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Duel (1971 film)
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Duel
Duel poster.jpg
Promotional poster (re-release version)

Genre
Thriller
Distributed by
Universal Studios
Directed by
Steven Spielberg
Produced by
George Eckstein
Written by
Richard Matheson
Starring
Dennis Weaver
Music by
Billy Goldenberg
Cinematography
Jack A. Marta
Editing by
Frank Morriss
Budget
$450,000
Country
United States
Language
English
Original channel
ABC
Release date
November 13, 1971
Running time
74 minutes (TV broadcast)
 90 minutes (Theatrical cut)
Duel is a 1971 television (and later full-length theatrical) thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Richard Matheson, based on Matheson's short story of the same name. It stars Dennis Weaver as a terrified motorist stalked on a remote and lonely road by the mostly unseen driver of a mysterious tanker truck.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production 3.1 Vehicles
4 Reaction 4.1 Critical response
4.2 Accolades
5 References in other works 5.1 In film
5.2 In print
5.3 In television
6 References
7 Sources
8 External links

Plot[edit]
David Mann (Dennis Weaver) is a middle-aged Los Angeles electronics salesman driving his red 1971 Plymouth Valiant sedan on a business trip. On a two-lane highway in the California desert, he encounters a grimy and rusty 1955 Peterbilt 281 tanker truck, traveling slower than the speed limit and expelling thick plumes of sooty diesel exhaust. Mann passes the unsightly truck, which promptly roars past him and then slows down again. Mann is unmoved, passing the truck a second time, and is startled when it suddenly issues a long air horn blast.
Mann arrives at a gas station, and the truck follows. While there, Mann phones his wife (Jacqueline Scott), who is upset with him for not confronting one of their friends at a recent party who was making a pass at her. The gas station attendant refills Mann's car and mentions that Mann needs a new radiator hose, but he refuses the repair.



 The Peterbilt 281 tanker truck
Once both Mann and the trucker are back on the road, the truck begins blocking Mann’s path each time he attempts to pass it. At one point, the truck driver (Carey Loftin, whose face is never shown) waves Mann past, indicating it is safe to overtake. When Mann does, he almost strikes an oncoming vehicle. Mann realizes the truck driver was trying to trick him into a fatal collision. He passes the truck again, using an unpaved turnout next to the highway. The truck soon begins to tailgate Mann at high speeds—over 90 miles per hour (140 km/h)—forcing him to maintain his speed to avoid being rear-ended. The chase continues down a mountain road with the truck bumping him several times until the Plymouth goes off the road, colliding with a guardrail across the road from a diner. The truck keeps going.
Mann enters the diner (Chuck's Café) to compose himself. After returning from the restroom, he is shocked to see the truck parked outside. Mann studies the diner patrons carefully and begins an inner monologue in which he contemplates the driver's motives and second-guesses his decision to sit helplessly in the diner. Most of the patrons sitting at the counter give Mann the impression of malice, but when one leaves, appearing to approach the tanker, he instead drives away in a pickup truck. Mann eyes the patrons again to try to identify his pursuer, and when he thinks he has, Mann confronts him. The man he approaches (Eugene Dynarski) is angered by Mann's accusations and engages him in a short fist fight. After the café owner breaks up the fight, the falsely-accused man drives away in a livestock truck. The tanker truck leaves a few seconds later, suggesting that Mann's tormenter was never inside the diner in the first place.
Mann leaves the café and stops to help a stranded school bus, but his front bumper becomes caught underneath the rear of the bus. The truck appears at the end of a tunnel. Mann panics, manages to free the Plymouth, and flees, but then is puzzled to see the truck helping the bus get moving. At a railroad crossing, the truck quietly approaches Mann's car from behind and starts pushing the Valiant towards a passing freight train. The train passes by just in time; Mann crosses the tracks and pulls off the road. The truck passes him by and disappears. Mann eventually catches up to the truck as it has stopped, as though it were waiting for him.



 David Mann (Weaver) being chased by the truck.
Mann then stops at Sally's Snakerama Gas Station to call the police and refuel his Plymouth. The truck has stopped just a little further up the road. When Mann steps into a phone booth that is shielded from the truck driver's view, the truck roars up and plows into the telephone booth; Mann jumps clear just in time. The truck proceeds to chase Mann, who is on foot, destroying Sally's Snakerama and releasing several rattlesnakes that had been caged on the premises. Terrified, Mann jumps into his car and speeds away. Mann then hides behind an embankment off the road and sees the truck pass by, apparently without noticing him.
After a long wait, Mann heads off again but is dumbfounded to see that the truck is waiting for him just around the bend. Mann stops his car, then attempts to pass him, but the truck keeps blocking his way. He tries to approach him on foot, but the truck keeps driving away. He attempts to get help from an older couple in a car that is cruising by. They think he is crazy and refuse to listen, until they see the truck themselves; they flee when the truck backs up towards them at increasing speed. Mann returns to his car. The truck eventually allows him to pass by and a high-speed chase begins. Mann races up steep grades, putting some distance between himself and the truck. During the chase, he sees a black-and-white car (a 1971 Chevrolet Bel Air sedan) parked on the side of the road with writing on its doors. Thinking it is a police car, Mann skids to a stop next to the car only to realize the writing says "Grebleips Pest Control" ("Grebleips" is "Spielberg" spelled backwards). The truck follows him off the road and comes close to smashing the other car as Mann speeds off again. The chase continues up a mountain, but Mann's Valiant begins to overheat when its weak radiator hose fails. The truck quickly begins gaining on him. Mann barely makes the summit and coasts down the other side in neutral as the truck bears down on him.
Descending at speeds too great to control, the Plymouth spins out and hits a rock wall. The truck speeds toward the damaged car as Mann accelerates, drives up a dirt road, and turns to face his opponent on a large hill overlooking a canyon. He places his briefcase on the accelerator and steers his vehicle directly toward the oncoming truck, jumping from the car at the last moment. The tanker hits the car, which bursts into flames, partially obscuring the truck driver's view. Too late, the truck's driver realizes he is headed for the edge of a cliff and brakes hard. With a blast of the air horn, the truck plunges over the edge of the cliff into the canyon below, destroying the truck and car. A dark viscous liquid is shown dripping from the steering wheel. Above the smoking wreckage, Mann sits exhausted at the cliff's edge tossing stones into the abyss as the sun sets.
Cast[edit]
Dennis Weaver as David Mann
Jacqueline Scott as Mrs. Mann
Carey Loftin as The Truck Driver
Eddie Firestone as Café owner
Lou Frizzell as Bus Driver
Eugene Dynarski as Man in café
Lucille Benson as Lady at Snakerama
Tim Herbert as Gas station attendant
Charles Seel as Old man
Shirley O'Hara as Waitress
Alexander Lockwood as Jim, Old man in car
Amy Douglass as Old woman in car
Sweet Dick Whittington as Radio interviewer
Dale Van Sickel as Car Driver
Shawn Steinman as Girl on School Bus (uncredited)
Production[edit]
The script is adapted by Richard Matheson from his own short story, originally published in Playboy magazine. It was inspired by a real-life experience in which Matheson was tailgated by a trucker while on his way home from a golfing match with friend Jerry Sohl on November 22, 1963, the same day as the John F. Kennedy assassination. The short story was given to Spielberg by his secretary, who reportedly read the magazine for the stories.[1]
Duel was Spielberg's second feature-length directing effort, after his 1971 The Name of the Game NBC-TV series episode "L.A. 2017". It was two years after a well-received turn directing a segment of the pilot-movie for the anthology television series Night Gallery and several other TV episodes. Duel was initially shown on American television as an ABC Movie of the Week installment. It was eventually released to cinemas in Europe and Australia, and had a limited cinema release to some venues in the United States. The film's success enabled Spielberg to establish himself as a film director.[1]
The film is one of only two Spielberg-directed theatrical films for which John Williams did not create the score, the other being The Color Purple.[2]
Much of the movie was filmed in and around the communities of Canyon Country, Agua Dulce, and Acton, California. In particular, sequences were filmed on Sierra Highway, Agua Dulce Canyon Road, Soledad Canyon Road, and Angeles Forest Highway. Many of the landmarks from Duel still exist today, including the tunnel, the railroad crossing, and Chuck’s Café, where David Mann abruptly stops for a break. The building, which since 1980 has housed a French restaurant called Le Chene, is currently still on Sierra Highway.[3] The "Snakerama" gas station seen in the film was used again as a homage to Duel by Spielberg in his comedy film, 1941 (1979), with Lucille Benson again appearing as the proprietor.
Production of the television film was overseen by ABC's director of movies of the weekend, Lillian Gallo.[4] The original made-for-television version was 74 minutes long and was completed in 13 days (three longer than the scheduled 10 days), leaving 10 days for editing prior to broadcast as the ABC Movie of the Week. Following Duel's successful TV airing, Universal released Duel overseas in 1972, especially in Europe. Since the TV movie was not long enough for theatrical release, Universal had Spielberg spend two days filming several new scenes, turning Duel into a 90-minute film. The new scenes were set at the railroad crossing, school bus, and the telephone booth where David Mann phoned his wife. A longer opening sequence was added with the car backing out of a garage and driving through the city. Expletives were also added, to make the film sound less like a television production.[citation needed]
Spielberg lobbied to have Dennis Weaver in the starring role because he admired Weaver's work in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil.[citation needed]
In the Archive of American Television website, Spielberg is quoted in an interview given by Weaver as proudly saying: "You know, I watch that movie at least twice a year to remember what I did".[5]
Vehicles[edit]
Though the car was carefully chosen – a red Plymouth Valiant – three cars were used in the filming.[citation needed] The original release featured a 1970 model with a 318 V-8 engine[citation needed] and "Plymouth" spelled out in block letters across the hood, as well as trunk lid treatment characteristic of the 1970 model; a 1971 model with a 225 Slant Six was also used.[citation needed] When the film was released in theatres and scenes were added, a 1972 model with a 225 Slant Six was added, with the "Plymouth" name on the hood as one emblem. All three cars were dressed with wheel covers available only to Valiant models, only in 1971.[citation needed]
The Valiant's red color was also intentional; Spielberg did not care what kind of car was used in the film but wanted it to be a red car to enable the vehicle to stand out in the wide shots of the desert highway.[1]



