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SPOILER ALERT!
When The Day the Earth Stood Still opens, a UFO is spotted, circling the Earth at a high rate of speed. A man on the radio announces that this is not another flying saucer scare, that scientists and military men have agreed that this is something real. Nevertheless, another radio announcer says that in the nation’s capital, there is some concern, but no sign of panic, as people are enjoying a nice spring day.
We see the familiar landmarks of Washington, D.C. At a park, people are lying about, others having a picnic, while a bunch of children are playing baseball. Suddenly, it becomes clear that the flying saucer is going to land there, and they all scatter.
This is not realistic. A UFO always lands in some isolated area, where only a few people see it, one of whom is taken into the flying saucer so a needle can be stuck into her navel. And then when she tries to tell her story, no one believes her, except a few government officials, who keep it a secret because we must never know. Landing right in the middle of the nation’s capital in broad daylight with everybody watching just isn’t the way UFOs do things.
The flying saucer is surrounded by infantry, artillery, and tanks, as well as by onlookers. Eventually, a ramp appears, and a door opens. An alien emerges in the shape of human being. That’s reassuring. He starts speaking with a male voice, so men apparently run things where he comes from too. He is wearing a space helmet, but only because every well-dressed alien from outer space is expected to have one. Otherwise, it serves no useful function: he wouldn’t have needed it on his flying saucer, and he has no trouble breathing when he takes it off. When he does take it off, we see that he is white, so apparently white people run things where he comes from too. We later find out that his name is Klaatu, played by Michael Rennie.
He is able to speak English, which he learned from listening to our radio and television broadcasts. He says, “We have come to visit you in peace and with goodwill.” But when he whips out what appears to be a space switchblade, one of the trigger-happy soldiers shoots him.
Then a great big robot comes out, and with rays of light beaming out of the slit in his head, he starts vaporizing all the rifles, artillery, and tanks, but without harming any soldiers. Klaatu struggles to rise up from the ground, addressing the robot, “Gort! Deglet ovrosco!” Apparently, the robot’s name is Gort, and he doesn’t speak English.
As some soldiers approach, Klaatu picks up the broken device he had been holding, saying, “It was a gift for your president. With this he could have studied life on other planets.” Perhaps the president could also have studied the planets that used to have life on them before they were annihilated for disobedience. But Klaatu brought only one with him, so we’ll never know.
Klaatu is brought to a hospital to treat the wound to his shoulder. He is visited by Mr. Harley, the president’s secretary. Klaatu tells him he has traveled 250,000,000 miles from his planet to reach Earth. That means he could be from Mars, but it is not clear what was intended by the scriptwriters. Later in the movie, Klaatu speaks of a confederation of planets, but we can’t be sure whether they are supposed to be within our solar system or beyond it. At the time this movie was made, the possibility of intelligent life on other planets in our solar system and even on their moons was widely accepted in science fiction. On the other hand, Klaatu at one point says, “The universe grows smaller every day,” not, “The solar system grows smaller every day.” Therefore, it is more likely that Klaatu’s home planet is not in our solar system. But that means that its distance from Earth would have to be measured in trillions of miles, not millions.
Klaatu demands that he be allowed to address the United Nations. Mr. Harley is hesitant, saying there are problems with that, saying that “evil forces have produced tension in our world.”
Klaatu replies, in a voice that is not at all friendly, but rather threatening, “My mission here is not to solve your petty squabbles. It concerns the existence of every last creature who lives on Earth.” So much for all that talk about “peace” and “goodwill” in his initial greeting. Later, he refers to earthlings as being childish and stupid. However, when he learns that he cannot get anywhere with the political leaders of the world, he decides he must mingle with ordinary people of Earth, so as to understand their “strange, unreasoning attitudes.”
He is locked in his room in the hospital, but of course he is able to escape. He rents a room at a boardinghouse, using the name Mr. Carpenter, where he meets Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) and her son Bobby. According to an online script, Bobby is supposed to be eleven years old, even though he is played by Billy Gray, who was thirteen at the time. Although “Mr. Carpenter” becomes quite familiar with these two, as well as with others who live there, he never encourages anyone to call him by a first name. This is consistent with his persona, which affects an aloof, superior attitude.
The next morning, at the breakfast table of the boardinghouse, Mr. Carpenter reads in the newspaper that a Professor Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe) has invited scientists from all over the world to study the spaceship. He seems to be getting an idea: if he cannot get anywhere with politicians, he might do better with scientists. That places this movie on the left, politically speaking. Conservatives don’t trust scientists the way liberals do.
Also at the breakfast table are other tenants, listening to the radio, where the announcer refers to the spaceman as a monster, who must be tracked down like a wild animal and destroyed. However, he expresses concern that destroying him might involve retaliation. We are supposed to disapprove of this xenophobic attitude on the part of the announcer. This is ironic, for once we find out why Klaatu has come to Earth, we realize that the announcer was right: Klaatu is a monster, and the only misgivings we should have about killing him is the possibility of retaliation. Of course, the movie does not want us to think that way, not even at the end when his threat to destroy all life on this planet becomes clear.
