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The Day the Earth Stood Still

is a1951 black-and-white science fiction filmthat tells the story of a humanoid alien visitor who comes to Earth with a warning. The film starsMichael Rennie,Patricia Neal, Sam Jaffe, andHugh Marlowe,under the direction of Robert Wise. Screenwriter Edmund H. Northwas inspired byHarry Bates'short story "Farewell to the Master ". The score was composed by Bernard Herrmannand used twothereminelectronic instruments. The film is often considered by movie historians to be one of the classics of thescience-fictiongenre.

Plot

At the beginning of the film, aflying saucer lands on the Ellipse inPresident's Park , Washington, D.C.Its pilotKlaatuemerges and declares he has come on a mission of goodwill. When he opens a small, menacing-looking device, he is shot and wounded by a nervous soldier. In response, alarge humanoidrobotcalledGortsteps out of the ship and disintegrates all weapons present without harming the soldiers. Klaatu orders him to stop and remarks that the device he carriedwas in fact a gift to thePresidentthat could have been used to study life on other planets. Klaatuis taken to an army hospital, where he recovers. The military attempts to enter Klaatu's ship, butfinds it impregnable, while Gort stands motionless.Klaatu meets the President's secretary, Mr. Harley, and reveals he has a message he wants thewhole world to hear, to which Harley replies that the divided world leaders cannot even agree ona meeting place for such an occasion. When Klaatu suggests he live among ordinary people so asto know them better, Harley rebuffs him and informs him that he is in protective custody. Klaatuescapes to a boarding house, assuming the alias "Mr. Carpenter", the name on the laundry label of a suit he has taken. Among the residents are Helen Benson, a widow whose husband waskilled inWorld War II, and her son Bobby. The next morning, Klaatu listens to a paranoid radiocommentator and to the boarders' speculations on the subject of his flying saucer over the breakfast table; one suggests that it might be the work of theSoviets.When Helen's boyfriend, Tom Stephens, plans a day trip for the two of them, Klaatu offers to babysit Bobby. Bobby takes Klaatu on a tour of the city, including a visit to his father's grave inArlington National Cemetery, where Klaatu learns with dismay that most of those buried therewere killed in wars. The two then visit theLincoln Memorialand the heavily-guarded spaceship.Klaatu, impressed by the inscription of Abraham Lincoln'sGettysburg Address, is hopeful thatEarth may harbor people wise enough to understand his message. When he asks Bobby to namethe greatest person living in the world, Bobby suggests a leading American scientist, Professor Jacob Barnhardt, who lives nearby. Bobby takes Klaatu to Barnhardt's home. The professor isabsent, but Klaatu helps solve an advanced mathematicaln-body problemwritten on a blackboard in the study as a means of introducing himself and gives his boardinghouse addressto the housekeeper.Later, government agents escort Klaatu to see Barnhardt, who has seen the correction to his work as a calling card which could not have been faked. Klaatu warns the professor that the people of the other planets are concerned for their own safety because human beings have developedatomic power . Barnhardt offers Klaatu the opportunity to speak at an upcoming meeting of scientists he is organizing; Klaatu accepts. Barnhardt is stunned when Klaatu declares that, if hismessage is rejected, "Planet Earth will be eliminated". The professor pleads for Klaatu to first provide a small demonstration of his power as a warning. Klaatu returns to his spaceship the nextevening to implement the professor's suggestion, unaware that Bobby has followed him.Bobby tells Helen and Tom what he has seen when they return. At first, they do not believe him.When Bobby persists in his claims, Tom tries to find Klaatu to confirm it was just a dream; inKlaatu's room, Tom finds a diamond on the floor. Bobby casually remarks that Klaatu had given

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