Was that a deliberate statement by the director/writer, or was it unintentional?
Well, all we know for sure is they liked Ringo Starr
WOW! I heard Michael Rennie saying that as I read it. Maybe I have watched it too many times.
Bob
So, do I win a cookie or what?
me too. i told you i watch those flicks over and over. 
My thread from the way way back machine.
Hard to say – obviously, knowledge about the medical effects of smoking was more limited then, but I’m fairly sure that people were calling cigarettes “coffin nails” and such even then. (I mean, how hard is it to figure out that inhaling smoke probably isn’t good for you?)
Because it included Anne Francis and her legs. Others have claimed that Barbie was ripped off from a German doll, but whom did the Germans use as their model of exaggerated womanly perfection?
Of course, Anne Francis may have been created by Dr Mengele as a human Bild Lilli. We may never know, as the Nuremberg war crimes records don’t include it.
I get disappointed by the contradiction in the exposition near the end. Eg. Gort was supposedly an all powerful sentient “policeman” but is totally under Klaatu’s power? How does that work?
Also, there’s something else about the military / political response to the problem that tries hard to be believable but just boils down to yet another series of newspaper headlines and stilted expository talk between characters.
Seems to affect a lot of films, eg. the recent “Deep Impact” or the original “The Thing” with all that newspaper guff. Just concentrate on the actions of the main characters, don’t try to “globalise” the film, it just makes it look naff.
I noticed that too.
In his ultimatum speech, he says “In matters of aggression, we have given them absolute power over us. This power cannot be revoked. At the first sign of violence, they act automatically against the aggressor. The penalty for provoking their action is too terrible to risk.”
Yet he does just that [ordering restraint].
Maybe it’s a magic phrase that means something like “It’s all right, Gort. We’re just playing ‘make believe’. Go back to sentry mode.” 
He also says “The result is, we live in peace, without arms or armies, secure in the knowledge that we are free from aggression and war. Free to pursue more… profitable enterprises.” Is he Ferengi in a hoo-man suit?
Do the robots respond to economic domination and cultural obliteration?
I may be going out on a limb here, but something just occurred to me about the pic.
There probably had been any number of presentations about intelligent aliens posing a danger to us. This was almost certainly the first piece of any kind to present an alien word p.o.v. that we represent chaos to the universe outside of us, at least until and unless we get out act together. It’s a more than a little chilling when he refers to the imminent possibility of our planet being reduced to so much char. But what if it becomes absolutely necessary? :eek:
(And in the meantime, we may end up saving the neighboring worlds the trouble of arranging our extinction.)
A critic somewhere on the web suggested that all they have to do is have a Gort guy monitor Earth and just blow up anything that goes into orbit. If they are so nice and cool and peaceful, why not just do that rather than destroy the whole planet?
It’s the attitude/culture that dooms us, not the tech.
They may be afraid that either we would continue to advance technologically until we reach the point where we could defeat the Gort, or, find some low-tech means to bypass Gort. (Would Gort recognise a non-tech threat, like facehugger Aliens?)
They watched Cowboys and Aliens.
Bastards!
Quoth dropzone:
I wouldn’t precisely use the word “because”, there, since it would have been a great movie even without Anne Francis’ legs. But the fact that the Mad Scientist’s Daughter was, in fact, Beautiful certainly didn’t hurt matters any.
While this was not Robert Wise’s directorial debut (not by a long shot) it does seem to be his first significant work as a director. Wise directed several “big” films in his career (West Side Story, Sound of Music, etc) but how is he generally regarded in the directing fraternity?
“What’s a bathing suit?”
“And then I’ll put more guards on the guards!”
This film could well be considered the Star Trek pilot. A starship comes to rescue the survivors of a colony who do not wish to leave. The protagonists are the Ships Captain, First Officer and Doctor. Strange things begin to happen…
Same here. I always associated Patricia Neal and Michael Rennie with that movie, in a GOOD way.
I didn’t see it at the theatre (not quite old enough), but I remember seeing in on the “Saturday Night at the Movies” tv show. The spooky theremin music made me think it was LOTS scarier than it actually was.
Me, too. That was in the 1960s.
Michael Rennie showed up on other science fictiony things after that, riding on the popularity of his role in TDTESS. He played John Roxton in the 1960 version of the Lost World. And he appeared as “The Keeper” in an episode of Lost in Space in the 1960s. I didn’t understand at the time why they made such a big deal in the TV Guide about his appearing in the part, until I learned years later about his being in TDTESS.
Okay. I’m gonna find the goddam thing and watch it, catch the dialogue and post it here, but then y’all are going to have to take my word for it, deal? 
Quasi