Forbidden Planet

Your mind refuses to face the conclusion.

Forbidden Planet is directed by Fred M. Wilcox and stars Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielsen. Screenplay is written by Cyril Hume from an original story by Irving Block & Allen Adler (original title being Fatal Planet). It is a CinemaScope production out of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and is shot in Eastman Color (not Metrocolor as suggested on some sources) by cinematographer George J. Folsey. The piece features a novel musical score (credited as "electronic tonalities") by Louis & Bebe Barron.

Loosely based around William Shakespeare's play "The Tempest", the story sees Nielsen and the crew of the C-57D spaceship sent to the remote planet of Altair IV. Where once was a colony of Earthl...

The 50's prototype Sci-Fi film and... Anne Francis

I didn't see "Forbidden Planet" (1956) until a full four decades after it's debut. I've seen it a few more times since then and here's what strikes me:

For one, although Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry is undeniably great, practically every primary aspect of Trek is present in "Forbidden Planet," which was released almost a decade before the first Star Trek pilot episode was produced (!). You name it: warp drive, Captain/First Officer/Doctor triumvirate, alluring space females, beam down/up (in a visual sense, at least), etc., it's all here in "Forbidden Planet."

The flick combines Shakespeare's The Tempest with psychological concepts. The invisible id monster is horrifyin...

A sci-fi landmark that, however, is quite dated and has aged poorly.

I confess that I expected more from this film. Its impact at the time is undeniable, and it is a renowned classic of sci-fi cinema. In fact, we can almost say that it is part of the pantheon of founding films of this genre of cinema, as it was one of the first big-budget sci-fi films with a great public impact.

The best thing this film has to give us is its almost inexhaustible creativity. It is quite evident that the team of creators had time to create and develop ideas and the studio decided to allow its specialists wide margin of maneuver. When this is combined with an appropriate budget and a serious investment in high quality special, visual and sound effect...

"Dr. Morbius" (Walter Pidgeon) and his daughter "Altaira" (Anne Francis) are getting along fine on their planet of "Altair 4" when they receive a radio signal from an incoming ship. Despite being given the cold shoulder, they land and are soon enquiring as to where the remainder of the expedition went. He informs the captain "Adams" (Leslie Nielsen) and the doctor "Ostrow" (Warren Stevens) that they all died mysteriously, including his own wife, but that things were all settled now. The visitors are far from satisfied, and with a few of them vying for the affections of the young woman completely unused to male attentions aside from her father's, the dynamic on the outwardly peaceful planet starts to change. Could the thing that killed the e...