Forbidden Planet: 50th Anniversary Special Edition
Studio: Warner Home Video
WorkNameSort: Forbidden Planet: 50th Anniversary Special Edition
Even in the ’50s ‘ or especially in the ’50s ‘ all a man wanted was to be left alone, and Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) was no different. Except that he wanted to be left alone to use his machine-enhanced brain to study a long-extinct higher civilization on the planet Altair IV. This 1956 film is a certifiable sci-fi classic, both despite and because of its era-specific special effects and extraordinarily paranoiac view of human interactions. It’s easy to laugh at the movie’s stilted dialogue and flying saucers, but Forbidden Planet, though many of its aspects are dated, has held up remarkably well. In celebration of its 50th birthday, Warner has done a typically fine job of remastering and transferring the film and packing this two-disc set with abundant extras, including an entire feature film dedicated to Robby the Robot (1957’s The Invisible Boy), lost footage and deleted scenes. An even more extravagant version ‘ the Ultimate Collectors Edition ‘ boxes the DVDs up with a replica Robby and lobby cards.
This article appears in Nov 15-21, 2006.