 The surviving truck, a 1960 281 at a 2010 truck show, displayed with a Plymouth Valiant.
Spielberg had what he called an "audition" for the truck, wherein he viewed a series of trucks to choose the one for the film. He selected the older 1955 Peterbilt 281 over the then-current flat-nosed "cab-over" style of trucks because the long hood of the Peterbilt, coupled to its split windshield and round headlights, gave it more of a "face", adding to its menacing personality.[1] Additionally, Spielberg said the multiple license plates on the front bumper of the Peterbilt subtly suggested that the truck driver is a serial killer, having "run down other drivers in other states".[1] For each shot, several people were tasked to make it uglier, adding some "truck make-up". The shots of the truck are done in such a way as to make it seem "alive" in terms of its attack on Mann.
During the original filming, the crew only had one truck, so the final scene of the truck falling off the cliff had to be completed in one take. For the film's theatrical release, though, additional trucks were purchased in order to film the additional scenes that were not in the original made-for-television version (the school bus scene and the railroad crossing scene). Only one of those trucks has survived.[6]
Stock footage of both vehicles was later used in an episode of the television series The Incredible Hulk, titled "Never Give a Trucker an Even Break". Spielberg was not happy about this, but the usage was legal as the show was produced by Universal, and the Duel contract said nothing about reusing the footage in other Universal productions.[7]
The truck was purchased several times. It is currently owned by a truck collector and is on display at Brad's Trucks in North Carolina.[8]
Reaction[edit]
Critical response[edit]
The film received many positive reviews and is often considered among the greatest TV movies.[citation needed] On Rotten Tomatoes the film currently has a "Fresh" score of 86% (2010).[9]
Accolades[edit]
Awards
Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival
Grand Prize: 1973[10]
Emmy
Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound Editing: 1972[11]
Nominations
Golden Globe
Best Movie Made for TV: 1972[12]
Emmy
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Entertainment Programming – For a Special or Feature Length Program Made for Television: 1972[13]
Saturn Award
Best DVD Classic Film Release: 2005[14]
References in other works[edit]
In film[edit]
The dinosaur roar sound effect that is heard as the truck goes over the cliff is also heard in Jaws (1975), also directed by Spielberg, as the shark's carcass sinks into the ocean. Spielberg has said that this is because he feels there is a "kinship" between Duel and Jaws, as they are both "about these leviathans targeting everyman." He has also said that inserting the sound effect into Jaws was "my way of thanking Duel for giving me a career."[1]
The 1978 anime film Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo parodies Duel by depicting a chase scene whereby lead characters Arsène Lupin III, Daisuke Jigen and Goemon Ishikawa XIII, driving in a red Austin Cooper, are pursued by a similar truck sent by the film's villain, Mamo, to eliminate them.[15]
The truck from Duel is seen in the film Torque (2004) and causes a biker to wipe out shortly after a red 4-door Valiant had driven past the bikers.
In print[edit]
The Mr. Monk book Mr. Monk on the Road features a similar sub-plot in which Adrian Monk, driving a rented RV, is pursued by a truck like that from Duel, which meets a similar end, although the truck driver's motive is known.
In the third part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Stardust Crusaders, the Wheel of Fortune chapters have various references to the movie, as the protagonists must deal with an assassin controlling a car (which resembles a Plymouth).
In television[edit]
Stock footage from Duel appears throughout The Incredible Hulk first season episode "Never Give a Trucker an Even Break" (originally airdate on CBS: April 28, 1978).[16] Spielberg was reportedly "not too happy about it," according to Matheson.[17]
In the Red Dwarf series 8 episode "Only the Good...", Arnold Rimmer claims that a scar on the right side of his neck resulted from a friend's attacking him with the video case from the film Duel.
The opening scene of the Transformers: Prime episode "Nemesis Prime" pays homage to Duel.
The one hour special Tiny Toons' Night Ghoulery features a parody segment of the film named "Fuel" with Calamity Coyote.
The Bob's Burgers season 4 episode "Christmas in the Car" contains numerous Duel references when Bob is terrorized by a candy-cane shaped truck.
In the television murder mystery series Murder, She Wrote episode "The Cemetery Vote", Jessica is traveling along a country road as a passenger in a station wagon when they are chased and rammed by a large powerful truck covered in mud with the driver invisible behind a mud-caked windshield; A direct reference to Duel.
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Duel: Special Edition DVD (2005)
2.Jump up ^ Jagernauth, Kevin (23 August 2012). "John Williams' Tracklist For Soundtrack To Steven Spielberg's 'Lincoln' Is Suitably Important & Historical". Indiewire: The Playlist. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
3.Jump up ^ "Le Chene French Cuisine". lechene.com. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
4.Jump up ^ "Lillian Gallo, Pioneering TV Producer, Dies at 84". The Hollywood Reporter. June 18, 2012. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
5.Jump up ^ "On starring in the TV movie Duel". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
6.Jump up ^ "Fan site for trucks used in film". Retrieved September 3, 2011.
7.Jump up ^ Jackson, Kathi (2007). Steven Spielberg: A Biography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 18.
8.Jump up ^ "The Surviving Duel Truck". Retrieved September 3, 2011.
9.Jump up ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1006345-duel/ Duel at Rotten Tomatoes
10.Jump up ^ IMDB 1973
11.Jump up ^ Emmy 1972
12.Jump up ^ Golden Globe 1972
13.Jump up ^ Emmy 1972
14.Jump up ^ Saturn Awards 2005
15.Jump up ^ Toole, Mike (2012). The Mystery of Mamo (Why Mamo Matters). Discotek Media.
16.Jump up ^ "The Incredible Hulk" Never Give a Trucker an Even Break (TV Episode 1978) - Trivia - IMDb
17.Jump up ^ Bradley, Matthew. Richard Matheson on Screen: A History of the Filmed Works; 2010, page 70.
Sources[edit]
"Steven Spielberg and Duel: The Making of a Film Career" by Steven Awalt, Rowman & Littlefield (2014).
The Complete Spielberg by Ian Freer, Virgin Books (2001).
Steven Spielberg by James Clarke, Pocket Essentials (2004).
Steven Spielberg The Collectors Edition by Empire Magazine (2004).
The Steven Spielberg Story by Tony Crawley, William Morrow (1983).
Duel by Richard Matheson, Tor Books Terror Stories Series (2003).
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Duel (1971 film)
Duel at the Internet Movie Database
Duel at the TCM Movie Database
Duel (1971 film) at DMOZ
The Duel Movie Database. All you need to know about Duel. (2010)


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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duel_(1971_film)











Duel (1971 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Duel
Duel poster.jpg
Promotional poster (re-release version)

Genre
Thriller
Distributed by
Universal Studios
Directed by
Steven Spielberg
Produced by
George Eckstein
Written by
Richard Matheson
Starring
Dennis Weaver
Music by
Billy Goldenberg
Cinematography
Jack A. Marta
Editing by
Frank Morriss
Budget
$450,000
Country
United States
Language
English
Original channel
ABC
Release date
November 13, 1971
Running time
74 minutes (TV broadcast)
 90 minutes (Theatrical cut)
Duel is a 1971 television (and later full-length theatrical) thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Richard Matheson, based on Matheson's short story of the same name. It stars Dennis Weaver as a terrified motorist stalked on a remote and lonely road by the mostly unseen driver of a mysterious tanker truck.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production 3.1 Vehicles
4 Reaction 4.1 Critical response
4.2 Accolades
5 References in other works 5.1 In film
5.2 In print
5.3 In television
6 References
7 Sources
8 External links

Plot[edit]
David Mann (Dennis Weaver) is a middle-aged Los Angeles electronics salesman driving his red 1971 Plymouth Valiant sedan on a business trip. On a two-lane highway in the California desert, he encounters a grimy and rusty 1955 Peterbilt 281 tanker truck, traveling slower than the speed limit and expelling thick plumes of sooty diesel exhaust. Mann passes the unsightly truck, which promptly roars past him and then slows down again. Mann is unmoved, passing the truck a second time, and is startled when it suddenly issues a long air horn blast.
Mann arrives at a gas station, and the truck follows. While there, Mann phones his wife (Jacqueline Scott), who is upset with him for not confronting one of their friends at a recent party who was making a pass at her. The gas station attendant refills Mann's car and mentions that Mann needs a new radiator hose, but he refuses the repair.



 The Peterbilt 281 tanker truck
Once both Mann and the trucker are back on the road, the truck begins blocking Mann’s path each time he attempts to pass it. At one point, the truck driver (Carey Loftin, whose face is never shown) waves Mann past, indicating it is safe to overtake. When Mann does, he almost strikes an oncoming vehicle. Mann realizes the truck driver was trying to trick him into a fatal collision. He passes the truck again, using an unpaved turnout next to the highway. The truck soon begins to tailgate Mann at high speeds—over 90 miles per hour (140 km/h)—forcing him to maintain his speed to avoid being rear-ended. The chase continues down a mountain road with the truck bumping him several times until the Plymouth goes off the road, colliding with a guardrail across the road from a diner. The truck keeps going.
Mann enters the diner (Chuck's Café) to compose himself. After returning from the restroom, he is shocked to see the truck parked outside. Mann studies the diner patrons carefully and begins an inner monologue in which he contemplates the driver's motives and second-guesses his decision to sit helplessly in the diner. Most of the patrons sitting at the counter give Mann the impression of malice, but when one leaves, appearing to approach the tanker, he instead drives away in a pickup truck. Mann eyes the patrons again to try to identify his pursuer, and when he thinks he has, Mann confronts him. The man he approaches (Eugene Dynarski) is angered by Mann's accusations and engages him in a short fist fight. After the café owner breaks up the fight, the falsely-accused man drives away in a livestock truck. The tanker truck leaves a few seconds later, suggesting that Mann's tormenter was never inside the diner in the first place.
Mann leaves the café and stops to help a stranded school bus, but his front bumper becomes caught underneath the rear of the bus. The truck appears at the end of a tunnel. Mann panics, manages to free the Plymouth, and flees, but then is puzzled to see the truck helping the bus get moving. At a railroad crossing, the truck quietly approaches Mann's car from behind and starts pushing the Valiant towards a passing freight train. The train passes by just in time; Mann crosses the tracks and pulls off the road. The truck passes him by and disappears. Mann eventually catches up to the truck as it has stopped, as though it were waiting for him.



