Forbidden Planet: A classic sci-fi film
Author’s note: All pictures used in this are legal under the terms of the fair use agreement of 1976. Also be aware that there will be some spoilers for this movie.
This movie review goes out to Tommyboy44 on Minds. It took a little time, but I finally got this done. And I’ve been quite excited about reviewing this.,
In the 1950’s sci-fi movies were often mixed with horror. While there were some good movies, they were also quite cheesy. Also, none of them had any big Hollywood names.
But in 1956 a sci-fi movie debuted which was a real game changer. The movie's name, Forbidden Planet. Many people have proclaimed that this movie was the reason why Sci-fi started to grow.
This movie was the exact reason why people went to the movies often in days of long ago. The reasons for this will become clear very soon. Now then on with the review.
It is the 23rd century. United Planets cruiser C-57-D is on a mission to the system of the great star Altair. Their mission is to search for a ship that disappeared 20 years ago the Belarathon.
The crew goes through the standard deceleration procedure. This move proves itself a special effects extravaganza. By the standards of its day this was top tier effects and the one behind it knew their craft. But more on the genius behind them later.
When they arrive at the system Commander J.J. Adams as played by Leslie Nielsen keeps the ship up to date on what’s going on. The ship astrogator Lt. Jerry Farmer guides the ship to the fourth planet of the system. One of the crewmen Cook as played by Earl Holliman quips about this being another of those new worlds. In his words, “No women, no bars, all we can do is shoot rocks and cans, and we gotta’ bring our own cans.”
A quick scan of the planet reveals there are no signs of any kind of civilization at all. Something to which the crew find rather odd. If the Belarathon had crashed on Altair 4 one would think there would be some structures.
Then the ship gets radar scanned and a voice contacts them. The voice belongs to Doctor Edward Morbius. He was the philologist for the Belarathon. After Commander Adams identifies the ship, The good doctor warns them to stay away. Gee that’s not ominous or suspicious at all!
After a quick verbal exchange Morbius gives the ship coordinates to land on the planet. The ship lands in a desert region of Altair 4. The crew establish a perimeter around the ship in case of trouble.
Then they get a surprise when a stream of dust comes speeding towards them. That streak turns up to be a vehicle driven by a robot. The machine speaks English and identifies itself as Robby.
After a quick bit of conversation Commander Adams decides to allow the robot to take him to Morbius’ home. Joining him is Lieutenant Jerry Farmer as played by Jack Keely. The third member to join is Lieutenant “Doc’ Oslow as played by Warren Stevens.
It seems Dr. Morbius has done quite well for himself in the 20 years since the ship landed. Robby is only the start of the wonders of the Doctor's house. He also demonstrates the house’s disintegrator beam. Isn’t that a bit on the dangerous side?
But there is an underlying tension with the situation. It’s clear the Doctor is hiding something even as he demonstrates some of the house’s little tricks. that's very curious indeed.
Things take an interesting turn when Altaira Morbius the Doctor's daughter joins them. The part of Altaira got played by actress Anne Francis. The philologist chides her as he told her not to join them for lunch. But she explains lunch is over and he never said she couldn’t join them for coffee. Hello, this girl’s got a little bit of a rebellious streak in her.
It becomes clear that Commander Adams and “Doc” are getting hot and bothered by her. Even Quinn, another ship crewmember, lets out a whistle when he sees the young lady. A move to which Adams immediately chides the ship's chief.
Jerry Farmer plays up being the reliable one and the nice guy. And he plays up Commander Adams’ reputation as a ladies' man. Boy someone is laying it on real thick.
Altaira then shows another trick with a special whistle. This special whistle is unique as it's hypersonic at a level of which only animals can hear. With it she calls to her some deer and even a tiger. Yikes nice kitty!
Before they leave Commander Adams explains he’ll need to contact Earth. The Belarathon's destruction and Morbius' situation requires new orders. The Doctor agrees to let Robby help create the device to contact Earth. Robby has a special means to produce any material needed for anything.
The first night things are calm and peaceful for the ship.
The next day Robby arrives with the necessary material. And carrying it is no issue as the machine sees it as simple morning exercise. Yeah, the machine could rip the house off its foundation. Thank goodness Morbius put in safety protocols!
J.J. Adams gives some visual instructions to Quinn as played by Richard Anderson. The ship's chief uses the magnet on the tractor to remove Cook who is getting in the way of things. A bit of sci-fi levity anyone?
Adams notices Altaira watching the ship despite her father telling her not to go near it. I’d say there's more than a little streak of rebellion here.
Farmer and Altaira walk off but the keen-eyed Adams notices this. Considering he’s the Commander of a ship full of men who haven’t seen a woman in over a year enough said.
In a forested area some distance from the ship Farmer put some moves on the beautiful yet naïve Altaira. He does so as he claims that kissing is part of some ancient Earth tradition. In his words it's a means of providing good health to both people. Oh yeah sure it is, you're laying it on real thick pal!
But amid his antics the astrogator is in for a big surprise. It becomes obvious that Altaira is neither impressed nor moved by the man. This despite him kissing her several times.
Things take an awkward turn when Adams interrupts them and gives Altaira a dressing down. It seems Farmer is the one who is the actual Space Wolf. The only thing Commander J.J. Adams is guilty of is being a no-nonsense kind of Skipper.
Considering the responsibilities of Nielsen’s character it’s not that surprising.
Back at home Altaira makes it clear she is not pleased with Adam’s harsh words. She then asks Robby to make a new dress with Star Sapphires in them. Robby points out the problem is they take a week to crystalize. He suggests diamond or emerald as an alternative.
That night two men are on guard duty outside the ship. A mysterious entity slips past the guards and on to the ship. The only sign of its presence being it's strange breathing. The device needed to call Earth gets sabotaged and the only witness is an officer in the bunk.
