Wonderful character development!

Excellent adaptation.

A Major Disappointment

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Without a doubt in my mind, the original version of this story remains the greatest sci-fi themed movie about a visitor from another planet and the dangers that awaits the earth if we don't change our ways. 67 years later, this film still resonates in an even more dangerous time, with so many other powers threatening our survival as a planet and little, if no, lessons learned from the horrors of the past. This film wastes absolutely no time in introducing the visitor from outer space, a human being like creature from an unnamed planet who is shot and hospitilized simply for offering a gift which some paranoid army soldier believes to be a weapon. He shot first and never got to ask questions later, but for the visitor (the outstanding Michael Rennie), lots of questions are asked, and many lessons are learned, particularly by the sultry voiced widow Patricia Neal and her lovable son (Billy Gray) who takes a shine to the new boarder even though potential stepfather Hugh Marlowe is instantly suspicious of him.A genius of incomparable patience, charm and class, Rennie's visitor immediately impresses scientist Sam Jaffe over his ability to solve a difficult problem Jaffe had been working on in his efforts to use nuclear power for good. Jaffe, considered the wisest man on earth, looks on at Rennie in awe, seemingly immediately knowing what Rennie's mission is and determined to get the message spread for the good of all of the universe. Neal at first is conflicted. She likes her son having an older male companion, but something about Rennie to her (mostly thanks to Marlowe's paranoia) doesn't seem right. A visit to Rennie's spaceship (thanks to the most amazing encounter with the very dangerous robot Rennie reveals to be a police officer for universal safety) reveals everything to her, and Neal wakes up to her own blindness to the dangers earthlings pose to the future of the entire solar system. Most subtle in its depiction of Rennie's alien civilization as peace loving and unselfish in every way, it also presents a view of our earth society as violent, paranoid, self centered, and most importantly, unaware of the dangers we put on the solar system because of our obsessions with war and nuclear power. Blow yourself up if you so desire, Rennie tells his captive earth audience, but leave the rest of the universe alone, or face the consequences. This film never loses steam as it intensely drags the audience into its calm but intense world of a desire for the end of the violent nonsense, and shows the hypocrisies of our world which we obviously have let get too far out of control. I don't know if I could bear to see the remake of this film, because it pretty much says everything here and cannot be improved on. Perhaps this film 67 years later should be passed around to every new leader in our world as well as a reminder of past destructions that not only killed millions but brought the perpetrators down viciously as well.

The movie was made one year before I was born. I remember seeing it for the first time when I was very young. It enthralled me. It still does. It installed a sense of the important of science and of the greater universe. It launched me in the direction of loving space and I ended up becoming a doctor. I am serious. It did exactly what a movie is supposed to do change our minds.

The Day The Earth Stood Still has its glamours in music, acting, and special effects; however, its various plot holes, blatant thematic message, and poor character design stop it from the rank of classics. On the bright side, the film certainly did well in its imagination and is very bold in depicting the alien. Some of the special effects and props are not very bad. Costuming is far from convincing, but would be quite impressive considering the time. My biggest problem with it has nothing to do with tech stuffs. The story is not good. Many films, new or old, indulge themselves in conveying the theme and completely forget that they are always firstly telling a story. This film tells an okay story, but its narrative devices are naive even to that time period. This is also a good example of a film forcing its theme out. You can see how the film is trying to urge humans to give up strives, but not in a subtle way like Gone in the Wind, but in a way that is said out by the main character at the end of the film. Overall, it is not a bad film, but not a good one. Just to add a small point, the robot has been noteworthy, and is kind of a pleasant surprise.

I'm not sure if this a true "classic" but it's certainly excellent.As kid in the 1960s I saw this multiple times on the syndicated "Saturday Night at the Movies". I loved it then and still enjoy it now. The special effects look very weak today and it's bit preachy but the performances, dialog and pacing are top notch. The characters and setting come across as genuine representations of the era without any maudlin melodrama or contrived romantic distractions.The benevolent desire expressed by Klattu for Earth to join in peaceful interplanetary relationship is strangely offset by the warning of "And if don't do it our way we'll smash you like a bug". I suspect a more nuanced approach would ring more comfortably in our ears today.In any case, the acting is superb and the movie well-directed. Definitely in the top echelon of film-making.