When Leslie Nielsen died in 2010, most of the murders preceded her later career as a comedian, while her professional death turned her into the unlikely star of “Airplane!” and the “Naked Gun” trilogy. But in a previous life, the Canadian was so famous for playing it so straight, that the standard baritone could be used in more serious roles than chasing laughs.
Seventy years ago this month, he sought out a strange new world as proto-Captain Kirk in the sci-fi classic “Forbidden Planet.” But even if the laughs are lacking in the alien world of Altair IV, the influential 1956 blockbuster is definitely among Nielsen’s best films – and don’t call it Shirley.
Not that Nielsen – or any of the “Forbidden Planet” people, for that matter – can claim to be the real star of this classic sci-fi game. With its green-gliding alien scenes, futuristic spaceships, advanced global civilizations, and mechanized co-star, the film laid the groundwork for “Star Wars“,”Star Trek” and almost every other screen space opera followed.
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It was certainly light years away from other scientific publications of the time. In the 1950s, this genre was often associated with monster movies (big bugs were everywhere), Cold War paranoia, and often hybridized the two, such as “The Thing From Another World” (1951).
Another Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster of the decade, “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (also 1951), was a political affair, whose giant robots and flying saucers were more subdued. (It was also, unlike “Forbidden Planet”, shot in black and white.) Meanwhile, most American audiences would be blissfully unaware that “Godzilla“(1954) was busy leaving his mark of destruction all over Japan.
“Forbidden Planet”, on the other hand, saw MGM throw a pile of money at a big budget picture set in outer space. In this vision of the future, the people of Earth (but, let’s be honest, mostly American men) have successfully explored, conquered and colonized deep space since faster-than-light hyperdrives were developed in the early 23rd century.
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Now, an indefinite time later, the United Planets Cruiser C-57D operating under the command of Nielsen’s by-the-book Commander John J Adams) is about to find out what happened to the crew of Bellerophon (the romantic name of the spaceship) twenty years earlier. But when Dr. Edward Morbius (Walter Pidgeon), a scientist and the sole survivor of the expedition, warns them that it’s not safe to stay, it’s clear that strange things are afoot on Altair IV…
On one level, you can view “Forbidden Planet” as “The Tempest” in space, a clever modern version of Shakespeare’s original that paved the way for the Bard’s later conflicts, such as “West Side Story” and “Ten Things I Hate About You”. Of course, no one in space can hear you speaking in iambic pentameter, but a cursory glance at your CliffsNotes should be all you need to tell you that Morbius is like the magician Prospero, his daughter Altaira (Anne Francis) is Miranda, and Adams is, more or less, the shipwrecked Ferdinand. But the film’s dramatic adaptations of Ariel and Caliban’s horror give more reason for the film’s status as a true sci-fi classic.
Ariel was reinvented as Robby the Robot, the droid that paved the way for everything from the “Lost in Space” Robot (like Robby, created by Robert Kinoshita) to R2-D2. Far from the demonic presence seen occupying the scantily clad woman in the Forbidden Planet scene – few movie trailers have ever been so misleading – it’s the positive energy that Morbius has built.
Robby adheres strictly to Isaac Asimov’s rules of robotics, protecting human life at all costs, while also having a practical way of replicating clothes, whiskey, and anything else you can think of. But unlike his wiser, more personable leads, “Metropolis”‘s Maria (1927) and “The Day the Earth Stood Still”‘s Gort, his design is unobtrusive – you can see exactly what’s going on under the hood, an amazing array of electrical components, gyroscopes and flashing lights.
Robby would go on to become a movie star, getting the title bill in the unrelated children’s film “The Invisible Boy” the following year, before going on to appear in everything from “Wonder Woman” and “Mork and Mindy” to “Gremlins”.
The film’s response to Caliban, meanwhile, has been an even bigger change. In the story, the “id monster” becomes Morbius’s darkest thoughts given physical form, a product of the powerful technology left behind by an ancient, extinct race – a place worthy of “Star Trek” before “Star Trek” was even invented. But the genius that brought the creature to the screen would have impressed even the long-gone Krell.
Most of the time, the creature is invisible, given only by its roar or footsteps on the ground of this world and beyond.
But the C-57D’s energy fields and laser blasts reveal something else, a bright outline of terror that looks unlike any other creation before or since. It was created by Disney veteran Joshua Meador (best known for his work on “Fantasia”), whose pencil drawings were photographed before being converted to negatives to create the monster’s cold and transparent form. It – and the film’s other effects – would inspire a generation of VFX pioneers. Indeed, the first iteration of Industrial Light & Magic might have looked very different if the likes of John Dykstra and Dennis Muren hadn’t been embraced by the adventures of Altair IV.
But much of “Forbidden Planet” is ahead of its time. When the film was released, Sputnik it was not yet a year, space travel is still very much in the realms of fantasy – the opening story presents the end of the 21st century as the date of the successful landing of the moon. However, the film’s planets and space travel technology would not feel out of place in the space games that followed decades later. Adams even talked about “reversing polarity”, a phrase that has become one of the most used in sci-fi.
And there’s a soundtrack, a combination of scores and sound effects so powerful that Hollywood had to invent a new word to describe it. In this pre-synthesizer era, Bebe and Louis Barron used an incredible selection of electronic gizmos to create a unique collage of otherworldly noise.
The film refers to their contributions as “Electronic Tonalities”, although the fact that they did not use famous singers or instruments caused controversy with the music industry. It was subsequently announced that they were ineligible for that year’s Best Original Score Oscar – ironic considering this was, by several centuries of glory, the most original score ever.
That said, it is important to note that not everything in the “Forbidden Planet” is compatible with modern analysis. The crew of the C-57D is all male, and Adams’ attitude towards his love interest, Altaira, is pre-historic.
Their awkward romance has the uneasy air of an older, more sophisticated man taking advantage of a naïve young woman, while her complaints about the effect her presence (and short dresses) have on her sexually confused shipmates is certainly a product of another era. The scene of Altaira’s “immersion” when Francis wears a bodysuit to protect his modesty is amazing – the innocent “What’s a bathing suit?” words don’t make sense when they are well dressed.
But when we see many classics of the 20th century – from “Bang Like It Hot” to “Back to the Future” – have moments that, in fact, would not pass a text editor today, it seems strange to dismiss “Forbidden Planet” for carrying the ideas of the 1950s in the distant future. This was the film that really paved the way to the final frontier – and almost every space opera has since followed its own path.
“Forbidden Planet” is available to rent and buy through Amazon and Apple in the US and UK. You can also pick up the Blu-ray from Amazon.
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