The next day the guards and the man who got woke up by the intrusion get a dressing down from an angry Commander Adams.
Afterwards he and Doc decide to pay a visit to talk with Morbius.
The two realize the philologist is hiding something. Farmer gets left in charge as it’s obvious there’s some tension between the astrogator and Commander. Tension between two officers not good!
They arrive at the house as Robby uses a harmless beam to chase off a monkey that had intruded. Then Commander Adams and Doc Oslow show up. Robby explains that Morbius is in his study and not to get disturbed for any reason.
Adams instructs Doc to wait for Morbius. He goes outside to talk with Altaira. The conversation starts out awkward as the young lady is swimming naked. And she makes it clear she's never seen a bathing suit.
Well, this got awkward real fast! The Commander turns his back as Altaira gets dressed as a lady’s privacy should get respected. Afterwards she comes out in a dress that is long and yet form fitting. And Commander Adams' attraction to her is obvious.
This was one thing that was a little off putting about this movie. The relationship between Altaira and Commander Adams changes in a heartbeat. That seemed a tad unnatural.
But it is believable when he admits that getting mad and dressing her down went overboard. A smart man or commander is one who can admit when he's wrong.
He’s a man and thus subject to jealousy. That’s the nature of a bunch of competitive men on a world with a single woman.
Things take an ugly turn when the tiger Altaira petted yesterday comes and tries to attack them. Commander Adams fires his blaster and disintegrates the creature about to strike. This shocks the girl as the creature acted like it didn’t recognize her. Harsh truth of the universe Altaira, a tiger is not a Maine Coon!
The Commander returns and finds Morbius still hasn’t come out. The men's patience at an end they go into his study. There they find some strange writing they don’t recognize right before Morbius shows up.
That’s when the movie becomes a bit of a college lecture though not in a bad way. Altair 4 was once the home of a mighty and noble race that died out 2000 centuries ago. This race called themselves the Krell.
The explanation of the tiger and deer proves a surprise. Long before man existed the Krell had visited Earth and collected samples of the life there. So, in a sense the Krell were this universe's version of the Vorlons.
The Krell reached heights greater than mankind could’ve known. Then on the precipice of some grand accomplishment they perished in a single night. That’s not a good sign, it's usually a sign something very bad happened.
Morbius then takes them into the Krell lab and demonstrates some devices. One was to test the young of the Krell. It can also give a brain boost but there’s a danger. The device can kill a person with a lesser developed mind.
Morbius explains his ship's skipper tried it and died. When the philologist tried afterward, he laid unconscious for a day and night. Doc and Adams use the device to test their intelligence. To their surprise they find they don’t even register a third of Morbius’ new intelligence.
Morbius then takes the two on a tour of the great machine underneath Altair 4’s soil. This machine stretches for 20 square miles in all directions. That is a very big machine, and the Krell channeling all that effort into it is remarkable.
The set designs might be crude by today’s standards. But by that day’s standards they were a massive breakthrough. And they're proof of why Forbidden Planet is the gold standard for Sci-fi movies.
Back at the ship Farmer and the crew have set up an electronic barrier around the ship to provide defense. The cook asks to go outside the barrier. Farmer and the rest know Cook is up to something but let him go anyway.
There he meets up with Robby as the day before he and the robot had a conversation. He wanted the robot to give him some Kansas City Bourbon under the premise of cooking purposes. Yeah right, in a pig’s eye!
The robot in turn delivers sixty gallons of genuine Kansas City bourbon. And in Cook’s words “As smooth too.”
The little lab in Robby is a remarkable thing indeed. And as pointed out by Adams a housewife's dream. The irony being the little stunt cook pulled saved his life.
That strange force from last night returns and goes past the electric fence like it was nothing. The creature goes up into the ship bent on unknown mischief. A scream of pain from the ship's inside draws the attention of the two men on guard duty.
The ramifications will build tension for the movie’s ending. Before it’s all said and done more people will die. Worse the crew will finally see the unseen monster stalking them. The special effects firefight is one that will thrill the audience.
Also, the terrible truth will emerge of what happened to the Belarathon and the Krell. These truths give insight into the human psyche or rather the darker side. Isn't there a certain anime character who could've learned from this? Now who could that be?
Now what was it about this movie that made it so good. The story was compact and well done. There was some special effects in it. Because well…sci-fi. But it didn’t rely on special effects the way a lot of modern movies do.
Now what was it about this movie that works? To be fair it isn't action-packed. It's a slow build-up with all kinds of tension and nuance. This and the fact this movie didn't depend too much on special effects helped a lot. And that's okay because it allows for greater character interaction in the film.
That said there is good special effects work in this movie. Joshua Meador who was on loan from Disney proved his skills. This was back in a time when Disney cared about the quality of product it produced. His work especially with the Id monster proved why he was good at what he did.
Another thing to like about this movie were the performances of the actors. Walter Pidgeon as Morbius for example, was a kind yet misguided man blinded by his own hubris. Anne Francis does a terrific job as the naive and rebellious Altaira. And the late Leslie Nielsen showed why he’ll always be an American treasure. His performance as Commander John J. Adams is a solid and believable one.
The quick make-up session between Altaira and Adams was a bit rushed. Thus, it was a bit off putting and hard to relate to. This movie could've gone a little longer than it did. They could've explored finding other signs of the creature to give the crew pause. But other than those details Forbidden Planet is a solid sci-fi movie.
This feature is worthy of its cult classic status. So Forbidden Planet Gets a solid B for a great story and great performances. This movie comes very recommended to any sci-fi buff.
Thanks for reading this review. And special thanks to Tommyboy44 for recommending this movie to me. If anyone else has any movies they can recommend let me know in the comments section. I’ll get on it as soon as I can.
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