates the clock mark 17:01 when the C57D enters orbit around Altair IV.
Star Trek: The Original Series: The Menagerie: Part II (1966) Spock states that Talos IV is a forbidden planet.
Star Trek TV episode in which a father and daughter is stranded on a planet.
Altair IV, which according to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) is also a Federation planet.
Robby the Robot and many of the props from the film were repurposed and celebrated in many movies and television shows from 1958 to 1984).
Appearances include:
- The Jetsons (1962) (TV Series)
- Rosie is a nod to Robbie the Robot
- Robert Kinoshita became the Director for the TV series Lost in Space (1965) and made a similar robot for the show.
- Gremlins (1984) Robbie the Robot appears in the background at the inventors' convention.
- Robby and the "Lost" robot had a couple of "family reunions" in two "Lost in Space" episodes: Lost in Space: War of the Robots (1966) and Lost in Space: Condemned of Space (1967).
- The model of the "flying saucer"-style Earth space cruiser "The Twilight Zone: To Serve Man (1962)."
- Robby the Robot, his ground transporter, and crew uniforms would be used on "The Twilight Zone (1959)" as well.
- The Spaceship C57D, models and full-size prop was actually used in seven episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959). The list is as follows by season, The Twilight Zone: Third from the Sun (1960), The Twilight Zone: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street (1960), The Twilight Zone: The Invaders (1961), The Twilight Zone: To Serve Man (1962), The Twilight Zone: Hocus-Pocus and Frisby (1962), The Twilight Zone: Death Ship (1963) and The Twilight Zone: On Thursday We Leave for Home (1963). Robby's vehicle does appear in the final scene of The Twilight Zone: The Rip Van Winkle Caper (1961). The crew's outfits were used in a number of episodes, not to mention also in The Time Machine (1960) and The Queen of Outer Space (1958) along with some props. The flickering force-field fence-posts appeared in Atlantis: The Lost Continent (1961) and were last seen being placed at the bottom of the ocean in Around the World Under the Sea (1966).
Adiantum steel was mentioned in the film. Which pre-dates it’s use of the nearly indestructible fictional metal alloy in comic books published by Marvel Comics “created” by writer Roy Thomas and artists Barry Windsor-Smith and Syd Shores in Avengers #66 (July 1969), as part of the character Ultron's outer shell.
The line “reverse the polarity” was later repurposed in Doctor Who by the third doctor and several others.
It was included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
Even though this is a visual spectacle for 1956 as most science fiction films are expected to be, there is a highly cerebral edge to the story that’s not much about physics, engineering, and chemistry, but of the mind, how complex it is and how the the levels of the subconscious can manifest in the real world.
There are also so many ways to interpret the story. Forbidden Planet is the garden of Eden, and outfitted with its own Eve in Alteira for Adam (Commander Adams). Her father acts as God and the forbidden fruit is the wonders of the Krell civilization and technology.
It can be an allegory for the term, be careful what you wish for because sometimes they come with costly consequences.
The forbidden planet can also be perceived as the human body being invaded by the virus of the crew; the Krell and their machine are the body’s immune response. Dr. Morbius is the brain. The virus/crew leaves the body/ Alteir IV being changed forever carrying antibodies/Alteira and Robby with them.
One thing I enjoyed about the story is that even though the ship was an all male crew, the beginning opening epilogue says “In the final decade of the 21st Century men and women in rocket ships landed on the moon” which indicates that beyond what was believable for audiences in 1956, the universe of the film had gender inclusion. I would love to see a continuation of this story and learn more about this unique story universe.
My personal reaction to the film was just one of awe, totally recognizing all of the ways that the film influenced science fiction in many current day franchises. I was a big fan of how they wanted all of the action in the film to be tactical and real. It felt grounded in reality and not complete make believe, such as the science jargon and the manual landing. I didn’t mind that it was very basic and possibly dated with the pulling of leavers and flipping of switches. I thought that just imagining myself in 1950, this would seem so much more in depth than anything they were getting at the time. Even now, I feel as if the time capsule of the era influences what we see and that is in it’s own dimension a work of art.
My Rating:
9.3
This is Retro Nerd Girl signing off!
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