 David Mann (Weaver) being chased by the truck.
Mann then stops at Sally's Snakerama Gas Station to call the police and refuel his Plymouth. The truck has stopped just a little further up the road. When Mann steps into a phone booth that is shielded from the truck driver's view, the truck roars up and plows into the telephone booth; Mann jumps clear just in time. The truck proceeds to chase Mann, who is on foot, destroying Sally's Snakerama and releasing several rattlesnakes that had been caged on the premises. Terrified, Mann jumps into his car and speeds away. Mann then hides behind an embankment off the road and sees the truck pass by, apparently without noticing him.
After a long wait, Mann heads off again but is dumbfounded to see that the truck is waiting for him just around the bend. Mann stops his car, then attempts to pass him, but the truck keeps blocking his way. He tries to approach him on foot, but the truck keeps driving away. He attempts to get help from an older couple in a car that is cruising by. They think he is crazy and refuse to listen, until they see the truck themselves; they flee when the truck backs up towards them at increasing speed. Mann returns to his car. The truck eventually allows him to pass by and a high-speed chase begins. Mann races up steep grades, putting some distance between himself and the truck. During the chase, he sees a black-and-white car (a 1971 Chevrolet Bel Air sedan) parked on the side of the road with writing on its doors. Thinking it is a police car, Mann skids to a stop next to the car only to realize the writing says "Grebleips Pest Control" ("Grebleips" is "Spielberg" spelled backwards). The truck follows him off the road and comes close to smashing the other car as Mann speeds off again. The chase continues up a mountain, but Mann's Valiant begins to overheat when its weak radiator hose fails. The truck quickly begins gaining on him. Mann barely makes the summit and coasts down the other side in neutral as the truck bears down on him.
Descending at speeds too great to control, the Plymouth spins out and hits a rock wall. The truck speeds toward the damaged car as Mann accelerates, drives up a dirt road, and turns to face his opponent on a large hill overlooking a canyon. He places his briefcase on the accelerator and steers his vehicle directly toward the oncoming truck, jumping from the car at the last moment. The tanker hits the car, which bursts into flames, partially obscuring the truck driver's view. Too late, the truck's driver realizes he is headed for the edge of a cliff and brakes hard. With a blast of the air horn, the truck plunges over the edge of the cliff into the canyon below, destroying the truck and car. A dark viscous liquid is shown dripping from the steering wheel. Above the smoking wreckage, Mann sits exhausted at the cliff's edge tossing stones into the abyss as the sun sets.
Cast[edit]
Dennis Weaver as David Mann
Jacqueline Scott as Mrs. Mann
Carey Loftin as The Truck Driver
Eddie Firestone as Café owner
Lou Frizzell as Bus Driver
Eugene Dynarski as Man in café
Lucille Benson as Lady at Snakerama
Tim Herbert as Gas station attendant
Charles Seel as Old man
Shirley O'Hara as Waitress
Alexander Lockwood as Jim, Old man in car
Amy Douglass as Old woman in car
Sweet Dick Whittington as Radio interviewer
Dale Van Sickel as Car Driver
Shawn Steinman as Girl on School Bus (uncredited)
Production[edit]
The script is adapted by Richard Matheson from his own short story, originally published in Playboy magazine. It was inspired by a real-life experience in which Matheson was tailgated by a trucker while on his way home from a golfing match with friend Jerry Sohl on November 22, 1963, the same day as the John F. Kennedy assassination. The short story was given to Spielberg by his secretary, who reportedly read the magazine for the stories.[1]
Duel was Spielberg's second feature-length directing effort, after his 1971 The Name of the Game NBC-TV series episode "L.A. 2017". It was two years after a well-received turn directing a segment of the pilot-movie for the anthology television series Night Gallery and several other TV episodes. Duel was initially shown on American television as an ABC Movie of the Week installment. It was eventually released to cinemas in Europe and Australia, and had a limited cinema release to some venues in the United States. The film's success enabled Spielberg to establish himself as a film director.[1]
The film is one of only two Spielberg-directed theatrical films for which John Williams did not create the score, the other being The Color Purple.[2]
Much of the movie was filmed in and around the communities of Canyon Country, Agua Dulce, and Acton, California. In particular, sequences were filmed on Sierra Highway, Agua Dulce Canyon Road, Soledad Canyon Road, and Angeles Forest Highway. Many of the landmarks from Duel still exist today, including the tunnel, the railroad crossing, and Chuck’s Café, where David Mann abruptly stops for a break. The building, which since 1980 has housed a French restaurant called Le Chene, is currently still on Sierra Highway.[3] The "Snakerama" gas station seen in the film was used again as a homage to Duel by Spielberg in his comedy film, 1941 (1979), with Lucille Benson again appearing as the proprietor.
Production of the television film was overseen by ABC's director of movies of the weekend, Lillian Gallo.[4] The original made-for-television version was 74 minutes long and was completed in 13 days (three longer than the scheduled 10 days), leaving 10 days for editing prior to broadcast as the ABC Movie of the Week. Following Duel's successful TV airing, Universal released Duel overseas in 1972, especially in Europe. Since the TV movie was not long enough for theatrical release, Universal had Spielberg spend two days filming several new scenes, turning Duel into a 90-minute film. The new scenes were set at the railroad crossing, school bus, and the telephone booth where David Mann phoned his wife. A longer opening sequence was added with the car backing out of a garage and driving through the city. Expletives were also added, to make the film sound less like a television production.[citation needed]
Spielberg lobbied to have Dennis Weaver in the starring role because he admired Weaver's work in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil.[citation needed]
In the Archive of American Television website, Spielberg is quoted in an interview given by Weaver as proudly saying: "You know, I watch that movie at least twice a year to remember what I did".[5]
Vehicles[edit]
Though the car was carefully chosen – a red Plymouth Valiant – three cars were used in the filming.[citation needed] The original release featured a 1970 model with a 318 V-8 engine[citation needed] and "Plymouth" spelled out in block letters across the hood, as well as trunk lid treatment characteristic of the 1970 model; a 1971 model with a 225 Slant Six was also used.[citation needed] When the film was released in theatres and scenes were added, a 1972 model with a 225 Slant Six was added, with the "Plymouth" name on the hood as one emblem. All three cars were dressed with wheel covers available only to Valiant models, only in 1971.[citation needed]
The Valiant's red color was also intentional; Spielberg did not care what kind of car was used in the film but wanted it to be a red car to enable the vehicle to stand out in the wide shots of the desert highway.[1]



