Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Happy Anniversary, Forbidden Planet!


Chron.com | At 50, Forbidden Planet a benchmark in film: "On its 50th anniversary, Forbidden Planet is considered a benchmark film that launched a thousand spaceships

By LOUIS B. PARKS
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

March 1956. Dwight Eisenhower was president. Psychoanalysis was topical. New technology meant fancy kitchen appliances or the Bomb. Space travel was science fiction. And most science-fiction films were cheap monster movies.

But not all. A half-century after its debut, Forbidden Planet is still a beloved science-fiction movie. It has a monster, of sorts, but this widescreen, big-budget production is into the excitement of exploration, humanity's self-destructive tendencies and wowing audiences with mind-expanding special effects."

Click on the link for the whole article. And on the right-hand side is the writer's list of the top 25 SF movies.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oooohhhh yeah! It's one of my all time favorites and as soon as it came out on DVD I got a copy. Great cast, great scenery. I can't think of a space movie that tops it.

Brett Battles said...

Absolutely LOVE Forbidden Planet. I've had it taking up space on my TIVO for months now so I can watch it whenever I want. (I guess, like Lonnie, I could just buy the DVD.) Weird to see Leslie Neilson in a "serious" role.

Cap'n Bob said...

Anne Francis alone is worth the price of admission.

Jayme Lynn Blaschke said...

Forbidden Planet is awesome. And it's also the second-best ever use of Shakespearean source material in a non-Shakespearean genre. Strange Brew, of course, being the best. :-)