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Rico, I share your opinion that Forbidden Planet is an excellent film, but...

Posted by Audiophilander (A) on January 23, 2004 at 08:55:53

In Reply to: Re: Why restrict the praise to the 50's? It's definitely one of the posted by rico on January 23, 2004 at 06:53:47:

...I don't consider it the best SF film of the 50's any more than I view 2001 as the best SF film of all time. As we're both apparently big fans of the genre I'm not trying to be confrontational or argumentative, but let's give some of the other SF genre films a closer look, shall we?

Regarding films in the 50's, my personal inclination is that one of the first SF films of the decade, The Day the Earth Stood Still, edges out Forbidden Planet for the number one spot. Other 50's films worthy of contemplation for best SF of the decade include the aforementioned Invasion of the Body Snatchers for it's correlative cold-war paranoia theme and an oft overlooked little film, The Incredible Shrinking Man, for it's contemplation of freakish events which change lives, human nature, public curiosity, life/death issues and the unknown.

Without a doubt 2001: A Space Odyssey is an exceptional film in several areas, groundbreaking in fact, but I find that I like the near-future SF shocker Kubrick directed immediately following 2001 better (i.e., the controversial and prophetic film he directed based upon Anthony Burgess's novel "A Clockwork Orange"). However, there are many other great science fiction films and several with lofty contemplative themes which might fairly lay claim to the mantle of "greatest" or best of all time.

For instance, Fritz Lang's silent masterpiece Metropolis with it's theme of class warfare between upper world dwellers and subterranian workers and the unforgettable robot Maria comes to mind; if not the greatest, it was certainly far ahead of it's time. Other great SF films which I find arguably more satisfying fare than 2001 include, but aren't limited to: Stephen Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (The Director's Cut), James Cameron's The Abyss and Terry Gilliam's Brazil. I'm even tempted to list John Carpenter's The Thing, which is closer to John W. Campbell's short story "Who Goes There" than the original 50's era film of similar name (i.e., The Thing from Another World).

Finally, I even find myself enjoying Pau Verhooven's scathingly sarcastic future fascist bug-flick, the tongue 'n cheek take on Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers more than Stanley Kubrick's molasses slow overly contemplative symbolism-heavy 2001, not that 2001 isn't a beautiful film and in one or two important ways groundbreaking in it's own rite. Of course, I would rank 2001 ahead of Starship Troopers in regard to importance for that very reason, but for pure enjoyment, nah.

AuPh

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