 The surviving truck, a 1960 281 at a 2010 truck show, displayed with a Plymouth Valiant.
Spielberg had what he called an "audition" for the truck, wherein he viewed a series of trucks to choose the one for the film. He selected the older 1955 Peterbilt 281 over the then-current flat-nosed "cab-over" style of trucks because the long hood of the Peterbilt, coupled to its split windshield and round headlights, gave it more of a "face", adding to its menacing personality.[1] Additionally, Spielberg said the multiple license plates on the front bumper of the Peterbilt subtly suggested that the truck driver is a serial killer, having "run down other drivers in other states".[1] For each shot, several people were tasked to make it uglier, adding some "truck make-up". The shots of the truck are done in such a way as to make it seem "alive" in terms of its attack on Mann.
During the original filming, the crew only had one truck, so the final scene of the truck falling off the cliff had to be completed in one take. For the film's theatrical release, though, additional trucks were purchased in order to film the additional scenes that were not in the original made-for-television version (the school bus scene and the railroad crossing scene). Only one of those trucks has survived.[6]
Stock footage of both vehicles was later used in an episode of the television series The Incredible Hulk, titled "Never Give a Trucker an Even Break". Spielberg was not happy about this, but the usage was legal as the show was produced by Universal, and the Duel contract said nothing about reusing the footage in other Universal productions.[7]
The truck was purchased several times. It is currently owned by a truck collector and is on display at Brad's Trucks in North Carolina.[8]
Reaction[edit]
Critical response[edit]
The film received many positive reviews and is often considered among the greatest TV movies.[citation needed] On Rotten Tomatoes the film currently has a "Fresh" score of 86% (2010).[9]
Accolades[edit]
Awards
Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival
Grand Prize: 1973[10]
Emmy
Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound Editing: 1972[11]
Nominations
Golden Globe
Best Movie Made for TV: 1972[12]
Emmy
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Entertainment Programming – For a Special or Feature Length Program Made for Television: 1972[13]
Saturn Award
Best DVD Classic Film Release: 2005[14]
References in other works[edit]
In film[edit]
The dinosaur roar sound effect that is heard as the truck goes over the cliff is also heard in Jaws (1975), also directed by Spielberg, as the shark's carcass sinks into the ocean. Spielberg has said that this is because he feels there is a "kinship" between Duel and Jaws, as they are both "about these leviathans targeting everyman." He has also said that inserting the sound effect into Jaws was "my way of thanking Duel for giving me a career."[1]
The 1978 anime film Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo parodies Duel by depicting a chase scene whereby lead characters Arsène Lupin III, Daisuke Jigen and Goemon Ishikawa XIII, driving in a red Austin Cooper, are pursued by a similar truck sent by the film's villain, Mamo, to eliminate them.[15]
The truck from Duel is seen in the film Torque (2004) and causes a biker to wipe out shortly after a red 4-door Valiant had driven past the bikers.
In print[edit]
The Mr. Monk book Mr. Monk on the Road features a similar sub-plot in which Adrian Monk, driving a rented RV, is pursued by a truck like that from Duel, which meets a similar end, although the truck driver's motive is known.
In the third part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Stardust Crusaders, the Wheel of Fortune chapters have various references to the movie, as the protagonists must deal with an assassin controlling a car (which resembles a Plymouth).
In television[edit]
Stock footage from Duel appears throughout The Incredible Hulk first season episode "Never Give a Trucker an Even Break" (originally airdate on CBS: April 28, 1978).[16] Spielberg was reportedly "not too happy about it," according to Matheson.[17]
In the Red Dwarf series 8 episode "Only the Good...", Arnold Rimmer claims that a scar on the right side of his neck resulted from a friend's attacking him with the video case from the film Duel.
The opening scene of the Transformers: Prime episode "Nemesis Prime" pays homage to Duel.
The one hour special Tiny Toons' Night Ghoulery features a parody segment of the film named "Fuel" with Calamity Coyote.
The Bob's Burgers season 4 episode "Christmas in the Car" contains numerous Duel references when Bob is terrorized by a candy-cane shaped truck.
In the television murder mystery series Murder, She Wrote episode "The Cemetery Vote", Jessica is traveling along a country road as a passenger in a station wagon when they are chased and rammed by a large powerful truck covered in mud with the driver invisible behind a mud-caked windshield; A direct reference to Duel.
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Duel: Special Edition DVD (2005)
2.Jump up ^ Jagernauth, Kevin (23 August 2012). "John Williams' Tracklist For Soundtrack To Steven Spielberg's 'Lincoln' Is Suitably Important & Historical". Indiewire: The Playlist. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
3.Jump up ^ "Le Chene French Cuisine". lechene.com. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
4.Jump up ^ "Lillian Gallo, Pioneering TV Producer, Dies at 84". The Hollywood Reporter. June 18, 2012. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
5.Jump up ^ "On starring in the TV movie Duel". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
6.Jump up ^ "Fan site for trucks used in film". Retrieved September 3, 2011.
7.Jump up ^ Jackson, Kathi (2007). Steven Spielberg: A Biography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 18.
8.Jump up ^ "The Surviving Duel Truck". Retrieved September 3, 2011.
9.Jump up ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1006345-duel/ Duel at Rotten Tomatoes
10.Jump up ^ IMDB 1973
11.Jump up ^ Emmy 1972
12.Jump up ^ Golden Globe 1972
13.Jump up ^ Emmy 1972
14.Jump up ^ Saturn Awards 2005
15.Jump up ^ Toole, Mike (2012). The Mystery of Mamo (Why Mamo Matters). Discotek Media.
16.Jump up ^ "The Incredible Hulk" Never Give a Trucker an Even Break (TV Episode 1978) - Trivia - IMDb
17.Jump up ^ Bradley, Matthew. Richard Matheson on Screen: A History of the Filmed Works; 2010, page 70.
Sources[edit]
"Steven Spielberg and Duel: The Making of a Film Career" by Steven Awalt, Rowman & Littlefield (2014).
The Complete Spielberg by Ian Freer, Virgin Books (2001).
Steven Spielberg by James Clarke, Pocket Essentials (2004).
Steven Spielberg The Collectors Edition by Empire Magazine (2004).
The Steven Spielberg Story by Tony Crawley, William Morrow (1983).
Duel by Richard Matheson, Tor Books Terror Stories Series (2003).
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Duel (1971 film)
Duel at the Internet Movie Database
Duel at the TCM Movie Database
Duel (1971 film) at DMOZ
The Duel Movie Database. All you need to know about Duel. (2010)


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Forbidden Planet
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This article is about the 1956 film. For the bookstore chains, see Forbidden Planet (bookstore).

Forbidden Planet
Forbiddenplanetposter.jpg
Film poster

Directed by
Fred M. Wilcox
Produced by
Nicholas Nayfack
Screenplay by
Cyril Hume
Story by
Irving Block
Allen Adler
Starring
Walter Pidgeon
Anne Francis
Leslie Nielsen
Warren Stevens
Jack Kelly
Robby the Robot
Narrated by
Les Tremayne
Music by
Louis and Bebe Barron
Cinematography
George J. Folsey
Edited by
Ferris Webster
Distributed by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)
March 15, 1956

Running time
98 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$1,968,000[2]
Box office
$2,765,000[2]
Forbidden Planet is a 1956 MGM Eastmancolor in CinemaScope science fiction film[3][4] directed by Fred M. Wilcox, a screenplay by Cyril Hume, and starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielsen. Forbidden Planet is the first science fiction film in which humans are depicted traveling in a starship of their own creation.[5] It was also the very first science fiction film set entirely on another world in interstellar space, far away from the planet Earth.[6] Forbidden Planet is considered one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s,[7] a precursor of what was to come for the science fiction film genre in the decades that followed. The characters and isolated setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest,[8] and its plot does contain certain story analogues and a reference to one section of Jung's theory on the collective subconscious.[9]
Forbidden Planet features special effects for which A. Arnold Gillespie, Irving G. Ries, and Wesley C. Miller were nominated for an Academy Award; it was the only major award nomination the film received. The film features the first groundbreaking use of an entirely electronic musical score by Louis and Bebe Barron. Forbidden Planet also featured Robby the Robot, the first film robot that was more than just a mechanical "tin can" on legs; Robby displays a distinct personality and is a complete supporting character in the film.[10] The movie's supporting cast features Warren Stevens, Jack Kelly, Earl Holliman and James Drury.
The film was entered into the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 2013, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[11]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Release 4.1 Home media
5 Novelization
6 Soundtrack 6.1 Track list
7 Influences
8 Reception
9 Possible remake
10 See also
11 Notes
12 External links

Plot[edit]



 Leslie Nielsen with co-star Anne Francis in Forbidden Planet.
Early in the 23rd century, the United Planets Cruiser C-57D travels to the planet Altair IV, 16 light-years from Earth, to discover the fate of an expedition sent 20 years earlier. Soon after entering orbit, the cruiser receives a transmission from Dr. Edward Morbius (Walter Pidgeon), the expedition's master of languages and their meanings. He warns the starship to stay away, saying he cannot guarantee their safety; he also states further assistance is not necessary. Commander John J. Adams (Leslie Nielsen) ignores the warning and insists on landing.
They are met on arrival by Robby the Robot, who takes Adams, Lieutenant Jerry Farman (Jack Kelly), and Lieutenant "Doc" Ostrow (Warren Stevens) to Morbius's home. There, Morbius explains that an unknown "planetary force" killed nearly everyone and then vaporized their starship, Bellerophon, as the survivors tried to lift off the planet. Only Morbius, his wife (who later died of natural causes), and their daughter Altaira (Anne Francis) were somehow immune. Morbius fears that the C-57D and its crew will meet the same fate. Altaira, having only known her father, becomes attracted to several of the Earth men.
Later the next night, equipment aboard the C-57D is sabotaged, though posted sentries never see the intruder. Adams and Ostrow confront Morbius the following morning. They learn he has been studying a highly advanced native species, the Krell, a race that mysteriously died suddenly 200,000 years before, just as they were on the verge of achieving their crowning scientific triumph.
In a Krell laboratory, Morbius shows Adams and Ostrow a device he calls a "plastic educator", a device capable of measuring and enhancing intellectual capacity; he uses it to display a three-dimensional, moving thought projection of Altaira. The Bellerophon's captain tried the machine and was instantly killed. When Morbius first used this machine, he barely survived; he later discovered his intellect had been permanently doubled. His increased intelligence enabled him, along with information from a stored Krell library, to build Robby and the other "technological marvels" in his home. Morbius then takes them on a tour of a vast cube-shaped underground Krell machine complex, 20 miles (30 km) square, still functioning and powered by 9,200 thermonuclear reactors. Afterwards, Adams demands that the fantastic knowledge of the Krell be turned over to Earth supervision but Morbius refuses, citing the potential danger that Krell technology would pose to mankind if it were to fall into the wrong hands and be misused.
In response to the sabotage, Adams orders a defensive force field fence deployed around the starship. This proves useless when the intruder returns undetected and murders Chief Engineer Quinn (Richard Anderson). Later, Dr. Ostrow (Warren Stevens) is confused by a casting made from one of the large footprints the intruder left behind: its contradictory features appear to violate all known laws and principles of evolution.
When the intruder returns, the C-57D's crew is prepared. They quickly discover that the creature is invisible. Its roaring image becomes visible as it stands within the fence's force field, further enhanced by the crew's directed high-energy weapons fire, all of which have no effect. It kills several of the crew, including Astrogator Jerry Farman. Back in the Krell lab, Morbius is startled awake by Altaira's screaming; at that same instant, the large creature suddenly vanishes.
Later, while Adams confronts Morbius at his home, Ostrow sneaks away to use the Krell educator; as Morbius had warned, however, he is fatally injured. Ostrow explains to Adams that the Great Machine was built to materialize anything the Krell could imagine, projecting matter anywhere on the planet. However, with his dying breath, he also says the Krell forgot one thing: "Monsters from the Id!" Morbius points out there are no Krell still alive. Adams asserts that Morbius' subconscious mind, enhanced by the "plastic educator", can utilize the Great Machine, recreating the Id monster that killed the original expedition; Morbius refuses to accept this conclusion.
After Altaira declares her love for Adams in defiance of her father's wishes, Robby detects the creature approaching the house. Morbius commands the robot to kill it, but Robby knows it is a manifestation of his master. His programming to never harm humans comes into conflict with Morbius' command and shuts Robby down. Powered by the Great Machine, the creature melts the indestructible metal doors of the Krell laboratory where Adams, Altaira, and Morbius have taken refuge. Morbius finally accepts the truth: the creature is an extension of his own mind, "his evil self". He then confronts the creature, saying, "Stop! Come no closer! I deny you! I give you up!" This act triggers a backlash in the Great Machine which mortally injures him (possibly a stroke, although the nature of the injury is never discussed), as the power indicators connected to the Great Machine go dark one by one. With his last ounce of strength, Morbius then directs Adams to turn a small disc until it locks. As he does so, a plunger switch rises up out of the floor. At Morbius's urging, Adams then throws the switch by pushing it straight down until it also locks. A red-and-white warning indicator surrounding the switch then lights up. The dying scientist then warns Adams and his daughter that within the next 24 hours they must be at least 100 million miles out in space, because Adams has just linked all of the Great Machine's thermonuclear reactors together, and has initiated an irreversible chain reaction which will destroy Altair IV completely.
From deep space, with the C-57D now at a safe distance, and safely on course back to Earth, Adams, Altaira, Robby, and the rest of the crew witness the destruction of Altair IV on the ship's main viewscreen. As the planet disappears in a flash of disintegration, Adams comforts Altaira, pointing out that, if nothing else, a million years in the future, her father's tragic experience will remind mankind that, "we are, after all, not God." With those words, the ship continues its journey back to Earth, and the film concludes.
Cast[edit]





