The day the earth stood still 1951 review

(The day the earth stood still Poster)

The Day The Earth Stood Still Review

“The day the earth stood still” is an influential sci-fi classic about an alien named Klaatu (played by Michael Rennie), coming to earth to warn all humans that if they do not change their destructive ways, and then they, as well as their planet, will be erased from history. The story takes place shortly after the Second World War, the destruction caused by humans is slowly effective other inhabited planets nearby.

Movie Still One - Flying Saucer

I have now watched this film twice and I preferred it on the second time around, I think that I had judged it harshly the first time because I hated it. However the second time was I had a lifted opinion on the movie. I was mostly impressed with Rennie’s performance as Klaatu; his tall structure, small movements and the intelligent eyes all emit an alien vibe which helps me believe his otherworldly story throughout the film. The mighty robot, Gort (Lock Martin) is for me, where the movie lets itself down. I will not comment on this robot via the point of view of a member from my generation because there is too much competition and it will always lose. However from the 1950’s audience’s point of view I can understand why this would be a successful monster; this is mainly because of the face. Gort’s face has no features to recognise and what is hiding behind his visor? As I say this monster is successful but if only the costume for it was better, it is clearly a man in a suit and I dislike seeing this, I know it has become almost a requirement in B-movies but I still don’t like seeing.

Movie Still Two - Gort

I give this movie three stars, this is because I enjoyed the storyline, acting and mainly the fact that Gort stood still for most of it, restricting us from seeing the horrendous bends in his “metal” form.

Illustration Bibliography

The day the earth stood still Poster - http://robotanime.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/the-day-the-earth-stood-still-in-1951.jpg - Date accessed on 22/01/12

Movie Still One - Flying Saucer - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIkL8OJuPgzPGcyKftG9eB6adIOCJhbj6FnjoAr4-E_g-yZEkdfxoyIrZ_YcsYeXLmF2vvRvbhVz9p_L-fuqixLvs9VuuFX0HIVLY9DZL06yXL_cgIegQFC3sVdwz0fKvCa6NwVsIxQloC/s400/flying-saucer-steals-homeplate-in-washington-baseball-park-the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951-directed-by-robert-wise-picture-courtesy-20th-century-fox%5B1%5D.jpg - Date Accessed on 22/01/12

Movie Still Two - Gort - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIs4izcirJi6QWwtzf1KWNREHKmJp8U60iHBGfYNGbjFhWdC4qWvW7FLXRd5mVDnxVARKbT8qdlanuqsvi1uH-nsZZrx6cSBNVk4lagQ6cdzrR_NtJDg_9tjf3DqHIHK6M2npu-QbYTgw/s1600/dtess.jpg - Date Acccessed on 22/01/12

Lost in La Mancha

FIG. 1

Lost in La Mancha (2002) - Directed by Keith Fulton, Louis Pepe.

Lost in La Mancha is the surviving on set documentary of the uphill struggle Director Terry Gilliam went through trying to film his version of "The man who killed Don Quixote". While showing his torment in making the film, it also shows the audience the possible problem when creating a movie. Unfortunately for Gilliam, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. In the documentary Gilliam says, "If it's easy , I don't do it; if it's almost impossible to do, I have a go" (Gilliam: 2002). This sums up his whole ordeal when making this adaptation of the film. People told him it would be near impossible, yet he tried it anyway because that's how he's worked his entire life.

The documentary became almost impossible to watch by the end of the movie because Gilliam went through so much pain. The finance for the film was lowered to a near unworkable amount, he got his actors late, the extras hadn't been trained, the weather was always against then, the last sound set in Madrid was awful and what finally killed the production was his main actor, Jean Rochefort, who became too ill to continue the film.

There is one other problem that Gilliam had to battle when creating his movie, and David Loftus expresses it like this, "As a film project, Quixote already seems to be cursed"(Loftus: 2003). This is because the project had been taken up by Orson Welles in 1957, the project stayed with him for 20 years but finally ended when his main actor Francisco Reiguera died before the picture could be completed.

Even though the Gilliam project was never completed, he still gave something to the audience; through Fulton and Pepe's editing of endless hours of pre-production footage, they all finally came up with something that can live in the memory of every audience member. Phil Stubbs described this as "The editing process played like an autopsy, in which moments that had seemed insignificant at the time now revealed themselves as clues to the death of Gilliam's production." (Stubbs: 2003) By the end of the documentary we all have sucked into the world of the director and the heartache of losing your movie, which we can all learn from and develop to make sure it doesn't happen to us.

Bernard Bouix, Executive Producer of "The man who killed Don Quixote" expresses, "The battle of Don Quixote is a battle against reality, and I think Film making is a battle against reality. But in this case, reality has been stronger than the dream." (Bouix: 2002)


Bibliography

Gilliam. T, (2002), Lost in La Mancha


Loftus. D, (2003), Documentary Films, Available at http://www.documentaryfilms.net/Reviews/LostInLaMancha/, [Accessed on 28th September]

Stubbs. P, (2003), SMART, [Online], Available at http://www.smart.co.uk/lostinlamancha/lm_story.htm, [Accessed on 28th September]


Bouix. B, (2002), Lost in La Mancha






Illustration Bibliography

Fig. 1, Lost in La Mancha Poster, 2002 , [Photograph], http://thecia.com.au/reviews/l/images/lost-in-la-mancha-poster-0.jpg 

Ed Wood 1994 Review

Ed Wood 1994 Review

Ed Wood Poster

Director - Tim Burton

Ed Wood - Johnny Deep

Bela Lugosi - Martin Landau

Dolores Fuller - Sarah Jessica Parker


This movie is about a Director, Ed Wood who was voted after his death as "The Worst Director of all Time". Prior to the film, I hadn't heard of Ed Wood or his career, so I watching this with a fresh idea of the man. I thought that the man was seriously underrated, it was clear that he loved what he was doing. Although it wasn't clear in his movies, he had an extreme dedication to finish a film to prosent to the audience.

Ed Wood image 2

It was also clear how much he wanted to protect forgotten talent, for example when he meets the character, Bela Lugosi. Everyone thought he was dead because they had forgotten about him. But because Ed Wood Cared about the people he was with, he brought a dream back to a dying man. Matt Murray says, "Ed's failure wasn't due to a lack of caring, want of effort, or any of the normal hurdles we're all told repeatedly that we can overcome if we just keep at it." (Murray, 2006)


Bibliography

Murray, M (2006), http://www.cornponeflicks.org/edwood.html 


Illustration Bibliography

Ed Wood Poster, http://www.movie-list.com/posters/big/zoom/edwood.jpg

Ed Wood Image 2, http://img.filmous.com/static/photos/301/3_midi.jpg,