One of the tenants, a Mr. Barley, turns off the radio in disgust, complaining about the way the government isn’t doing anything because they are Democrats. Because he comes across as dogmatic and narrowminded, this remark further establishes the leftwing orientation of this movie.
Mrs. Barley, his wife, doesn’t even think he is from another planet, but from right here on Earth. Given the year this movie was made, we may guess that she thinks the man is a Communist. Only Helen defends the spaceman, suggesting he is not a menace at all.
Mrs. Crockett, the landlady, enters the dining room and tells Helen that Tom Stevens is here to see her. She goes into the lobby, where they kiss romantically. Apparently, they were planning a picnic, but Helen says she hasn’t been able to find a babysitter for Bobby. She tentatively suggests taking him with them, but we can see that Tom doesn’t like that idea. Right then, we know we aren’t supposed to like him, not surprising since he is played by Hugh Marlowe. Furthermore, he is an insurance salesman. In real life, an insurance salesman might be a fine fellow, but when a scriptwriter decides to make one of the characters in a movie an insurance salesman, he wants the audience to have a negative feeling about him. Tom wants to marry Helen, but she isn’t sure.
In any event, Mr. Carpenter offers to take care of Bobby, so Bobby can show him around the city. Before Helen has a chance to think about that, Tom says, “Say, that’ll be great, wouldn’t it, Helen?” Helen is hesitant, but she finally agrees. Bobby and Mr. Carpenter begin by going to Arlington National Cemetery, where Bobby’s father is buried. Mr. Carpenter is deeply moved by the fact that all those men died in wars. He says that they don’t have wars where he comes from. Then they go to the Lincoln Memorial, where he reads the Gettysburg Address, which was given during the Civil War. Again, Mr. Carpenter is deeply moved. Referring to Lincoln, he says, “That’s the kind of man I’d like to talk to.”
I hate to get ahead of this story again, but since we all know what is coming, I guess it will be all right. The whole reason Klaatu is here on Earth is that earthlings fight wars. Since they now have atomic weapons and are experimenting with rockets, this will make them a danger to the whole universe, once they move beyond Earth and venture on to other planets. As a result, Earth may have to be incinerated, wiping everyone out, including Bobby, I might add. In order for this to make sense, Klaatu should be showing disgust at the way earthlings not only fight wars all the time, but also honor those who died in those wars, thereby duping future young men to fight and die too. That he should become sentimental about those who died in wars, and that he should admire a man who presided over a war, is incongruous, given the kind of death and destruction that he threatens to inflict on all of mankind on account of the wars they are always waging.
Since Lincoln is no longer available, Mr. Carpenter asks Bobby who the greatest man in America is today, meaning the greatest philosopher, the greatest thinker. Bobby says it’s Professor Barnhardt. They go to Barnhardt’s house, but he’s not home. Mr. Carpenter and Bobby go inside anyway, where they see a blackboard full of equations, representing an effort to solve a problem in celestial mechanics. Mr. Carpenter writes on the blackboard, essentially solving it for Barnhardt, leaving his address with the Barnhardt’s secretary when she interrupts them.
Eventually, Barnhardt and Mr. Carpenter get together, the latter revealing himself as Klaatu. He says that the warlike earthlings are beginning to be a threat to other planets, now that they have atomic energy and rockets. Klaatu says that if he does not get the hearing he demands, he may have to resort to violence to get one, such as by destroying all of New York City. If he gets a hearing and fails to get the results he demands, the entire planet Earth will have to be eliminated. In the meantime, he agrees to settle for a nonviolent demonstration of some sort.
That night, Bobby follows Mr. Carpenter to the flying saucer, where he sees him interacting with Gort and then entering the spaceship. He tells his mother what he saw, and, you guessed it, she insists he was dreaming, one of the most irritating plot devices in the movies. How refreshing it would have been to see her immediately pick up the phone and call the police. Instead, we have to resign ourselves to suffering through this routine until Bobby is finally believed, and then only because Mr. Carpenter tells Helen that he is Klaatu. He admits to what happened because he found out that Bobby saw him entering the flying saucer, and he was afraid Helen would believe Bobby and call the police. It never occurred to Klaatu that Helen would dismiss what Bobby told her as being a dream because he is from another planet and has never been in an Earth movie before.
Right after he tells her this, the demonstration he promised Barnhardt begins, when all electric power throughout the entire world is turned off, including that of automobiles. That’s impressive, all right. Even more impressive is the fact that this is done differentially, with exceptions being made for hospitals and airplanes in flight. Problem is, if Klaatu, all by himself, has the ability to do this, he could shut off the electricity of any rocket ships trying to leave Earth. In that case, the other planets that Klaatu represents would have nothing to fear, and Earth would not need to be destroyed. But Klaatu doesn’t think of that.