Near the ship, First Officer Lt. Jerry Farman converses with Dr Morbius' daughter, Altaira.



The crew sets up Quinn's jury-rigged communications circuits (Ostrow in the middle, Adams and Quinn on the right).
Walter Pidgeon as Dr. Edward Morbius
Anne Francis as Altaira "Alta" Morbius
Leslie Nielsen as Commander John J. Adams
Robby the Robot as Himself
Warren Stevens as Lt. "Doc" Ostrow
Jack Kelly as Lt. Jerry Farman
Richard Anderson as Chief Quinn
Earl Holliman as Cook
George Wallace as Steve
Bob Dix as Grey
Jimmy Thompson as Youngerford
James Drury as Strong
Harry Harvey, Jr. as Randall
Roger McGee as Lindstrom
Peter Miller as Moran
Morgan Jones as Nichols
Richard Grant as Silvers
Frankie Darro, the stuntman inside Robby the Robot (uncredited)
Marvin Miller, voice of Robby the Robot (uncredited)
Les Tremayne as the Narrator (uncredited)
James Best as a C-57D crewman (uncredited)
William Boyett as a C-57D crewman (uncredited)
Production[edit]





United Planets Cruiser C-57D lands on Altair's 4th planet.



Id Monster – a plaster cast of its footprint; the invisible creature outlined by force field and blaster rays.
The screen story by Irving Block and Allen Adler, written in 1952, was originally titled Fatal Planet. The later screenplay draft by Cyril Hume renamed the film Forbidden Planet, because this was believed to have greater box-office appeal.[12] Block and Adler's drama took place in the year 1976 on the planet Mercury. An Earth expedition headed by John Grant was sent to the planet to retrieve Dr. Adams and his daughter Dorianne, who have been stranded there for twenty years. From then on, its plot is roughly the same as that of the completed film, though Grant is able to rescue both Adams and his daughter and escape the invisible monster stalking them.
The film sets were constructed on a Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) sound stage at its Culver City film lot and were designed by Cedric Gibbons and Arthur Longeran. The film was shot entirely indoors, with all the Altair IV exterior scenes simulated using sets, visual effects, and matte paintings.
A full-size mock-up of roughly three-quarters of the C-57D starship was built to suggest its full width of 170 ft (51 m). The ship was surrounded by a huge, painted cyclorama featuring the desert landscape of Altair IV; this one set took up all of the available space in one of the Culver City sound stages.



 The Krell's Great Machine, dwarfing the three men walking on the platform.
Later, C-57D models, special effects shots, and the full-size set details were reused in several different episodes of the television series The Twilight Zone, which were filmed by CBS at the same MGM studio location in Culver City.
At a cost of roughly $125,000, Robby the Robot was very expensive for a single film prop at this time.[13] Both the electrically controlled passenger vehicle driven by Robby and the truck/tractor-crane off-loaded from the C-57D starship were also constructed specially for this film. Robby the Robot later starred in the science fiction film The Invisible Boy and appeared in many TV series and films that followed; like the C-57D, Robby (and his passenger vehicle) appeared in various episodes of CBS' The Twilight Zone, usually slightly modified for each appearance.
The animated sequences of Forbidden Planet, especially the attack of the "Id Monster", were created by the veteran animator Joshua Meador,[14] who was loaned out to MGM by Walt Disney Pictures. According to a "Behind the Scenes" featurette on the film's DVD, a close look at the creature shows it to have a small goatee beard, suggesting its connection to Dr. Morbius, the only character with this physical feature; the bellowing, now visible Id monster, caught in the crewman's high-energy beams during the attack, is a direct reference to and visual pun on MGM's familiar roaring mascot Leo the Lion, seen at the very beginning of Forbidden Planet and the studio's other films of the era.
Release[edit]
Forbidden Planet was first released across the U. S. on April 1, 1956 in CinemaScope, Metrocolor, and in some theaters, stereophonic sound, either by the magnetic or Perspecta processes. The Hollywood premiere was held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and Robby the Robot was on display in the lobby. Forbidden Planet ran every day at Grauman's Theater through the following September.
According to MGM records the film initially earned $1,530,000 in the US and Canada[15] and $1,235,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $210,000.[2]
Forbidden Planet was re-released to movie theaters during 1972 as one of MGM's "Kiddie Matinee" features; it was missing about six minutes of film footage cut to ensure it received a "G" rating from the Motion Picture Association of America.[5] Later video releases carry a "G" rating, though they are all the original theatrical version.
Home media[edit]
Forbidden Planet was first released in the pan and scan format in 1982 on MGM VHS and Betamax videotape and on MGM laser disc and CED Videodisc; years later, in 1996, it was again re-issued by MGM/UA, but this time in widescreen VHS and laser disc, both for the film's 40th anniversary. But it was The Criterion Collection that later re-issued Forbidden Planet in CinemaScope's original wider screen 2:55-to-1 aspect ratio, on a deluxe laser disc set, with various extra features on a second disc. Warner Bros. next released the film on DVD in 1999 (MGM's catalog of films had been sold in 1988 to AOL-Time Warner by Turner Entertainment and MGM/UA). Warner's release offered both cropped and widescreen picture formats on the same disc.



