Movie Review: Forbidden Planet
By Bryan K. Scott
June 18th, 2005
This 1956
feature film, starring Walter Pidgeon, Leslie Neilson, and Anne
Francis, was the special effects giant of its time. The story
revolves around an expedition sent by Earth to Altair, a system in the
Aquilae constellation (some 17light-years from earth), to find out why
contact had been lost with a colony on the fourth planet.
When Commander
John Adams (Leslie Neilson) and his crew arrive at Altair IV, they
discover that everyone in the colony had been killed with the exception
of two people, Dr. Edward Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) and his beautiful
daughter Altaira (Anne Francis). Adams learned that the colony
had been killed by an invisible monster that roams the planet.
Unknown to Adams, Morbius is hiding a terrible secret and he does not
intend to share it (or his daughter) with anyone.
The commander
learns from the Doctor that the colony was not the first advanced
civilization to exist on the planet. A race of geniuses had lived
there in the very distant past. Once the commander finds this
out, he begins to try to figure out how and why the race died off
relatively overnight leaving their behind their technology intact and
running for so many years.
This film is a
must-see for any sci-fi enthusiast that enjoys the old sci-fi
genre. Forbidden Planet also stars James Best (best known for his
role Sheriff Roscoe P. Coletraine on “The Dukes Of Hazard) and Earl
Holliman (best known for his role as Lt. Bill Crowley on the 70’s
police drama “Police Woman”).
Bryan
Scott is a part time writer/columnist who comes to The Fedora
Chronicles from Oklahoma. He’s a big fan of sci-fi in general. Also
enjoys baseball, football, basketball, hockey, and soccer… As well as
anything dealing with computers and NASA. He’s the security supervisor
at a auto parts manufacturing plant. He's married with THREE beautiful
little girls…
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