Anyway, Tom figures out that Mr. Carpenter is the spaceman. That’s because Klaatu carries perfect diamonds around in his pocket like loose change, a couple of which he gave to Bobby, one of which Tom accidentally found. He and Helen start arguing about it. He wants to report this to the Pentagon, and she wants to protect Klaatu by keeping it a secret.
Tom says, “He’s a menace to the whole world. It’s our duty to turn him in.” He’s right, of course. Klaatu casually spoke of murdering everyone in New York City just to make a point, that point being that he is willing to murder everyone on this planet, if we don’t do what he says. By our standards, he is a psychopath, although on the planet he comes from, he may be perfectly normal.
But the movie doesn’t want us to think that way. For some reason, we are supposed to think Klaatu is a good person, and that Helen is right to protect him. Therefore, the movie must make Tom out to be even more unlikable than he already is. He continues:
You realize what this’d mean for us? I’d be the biggest man in the country. I could write my own ticket…. You’ll feel different when you see my picture in the papers…. You wait and see. You’re going to marry a big hero.
It might be one thing for him to think that way, but no matter how vainglorious a man might be in his heart, he would know not to say something like, “I want to be a hero.” Rather, what we would expect is that Tom would continue to say he is turning Klaatu in because it’s the right thing to do. Later, when surrounded by reporters, who speak of him as a hero, he would say, “Oh, no. I just did what anyone else would do in my situation.”
In any event, after he tells Helen that he doesn’t care about the world, that he only wants to be big and important, that marriage is off.
Of course, in another sense, Tom was wrong about informing the Pentagon, as a practical matter. Even if Klaatu were to be arrested or killed, Earth would be destroyed anyway. Klaatu says that is exactly what would happen, that Gort would destroy the whole planet if anything happened to him. Gort may end up doing that eventually, but right now it would be premature. To prevent Gort from so doing, he tells Helen that if anything happens to him, she must go to Gort and say the words, “Klaatu barada nikto.”
Later, when Klaatu is shot down in the street by soldiers, he tells her to get that message to Gort right before he dies. Meanwhile, Gort has been sealed in a rectangular prism of plastic, which is harder than steel. Nevertheless, he simply vaporizes it and frees himself. A couple of soldiers approach. This time, Gort doesn’t simply vaporize their rifles. He vaporizes the soldiers too.
Then Helen shows up. Gort is about to do the same to her, but she utters the all-important words, “Klaatu barada nikto.” There must be a lot of meaning in those words because Gort picks up Helen and brings her inside the flying saucer. Then he goes to the cell where the body of Klaatu has been locked up, vaporizes the wall, and brings Klaatu’s body back to the flying saucer.
When Gort brings Klaatu back to life, Helen asks, “You mean he has the power of life and death?”
Klaatu responds, “No, that power is reserved for the Almighty Spirit.” This is the only explicit reference to God in this movie, although his use of the name “Carpenter” is intended to make us identify him with Jesus, as does his resurrection.
All the scientists that Klaatu wanted to speak to have convened around the flying saucer. Klaatu emerges and gives a short speech.
Essentially, he says that the other planets in the universe have created a race of robots to act as policemen. Their job is to enforce the peace. They have absolute power over those who live on those planets, and their power cannot be revoked. If the people on Earth try to extend their violent ways beyond their own planet, the entire planet will be burnt to a cinder. Having given this ultimatum, he gets in his flying saucer and flies away.
Earlier, I noted that the political orientation of this movie is on the left, given its positive attitude toward scientists. Furthermore, regarding those scientists now surrounding the flying saucer, we see they consist of men and women of all races and from all parts of world, suggesting an equality of the sexes and the races, which also puts this movie on the left. In the original script, Klaatu compared the organization of the planets of which he speaks to “A sort of United Nations on the planetary level.” Even without that line in the movie, the similarity between the organization of the planets and our United Nations is obvious. This further marks the movie as being on the left, given that liberals tend to have a more favorable attitude toward the United Nations than conservatives do.
As opposed to this, I would have expected conservative viewers of this movie to react with revulsion at the thought of having to submit to Klaatu and his robot. I should think they would regard the loss of sovereignty of planet Earth to some interplanetary government, which in turn has given up its sovereignty to a race of robots, not as a positive thing, but as a cautionary tale as to what could happen to American sovereignty if the elitists and globalists are allowed to have their way. Moreover, I should have thought that those on right would have been appalled at the way we are supposed to admire Klaatu and appreciate what he is doing for the people on Earth, while threatening them all with death if they don’t behave. Finally, given the intensity with which conservatives embrace their Christian faith, I should have thought they would regard the suggestion that Klaatu was Christlike as blasphemous.
And yet, I have found none of this. With professional critics, it is sometimes difficult to tell whether they are liberals or conservatives, but that doesn’t seem to matter. Whatever their political orientation might be, they all seem to approve of the way Klaatu bestowed upon mankind the blessing of peace on Earth. As for those I have known personally, their response has invariably been the same, even though I have lived in Texas most of my life and am surrounded by Republicans. It strikes me as paradoxical that, though I am a Democrat, yet my reaction to this movie is further to the right than it is for those who actually belong there.