 Warren Stevens, Richard Anderson, and Earl Holliman at San Diego's Comic-Con International, July 2006. – Photograph: Patty Mooney
For the film's 50th anniversary, the Ultimate Collector's Edition was released on November 28, 2006 in an over-sized red metal box, using the original movie poster for its wraparound cover. Both DVD and high definition HD DVD formats were available in this deluxe package. Inside both premium packages were the films Forbidden Planet and The Invisible Boy, The Thin Man episode "Robot Client" and a documentary Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, The 1950s and Us. Also included were miniature lobby cards and an 8 cm (3-inch) toy replica of Robby the Robot.[16] This was quickly followed by the release of the Forbidden Planet 50th Anniversary edition in both standard DVD and HD DVD packaging.[5] Both 50th anniversary formats were mastered by Warner Bros.-MGM techs from a fully restored, digital transfer of the film.[17] A Blu-ray Disc edition of Forbidden Planet was released on September 7, 2010.
Novelization[edit]
Shortly before the film was released, a novelization appeared in hardcover and then later in mass-market paperback; it was written by W. J. Stuart (the mystery novelist Philip MacDonald writing under the pseudonym),[18] which chapters the novel into separate first person narrations by Dr. Ostrow, Commander Adams, and Dr. Morbius. The novel delves further into the mysteries of the vanished Krell and Morbius' relationship to them. In the novel he repeatedly exposes himself to the Krell's manifestation machine, which (as suggested in the film) boosts his brain power far beyond normal human intelligence. Unfortunately, Morbius retains enough of his imperfect human nature to be afflicted with hubris and a contempt for humanity. Not recognizing his own base primitive drives and limitations proves to be Morbius' downfall, as it had for the extinct Krell. While not stated explicitly in the film (although the basis for a deleted scene first included as an extra with the Criterion Collection's laser disc set and included with both the later 50th anniversary DVD and current Blu-ray releases), the novelization compared Altaira's ability to tame the tiger (until her sexual awakening with Commander Adams) to the medieval myth of a unicorn being tameable only by a virgin.
The novel also raises an issue never dealt with in the film: when Dr. Ostrow dissects one of the dead Earth-type animals, he discovers that its internal structure is altogether unlike that of any real animal. The tiger, the deer, and the monkey are all conscious creations by Dr. Morbius and only outwardly resemble their Earth counterparts. Since the Krell's great machine can project matter "in any form" it has the power to create life. Thus, the Krell's self-destruction can be interpreted by the reader as a cosmic punishment for misappropriating the life-creating power of the universe. This is why Commander Adams says in his speech to Altaira "...we are, after all, not God."
However, the "machine creations" of the novel can be said to break some canons established in the film. The great machine operated in real time and could not create lifeforms that were independent of its operator's immediate will. Thus, Morbius would be tasked with re-imaging those animals any time they were needed, and there is no suggestion anywhere in the novel of this happening. Hence, the comparatively more plausible statement offered within the film: the tiger, the deer, and the monkey were the descendents of specimens brought to Altair IV from Earth.
Upon publication in 1956, Anthony Boucher dismissed the novelization as "an abysmally banal job of hackwork."[19]
Soundtrack[edit]
Forbidden Planet's innovative electronic music score, credited as "electronic tonalities," partly to avoid having to pay any of the film industry music guild fees,[citation needed] was composed by Louis and Bebe Barron. MGM producer Dore Schary discovered the couple quite by chance at a beatnik nightclub in Greenwich Village while on a family Christmas visit to New York City; Schary hired them on the spot to compose his film's musical score. While the theremin (which was not used in Forbidden Planet) had been used on the soundtrack of Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945), the Barrons' electronic composition is credited with being the first completely electronic film score; their soundtrack preceded the invention of the Moog synthesizer by eight years (1964).
Using ideas and procedures from the book, Cybernetics: Or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (1948) by the mathematician and electrical engineer Norbert Wiener, Louis Barron constructed his own electronic circuits that he used to generate the score's "bleeps, blurps, whirs, whines, throbs, hums, and screeches".[13] Most of these sounds were generated using an electronic circuit called a "ring modulator". After recording the basic sounds, the Barrons further manipulated the sounds by adding other effects, such as reverberation and delay, and reversing or changing the speeds of certain sounds.[20]
Since Louis and Bebe Barron did not belong to the Musicians Union, their work could not be considered for an Academy Award, in either the "soundtrack" or the "sound effects" categories. MGM declined to publish a soundtrack album at the same time that Forbidden Planet was released. However, film composer and conductor David Rose later published a 7" (18 cm) single of his original main title theme that he had recorded at the MGM Studios in Culver City during March 1956. His main title theme had been discarded when Rose, who had originally been hired to compose the musical score in 1955, was discharged from the project by Dore Schary sometime between Christmas 1955 and New Year’s Day.[citation needed] The film's original theatrical trailer contains snippets of Rose's score, the tapes of which Rose reportedly later destroyed.[citation needed]
The Barrons finally released their soundtrack in 1976 as an LP album for the film's 20th anniversary; it was on their very own Planet Records label (later changed to Small Planet Records and distributed by GNP Crescendo Records). The LP was premiered at MidAmeriCon, the 34th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Kansas City, MO over the 1976 Labor Day weekend, as part of a 20th Anniversary celebration of Forbidden Planet held at that Worldcon; the Barrons were there promoting their album's first release, signing all the copies sold at the convention. They also introduced the first of three packed-house screenings that showed an MGM 35mm fine grain vault print in original CinemaScope and stereophonic sound. A decade later, in 1986, their soundtrack was released on a music CD for the film's 30th Anniversary, with a six-page color booklet containing images from Forbidden Planet, plus liner notes from the composers, Louis and Bebe Barron, and Bill Malone.[20]
A tribute to the film's soundtrack was performed live in concert by Jack Dangers, available on disc one of the album Forbidden Planet Explored.
Track list[edit]
The following is a list of compositions on the CD:[20]
1.Main Titles (Overture)
2.Deceleration
3.Once Around Altair
4.The Landing
5.Flurry Of Dust – A Robot Approaches
6.A Shangri-La In The Desert / Garden With Cuddly Tiger
7.Graveyard – A Night With Two Moons
8."Robby, Make Me A Gown"
9.An Invisible Monster Approaches
10.Robby Arranges Flowers, Zaps Monkey
11.Love At The Swimming Hole
12.Morbius' Study
13.Ancient Krell Music
14.The Mind Booster – Creation Of Matter
15.Krell Shuttle Ride And Power Station
16.Giant Footprints In The Sand
17."Nothing Like This Claw Found In Nature!"
18.Robby, The Cook, And 60 Gallons Of Booze
19.Battle With The Invisible Monster
20."Come Back To Earth With Me"
21.The Monster Pursues – Morbius Is Overcome
22.The Homecoming
23.Overture (Reprise) [this track recorded at Royce Hall, UCLA, 1964]
Influences[edit]
In the authorized biography of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Roddenberry notes that Forbidden Planet "was one of my inspirations for Star Trek."[21]
The robot B9 and set of the spaceship Jupiter 2 in the TV series Lost in Space were inspired by Forbidden Planet and designed by Robert Kinoshita, creator of Robby the Robot.
The underground complex of Project Tic-Toc in the TV series "The Time Tunnel" is very simular to the underground Krell laboratory.
Elements of the Doctor Who serial Planet of Evil were consciously based on the 1956 film.[22]
Forbidden Planet is named alongside several other classic science fiction films in the opening song "Science Fiction Double Feature" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The U. K. musical Return to the Forbidden Planet was inspired by and loosely based on the MGM film [23] and won the Olivier Award for best musical of 1989/90.[24]
A scene from the science fiction TV series Babylon 5, set on the Epsilon III Great Machine bridge, strongly resembles the Krell's great machine. While this was not the intent of the show's producer, the special effects crew, tasked with creating the imagery, stated that the Krell's machine was a definite influence on their Epsilon III designs.[25]
In Strata, an early Terry Pratchett novel, Silver – a bear-like alien – mentions portraying the Id Monster in a remake of Forbidden Planet.
Reception[edit]
[icon] This section requires expansion. (February 2014)
The film appeared on two American Film Institute Lists.
AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores – Nominated[26]
AFI's 10 Top 10 – Nominated Science Fiction Film[27]
Possible remake[edit]
New Line Cinema had developed a remake with James Cameron, Nelson Gidding and Stirling Silliphant involved at different points. In 2007 DreamWorks set up the project with David Twohy set to direct. Warner Bros. re-acquired the rights the following year and on October 31, 2008, J. Michael Straczynski was announced as writing a remake, Joel Silver was to produce.[28] Straczynski explained that the original had been his favorite science fiction film, and it gave Silver an idea for the new film that makes it "not a remake", "not a reimagining", and "not exactly a prequel". His vision for the film would not be retro, because when the original was made it was meant to be futuristic. Straczynski met with people working in astrophysics, planetary geology and artificial intelligence to reinterpret the Krell back-story as a film trilogy.[29] As of November 2013, no more information had been released about this Forbidden Planet remake; the project appears to have disappeared into development limbo or gone directly into industry turnaround.
See also[edit]
Return to the Forbidden Planet, a musical based on the modern film
Id, ego and super-ego
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Forbidden Planet (1956)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2006-08-14.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger. Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
3.Jump up ^ Variety film review; March 14, 1956, page 6.
4.Jump up ^ Harrison's Reports film review; March 17, 1956, page 44.
5.^ Jump up to: a b c "Forbidden Planet: Ultimate Collector's Edition from Warner Home Video on DVD – Special Edition". Whv.warnerbros.com. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
6.Jump up ^ Robert C. Ring, Sci-Fi Movie Freak, page 22 (Krause Publications, a division of F+W Media, 2011). ISBN 978-1-4402-2862-9
7.Jump up ^ M. Keith Booker, Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Cinema, page 126 (Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2010). ISBN 978-0-8108-5570-0
8.Jump up ^ Wilson, Robert Frank (2000). Shakespeare in Hollywood, 1929–1956. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 10. ISBN 0-8386-3832-5. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
9.Jump up ^ Miller, Scott (2008). "Inside Return to the Forbidden Planet". Excerpt from Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, and Musical Theatre. Northeastern University. 2011. ISBN 9781555537432.
10.Jump up ^ "The Robot Hall of Fame : Robby, the Robot". The Robot Hall of Fame (Carnegie Mellon University). Retrieved 2006-08-14.
11.Jump up ^ "Library of Congress announces 2013 National Film Registry selections" (Press release). Washington Post. December 18, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
12.Jump up ^ "tkm fav the forbidden planet". klangmuseum.de. Retrieved 2006-08-16.
13.^ Jump up to: a b "Forbidden Planet". MovieDiva. Retrieved 2006-08-16. "He cost $125,000; a lot of money for a single prop, and was inhabited by a couple of different actors and voiced by Marvin Miller, whose other brief moment of fame was the title role in The Millionaire, a 1950s TV show."
14.Jump up ^ Lev, Peter (2006). Transforming the screen, 1950–1959. History of the American cinema 7. University of California Press. p. 176. ISBN 0-520-24966-6.
15.Jump up ^ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956', Variety Weekly, January 2, 1957
16.Jump up ^ "Forbidden Planet" (Ultimate Collector's ed.). Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2010-08-15.[dead link]
17.Jump up ^ "HD DVD review of Forbidden Planet (Warner Brothers, 50th Anniversary Edition)". DVDTOWN.com. 2006-11-28. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
18.Jump up ^ W. J. Stuart, Forbidden Planet (A Novel), New York: Farrar, Strauss and Cudahy, 1956.
19.Jump up ^ "Recommended Reading," F&SF, June 1956, p.102.
20.^ Jump up to: a b c Notes about film soundtrack and CD, MovieGrooves-FP
21.Jump up ^ Alexander, David (1996-08-26). "Star Trek" Creator: Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry. Boxtree. ISBN 0-7522-0368-1.
22.Jump up ^ "A Darker Side", documentary on Planet of Evil DVD (BBC DVD1814).
23.Jump up ^ Return to the Forbidden Planet, The Henley College
24.Jump up ^ "Oliviers:Olivier Winners 1989/90". officiallondontheatre.co.uk. Society of London Theatre. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
25.Jump up ^ Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5, "A Voice in the Wilderness (Pt 1)" episode guide, 'JMS Speaks' section
26.Jump up ^ AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores Nominees
27.Jump up ^ AFI's 10 Top 10 Ballot
28.Jump up ^ Borys Kit and Jay A. Fernandez (2008-10-31). "Changeling scribe on Forbidden Planet". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2008-10-31.[dead link]
29.Jump up ^ Casey Seijas (2008-12-01). "J. Michael Straczynski Promises His Take On ‘Forbidden Planet’ Will Be Something ‘No One Has Thought Of’". MTV Movies Blog. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Forbidden Planet
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Forbidden Planet.
Forbidden Planet at the American Film Institute Catalog
Forbidden Planet at the Internet Movie Database
Forbidden Planet at the TCM Movie Database
Forbidden Planet at AllMovie
Forbidden Planet at Rotten Tomatoes
DVD Journal review
NPR: Barron Score
Cinematographic analysis of Forbidden Planet
"Geological Time Termination in a SciFi Biosphere: An Alternative View of THE FORBIDDEN PLANET"


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Forbidden Planet
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This article is about the 1956 film. For the bookstore chains, see Forbidden Planet (bookstore).

