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Good Clean Fun
This is one of those movies that I love to watch over and over again. There's just something about the movie that draws me to it. The acting, for the most part, is laughable. Leslie Nielsen--back when he was still doing serious roles (how old is that guy?)--is particularly funny when trying to look his most serious. Just check out the expression on Nielsen's face when Morbius tells Nielsen of his premonition of death. You also have a young Richard "The Six Million Dollar Man" Anderson as the chief engineer and an equally youthful Earl "Police Woman" Holliman as the burbon-guzzling cook.

Walter Pigeon, in the role of Dr. Edward Morbius, a marooned scientist who has developed a god complex, is probably the only actor who plays his character to a high level of credibility. Rounding out the major players is Anne Francis, who plays Altaira, Morbius's "come hither" daughter.

Francis, too, gave me cause to laugh in this movie. She starts out as a 20-something, naive nature lover who's never kissed a man and, in the space of a couple of days, turns into a deliberately passionate woman who throws herself into the arms of Neilsen and spouts off lines like: "I'm ready to go with you, darling." Pretty funny stuff.

Now, I don't want you to think I'm trying to trash the movie. The story is excellent, although it was regarded as being too cerebral at the time of its release (with it's talk of "the Id"). Mindful of their viewing audience at the drive-ins of the day, moviemakers eventually placed emphasis on Robbie the Robot--Morbius's mechanical helper who can balance ten tons of metal shielding in the palm of one hand (and not tip over or sink into the ground!).

The story isn't all that complicated. A ship is sent to check on another ship that landed on the planet Altair 4 years earlier. They arrive to find everybody dead except Morbius and his daughter. Nielsen wants to evacuate the two, but Morbius has found the remnants of an now-perished civilization called the Krell and doesn't want to leave. Using their technology, he is able to harness the power of the mind and create anything from the nothing with a mere thought. But there's one problem--everybody has dreams and nighmares when they sleep. Hence, the cause of the demise of the Krell.

I won't give away the ending--I've probably given away too much already. The movie's special effects were considered cutting-edge at the time and hold up surprisingly well. And Robbie was probably the forerunner of robot designs to come for the next decade or so. Amusingly, you can find set pieces, and even the uniforms the crew wears, being used in quite few other movies of the period.

Overall, highly recommended.

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