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Forbidden Planet (1956)
Director: Fred M. Wilcox
Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen
Genre: Sci-Fi
Synopsis: A starship is sent to investigate a human colony on a distant planet. The colony has ceased all communications with Earth. When the ship arrives they find only two survivors: an older, egotistical but brilliant scientist and his stunningly beautiful, yet naive daughter...Lurking somewhere on the alien planet is a deadly secret.
Forbidden Planet is the granddaddy of modern sci-fi flicks and was one of the very first big budget, 'A list' sci-fi films. IMO it's the best sci-fi to be made during the Atomic Age...aka the 1950s. It heavily influenced many sci fi films, including the original Star Trek TV series and the first Star Wars film.
The movie was a big budget, cutting edge effects film for it's day. It used for the first time a Moog synthesizer for the sound score. This lent the film a creepy, alien feeling to it. The sets looked like a 'real' alien world. In comparison most sci-fi films at the time were cheap and cheesy looking and being made for kid matinee audiences the stories were simple with less than stellar acting.
Walter Pidgeon is Dr. Morbius, the intelligent, mysterious colonist who seems almost superior to the star crew. Pidgeon is perfectly cast. His daughter the young starlet Anne Francis is good as the beautiful ingenue who has never seen a man her own age before.
The deep underlying them of the darkness inside of all of us is one that lends itself well to this movie.
Forbidden Planet (1956)
Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen
Genre: Sci-Fi
Synopsis: A starship is sent to investigate a human colony on a distant planet. The colony has ceased all communications with Earth. When the ship arrives they find only two survivors: an older, egotistical but brilliant scientist and his stunningly beautiful, yet naive daughter...Lurking somewhere on the alien planet is a deadly secret.
Nah, my review isn't going to be all about Anne Francis, though it could be! This review is about how Forbidden Planet became one of the most important sci-fi films to be made and literally changed the future...Not only the future of sci fi films, but the future of women's fashions...I'm talking the mini skirt! I just didn't make that triplicate panel of Anne Francis for window dressing you know...Look at what she's wearing in 1956, a mini-dress, a very short mini-dress! Women in the 1950s would never have dressed like that, but in a futuristic sci-fi film they were able to show that. A decade later and women all over the western world would be wearing super short attire and thanks in large part to Forbidden Planet.
Of course the biggest contribution this classic 1950s sci fi movie made was in directly influencing the most iconic of sci fi TV shows, Star Trek. One can't help but notice how much of Star Trek was directly lifted from Forbidden Planet. Such as:
Of course the biggest contribution this classic 1950s sci fi movie made was in directly influencing the most iconic of sci fi TV shows, Star Trek. One can't help but notice how much of Star Trek was directly lifted from Forbidden Planet. Such as:
- As soon as the title credits in Forbidden Planet rolls we see a wide angle shot of a star field and then one of those stars grows bigger as it comes closer to the screen, then the 'star' comes close enough for us to see it's a ship...Star Trek did the exact same shot in the opening title credits.
- The story of mankind spreading out into space, exploring and colonizing it in the 23rd century, sounded just like Star Trek's mission. In Forbidden Planet they travel to a distant planet to rescue a Earth ship that had crashed 20 years earlier. When they get there they find aging scientist and one of them has a beautiful daughter who's highly cerebral and educated, but ignorant of men..as she's never seen one. That's very much like the original pilot for Star Trek, The Cage.
A few more photos to show the influence of Forbidden Planet on sci fi. See if you recognize these.
Forbidden Planet is the granddaddy of modern sci-fi flicks and was one of the very first big budget, 'A list' sci-fi films. IMO it's the best sci-fi to be made during the Atomic Age...aka the 1950s. It heavily influenced many sci fi films, including the original Star Trek TV series and the first Star Wars film.
The movie was a big budget, cutting edge effects film for it's day. It used for the first time a Moog synthesizer for the sound score. This lent the film a creepy, alien feeling to it. The sets looked like a 'real' alien world. In comparison most sci-fi films at the time were cheap and cheesy looking and being made for kid matinee audiences the stories were simple with less than stellar acting.
Walter Pidgeon is Dr. Morbius, the intelligent, mysterious colonist who seems almost superior to the star crew. Pidgeon is perfectly cast. His daughter the young starlet Anne Francis is good as the beautiful ingenue who has never seen a man her own age before.
The deep underlying them of the darkness inside of all of us is one that lends itself well to this movie.