Forbidden Planet
Forbiddenplanetposter.jpg
Film poster

Directed by
Fred M. Wilcox
Produced by
Nicholas Nayfack
Screenplay by
Cyril Hume
Story by
Irving Block
Allen Adler
Starring
Walter Pidgeon
Anne Francis
Leslie Nielsen
Warren Stevens
Jack Kelly
Robby the Robot
Narrated by
Les Tremayne
Music by
Louis and Bebe Barron
Cinematography
George J. Folsey
Edited by
Ferris Webster
Distributed by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)
March 15, 1956

Running time
98 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$1,968,000[2]
Box office
$2,765,000[2]
Forbidden Planet is a 1956 MGM Eastmancolor in CinemaScope science fiction film[3][4] directed by Fred M. Wilcox, a screenplay by Cyril Hume, and starring Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielsen. Forbidden Planet is the first science fiction film in which humans are depicted traveling in a starship of their own creation.[5] It was also the very first science fiction film set entirely on another world in interstellar space, far away from the planet Earth.[6] Forbidden Planet is considered one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s,[7] a precursor of what was to come for the science fiction film genre in the decades that followed. The characters and isolated setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest,[8] and its plot does contain certain story analogues and a reference to one section of Jung's theory on the collective subconscious.[9]
Forbidden Planet features special effects for which A. Arnold Gillespie, Irving G. Ries, and Wesley C. Miller were nominated for an Academy Award; it was the only major award nomination the film received. The film features the first groundbreaking use of an entirely electronic musical score by Louis and Bebe Barron. Forbidden Planet also featured Robby the Robot, the first film robot that was more than just a mechanical "tin can" on legs; Robby displays a distinct personality and is a complete supporting character in the film.[10] The movie's supporting cast features Warren Stevens, Jack Kelly, Earl Holliman and James Drury.
The film was entered into the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 2013, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[11]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Release 4.1 Home media
5 Novelization
6 Soundtrack 6.1 Track list
7 Influences
8 Reception
9 Possible remake
10 See also
11 Notes
12 External links

Plot[edit]



 Leslie Nielsen with co-star Anne Francis in Forbidden Planet.
Early in the 23rd century, the United Planets Cruiser C-57D travels to the planet Altair IV, 16 light-years from Earth, to discover the fate of an expedition sent 20 years earlier. Soon after entering orbit, the cruiser receives a transmission from Dr. Edward Morbius (Walter Pidgeon), the expedition's master of languages and their meanings. He warns the starship to stay away, saying he cannot guarantee their safety; he also states further assistance is not necessary. Commander John J. Adams (Leslie Nielsen) ignores the warning and insists on landing.
They are met on arrival by Robby the Robot, who takes Adams, Lieutenant Jerry Farman (Jack Kelly), and Lieutenant "Doc" Ostrow (Warren Stevens) to Morbius's home. There, Morbius explains that an unknown "planetary force" killed nearly everyone and then vaporized their starship, Bellerophon, as the survivors tried to lift off the planet. Only Morbius, his wife (who later died of natural causes), and their daughter Altaira (Anne Francis) were somehow immune. Morbius fears that the C-57D and its crew will meet the same fate. Altaira, having only known her father, becomes attracted to several of the Earth men.
Later the next night, equipment aboard the C-57D is sabotaged, though posted sentries never see the intruder. Adams and Ostrow confront Morbius the following morning. They learn he has been studying a highly advanced native species, the Krell, a race that mysteriously died suddenly 200,000 years before, just as they were on the verge of achieving their crowning scientific triumph.
In a Krell laboratory, Morbius shows Adams and Ostrow a device he calls a "plastic educator", a device capable of measuring and enhancing intellectual capacity; he uses it to display a three-dimensional, moving thought projection of Altaira. The Bellerophon's captain tried the machine and was instantly killed. When Morbius first used this machine, he barely survived; he later discovered his intellect had been permanently doubled. His increased intelligence enabled him, along with information from a stored Krell library, to build Robby and the other "technological marvels" in his home. Morbius then takes them on a tour of a vast cube-shaped underground Krell machine complex, 20 miles (30 km) square, still functioning and powered by 9,200 thermonuclear reactors. Afterwards, Adams demands that the fantastic knowledge of the Krell be turned over to Earth supervision but Morbius refuses, citing the potential danger that Krell technology would pose to mankind if it were to fall into the wrong hands and be misused.
In response to the sabotage, Adams orders a defensive force field fence deployed around the starship. This proves useless when the intruder returns undetected and murders Chief Engineer Quinn (Richard Anderson). Later, Dr. Ostrow (Warren Stevens) is confused by a casting made from one of the large footprints the intruder left behind: its contradictory features appear to violate all known laws and principles of evolution.
When the intruder returns, the C-57D's crew is prepared. They quickly discover that the creature is invisible. Its roaring image becomes visible as it stands within the fence's force field, further enhanced by the crew's directed high-energy weapons fire, all of which have no effect. It kills several of the crew, including Astrogator Jerry Farman. Back in the Krell lab, Morbius is startled awake by Altaira's screaming; at that same instant, the large creature suddenly vanishes.
Later, while Adams confronts Morbius at his home, Ostrow sneaks away to use the Krell educator; as Morbius had warned, however, he is fatally injured. Ostrow explains to Adams that the Great Machine was built to materialize anything the Krell could imagine, projecting matter anywhere on the planet. However, with his dying breath, he also says the Krell forgot one thing: "Monsters from the Id!" Morbius points out there are no Krell still alive. Adams asserts that Morbius' subconscious mind, enhanced by the "plastic educator", can utilize the Great Machine, recreating the Id monster that killed the original expedition; Morbius refuses to accept this conclusion.
After Altaira declares her love for Adams in defiance of her father's wishes, Robby detects the creature approaching the house. Morbius commands the robot to kill it, but Robby knows it is a manifestation of his master. His programming to never harm humans comes into conflict with Morbius' command and shuts Robby down. Powered by the Great Machine, the creature melts the indestructible metal doors of the Krell laboratory where Adams, Altaira, and Morbius have taken refuge. Morbius finally accepts the truth: the creature is an extension of his own mind, "his evil self". He then confronts the creature, saying, "Stop! Come no closer! I deny you! I give you up!" This act triggers a backlash in the Great Machine which mortally injures him (possibly a stroke, although the nature of the injury is never discussed), as the power indicators connected to the Great Machine go dark one by one. With his last ounce of strength, Morbius then directs Adams to turn a small disc until it locks. As he does so, a plunger switch rises up out of the floor. At Morbius's urging, Adams then throws the switch by pushing it straight down until it also locks. A red-and-white warning indicator surrounding the switch then lights up. The dying scientist then warns Adams and his daughter that within the next 24 hours they must be at least 100 million miles out in space, because Adams has just linked all of the Great Machine's thermonuclear reactors together, and has initiated an irreversible chain reaction which will destroy Altair IV completely.
From deep space, with the C-57D now at a safe distance, and safely on course back to Earth, Adams, Altaira, Robby, and the rest of the crew witness the destruction of Altair IV on the ship's main viewscreen. As the planet disappears in a flash of disintegration, Adams comforts Altaira, pointing out that, if nothing else, a million years in the future, her father's tragic experience will remind mankind that, "we are, after all, not God." With those words, the ship continues its journey back to Earth, and the film concludes.
Cast[edit]





Near the ship, First Officer Lt. Jerry Farman converses with Dr Morbius' daughter, Altaira.



The crew sets up Quinn's jury-rigged communications circuits (Ostrow in the middle, Adams and Quinn on the right).
Walter Pidgeon as Dr. Edward Morbius
Anne Francis as Altaira "Alta" Morbius
Leslie Nielsen as Commander John J. Adams
Robby the Robot as Himself
Warren Stevens as Lt. "Doc" Ostrow
Jack Kelly as Lt. Jerry Farman
Richard Anderson as Chief Quinn
Earl Holliman as Cook
George Wallace as Steve
Bob Dix as Grey
Jimmy Thompson as Youngerford
James Drury as Strong
Harry Harvey, Jr. as Randall
Roger McGee as Lindstrom
Peter Miller as Moran
Morgan Jones as Nichols
Richard Grant as Silvers
Frankie Darro, the stuntman inside Robby the Robot (uncredited)
Marvin Miller, voice of Robby the Robot (uncredited)
Les Tremayne as the Narrator (uncredited)
James Best as a C-57D crewman (uncredited)
William Boyett as a C-57D crewman (uncredited)
Production[edit]





United Planets Cruiser C-57D lands on Altair's 4th planet.



Id Monster – a plaster cast of its footprint; the invisible creature outlined by force field and blaster rays.
The screen story by Irving Block and Allen Adler, written in 1952, was originally titled Fatal Planet. The later screenplay draft by Cyril Hume renamed the film Forbidden Planet, because this was believed to have greater box-office appeal.[12] Block and Adler's drama took place in the year 1976 on the planet Mercury. An Earth expedition headed by John Grant was sent to the planet to retrieve Dr. Adams and his daughter Dorianne, who have been stranded there for twenty years. From then on, its plot is roughly the same as that of the completed film, though Grant is able to rescue both Adams and his daughter and escape the invisible monster stalking them.
The film sets were constructed on a Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) sound stage at its Culver City film lot and were designed by Cedric Gibbons and Arthur Longeran. The film was shot entirely indoors, with all the Altair IV exterior scenes simulated using sets, visual effects, and matte paintings.
A full-size mock-up of roughly three-quarters of the C-57D starship was built to suggest its full width of 170 ft (51 m). The ship was surrounded by a huge, painted cyclorama featuring the desert landscape of Altair IV; this one set took up all of the available space in one of the Culver City sound stages.



