Morbius: "Monsters! Monsters from the Id!"
Classic science fiction film--one of the best ever--released in
1956. It was directed by
Fred M. Wilcox and written by
Irving Block,
Allen Adler, and
Cyril Hume. It was loosely based (okay, very,
very loosely) on "
The Tempest" by
William Shakespeare. It starred
Leslie Nielsen (in his pre-
buffoon days) as Commander John Adams,
Anne Francis as Altaira,
Walter Pidgeon as Dr. Edward Morbius, and
Robby the Robot as himself.
Robby: "Quiet please. I am analyzing."
When Commander Adams and his
spaceship are sent to visit the
scientific colony on
Altair-4, they discover that all the
colonists have been killed except for Dr. Morbius, his daughter Altaira, and their robotic servant Robby. Now a powerful, invisible monster is stalking the crew, picking them off one by one. Can the crew stop the invisible menace, or is Dr. Morbius hiding dark secrets about the monster's powers?
Cookie: "Another one of them new worlds. No beer, no women, no pool parlors, nothin'! Nothin' to do but throw rocks at tin cans, and we gotta bring our own tin cans."
"Forbidden Planet" was the first science fiction film that had an
A-list budget; no black and white
cinematography or cheap papier-mache effects--this was
high class,
big budget all the way. The
plot is excellent, the acting is
excellent, the
dialogue is excellent. The
special effects are
outstanding--the only reason this movie didn't win the special effects
Oscar was because it had to compete against "
The Ten Commandments", and the Academy voters just weren't gonna vote against
God. Seriously, the effects are still
impressive today, especially the 20-mile
complex buried
underground and the scenes of the horrifying
Id Monster crashing against the spaceship's electrified
shields. All in all, it may be the most
influential science fiction movie ever made. If you haven't seen it yet, you should.
Robby: "Sorry miss, I was giving myself an oil job."