 The Krell's Great Machine, dwarfing the three men walking on the platform.
Later, C-57D models, special effects shots, and the full-size set details were reused in several different episodes of the television series The Twilight Zone, which were filmed by CBS at the same MGM studio location in Culver City.
At a cost of roughly $125,000, Robby the Robot was very expensive for a single film prop at this time.[13] Both the electrically controlled passenger vehicle driven by Robby and the truck/tractor-crane off-loaded from the C-57D starship were also constructed specially for this film. Robby the Robot later starred in the science fiction film The Invisible Boy and appeared in many TV series and films that followed; like the C-57D, Robby (and his passenger vehicle) appeared in various episodes of CBS' The Twilight Zone, usually slightly modified for each appearance.
The animated sequences of Forbidden Planet, especially the attack of the "Id Monster", were created by the veteran animator Joshua Meador,[14] who was loaned out to MGM by Walt Disney Pictures. According to a "Behind the Scenes" featurette on the film's DVD, a close look at the creature shows it to have a small goatee beard, suggesting its connection to Dr. Morbius, the only character with this physical feature; the bellowing, now visible Id monster, caught in the crewman's high-energy beams during the attack, is a direct reference to and visual pun on MGM's familiar roaring mascot Leo the Lion, seen at the very beginning of Forbidden Planet and the studio's other films of the era.
Release[edit]
Forbidden Planet was first released across the U. S. on April 1, 1956 in CinemaScope, Metrocolor, and in some theaters, stereophonic sound, either by the magnetic or Perspecta processes. The Hollywood premiere was held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and Robby the Robot was on display in the lobby. Forbidden Planet ran every day at Grauman's Theater through the following September.
According to MGM records the film initially earned $1,530,000 in the US and Canada[15] and $1,235,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $210,000.[2]
Forbidden Planet was re-released to movie theaters during 1972 as one of MGM's "Kiddie Matinee" features; it was missing about six minutes of film footage cut to ensure it received a "G" rating from the Motion Picture Association of America.[5] Later video releases carry a "G" rating, though they are all the original theatrical version.
Home media[edit]
Forbidden Planet was first released in the pan and scan format in 1982 on MGM VHS and Betamax videotape and on MGM laser disc and CED Videodisc; years later, in 1996, it was again re-issued by MGM/UA, but this time in widescreen VHS and laser disc, both for the film's 40th anniversary. But it was The Criterion Collection that later re-issued Forbidden Planet in CinemaScope's original wider screen 2:55-to-1 aspect ratio, on a deluxe laser disc set, with various extra features on a second disc. Warner Bros. next released the film on DVD in 1999 (MGM's catalog of films had been sold in 1988 to AOL-Time Warner by Turner Entertainment and MGM/UA). Warner's release offered both cropped and widescreen picture formats on the same disc.



 Warren Stevens, Richard Anderson, and Earl Holliman at San Diego's Comic-Con International, July 2006. – Photograph: Patty Mooney
For the film's 50th anniversary, the Ultimate Collector's Edition was released on November 28, 2006 in an over-sized red metal box, using the original movie poster for its wraparound cover. Both DVD and high definition HD DVD formats were available in this deluxe package. Inside both premium packages were the films Forbidden Planet and The Invisible Boy, The Thin Man episode "Robot Client" and a documentary Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, The 1950s and Us. Also included were miniature lobby cards and an 8 cm (3-inch) toy replica of Robby the Robot.[16] This was quickly followed by the release of the Forbidden Planet 50th Anniversary edition in both standard DVD and HD DVD packaging.[5] Both 50th anniversary formats were mastered by Warner Bros.-MGM techs from a fully restored, digital transfer of the film.[17] A Blu-ray Disc edition of Forbidden Planet was released on September 7, 2010.
Novelization[edit]
Shortly before the film was released, a novelization appeared in hardcover and then later in mass-market paperback; it was written by W. J. Stuart (the mystery novelist Philip MacDonald writing under the pseudonym),[18] which chapters the novel into separate first person narrations by Dr. Ostrow, Commander Adams, and Dr. Morbius. The novel delves further into the mysteries of the vanished Krell and Morbius' relationship to them. In the novel he repeatedly exposes himself to the Krell's manifestation machine, which (as suggested in the film) boosts his brain power far beyond normal human intelligence. Unfortunately, Morbius retains enough of his imperfect human nature to be afflicted with hubris and a contempt for humanity. Not recognizing his own base primitive drives and limitations proves to be Morbius' downfall, as it had for the extinct Krell. While not stated explicitly in the film (although the basis for a deleted scene first included as an extra with the Criterion Collection's laser disc set and included with both the later 50th anniversary DVD and current Blu-ray releases), the novelization compared Altaira's ability to tame the tiger (until her sexual awakening with Commander Adams) to the medieval myth of a unicorn being tameable only by a virgin.
The novel also raises an issue never dealt with in the film: when Dr. Ostrow dissects one of the dead Earth-type animals, he discovers that its internal structure is altogether unlike that of any real animal. The tiger, the deer, and the monkey are all conscious creations by Dr. Morbius and only outwardly resemble their Earth counterparts. Since the Krell's great machine can project matter "in any form" it has the power to create life. Thus, the Krell's self-destruction can be interpreted by the reader as a cosmic punishment for misappropriating the life-creating power of the universe. This is why Commander Adams says in his speech to Altaira "...we are, after all, not God."
However, the "machine creations" of the novel can be said to break some canons established in the film. The great machine operated in real time and could not create lifeforms that were independent of its operator's immediate will. Thus, Morbius would be tasked with re-imaging those animals any time they were needed, and there is no suggestion anywhere in the novel of this happening. Hence, the comparatively more plausible statement offered within the film: the tiger, the deer, and the monkey were the descendents of specimens brought to Altair IV from Earth.
Upon publication in 1956, Anthony Boucher dismissed the novelization as "an abysmally banal job of hackwork."[19]
Soundtrack[edit]
Forbidden Planet's innovative electronic music score, credited as "electronic tonalities," partly to avoid having to pay any of the film industry music guild fees,[citation needed] was composed by Louis and Bebe Barron. MGM producer Dore Schary discovered the couple quite by chance at a beatnik nightclub in Greenwich Village while on a family Christmas visit to New York City; Schary hired them on the spot to compose his film's musical score. While the theremin (which was not used in Forbidden Planet) had been used on the soundtrack of Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945), the Barrons' electronic composition is credited with being the first completely electronic film score; their soundtrack preceded the invention of the Moog synthesizer by eight years (1964).
Using ideas and procedures from the book, Cybernetics: Or, Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (1948) by the mathematician and electrical engineer Norbert Wiener, Louis Barron constructed his own electronic circuits that he used to generate the score's "bleeps, blurps, whirs, whines, throbs, hums, and screeches".[13] Most of these sounds were generated using an electronic circuit called a "ring modulator". After recording the basic sounds, the Barrons further manipulated the sounds by adding other effects, such as reverberation and delay, and reversing or changing the speeds of certain sounds.[20]
Since Louis and Bebe Barron did not belong to the Musicians Union, their work could not be considered for an Academy Award, in either the "soundtrack" or the "sound effects" categories. MGM declined to publish a soundtrack album at the same time that Forbidden Planet was released. However, film composer and conductor David Rose later published a 7" (18 cm) single of his original main title theme that he had recorded at the MGM Studios in Culver City during March 1956. His main title theme had been discarded when Rose, who had originally been hired to compose the musical score in 1955, was discharged from the project by Dore Schary sometime between Christmas 1955 and New Year’s Day.[citation needed] The film's original theatrical trailer contains snippets of Rose's score, the tapes of which Rose reportedly later destroyed.[citation needed]
The Barrons finally released their soundtrack in 1976 as an LP album for the film's 20th anniversary; it was on their very own Planet Records label (later changed to Small Planet Records and distributed by GNP Crescendo Records). The LP was premiered at MidAmeriCon, the 34th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Kansas City, MO over the 1976 Labor Day weekend, as part of a 20th Anniversary celebration of Forbidden Planet held at that Worldcon; the Barrons were there promoting their album's first release, signing all the copies sold at the convention. They also introduced the first of three packed-house screenings that showed an MGM 35mm fine grain vault print in original CinemaScope and stereophonic sound. A decade later, in 1986, their soundtrack was released on a music CD for the film's 30th Anniversary, with a six-page color booklet containing images from Forbidden Planet, plus liner notes from the composers, Louis and Bebe Barron, and Bill Malone.[20]
A tribute to the film's soundtrack was performed live in concert by Jack Dangers, available on disc one of the album Forbidden Planet Explored.
Track list[edit]
The following is a list of compositions on the CD:[20]
1.Main Titles (Overture)
2.Deceleration
3.Once Around Altair
4.The Landing
5.Flurry Of Dust – A Robot Approaches
6.A Shangri-La In The Desert / Garden With Cuddly Tiger
7.Graveyard – A Night With Two Moons
8."Robby, Make Me A Gown"
9.An Invisible Monster Approaches
10.Robby Arranges Flowers, Zaps Monkey
11.Love At The Swimming Hole
12.Morbius' Study
13.Ancient Krell Music
14.The Mind Booster – Creation Of Matter
15.Krell Shuttle Ride And Power Station
16.Giant Footprints In The Sand
17."Nothing Like This Claw Found In Nature!"
18.Robby, The Cook, And 60 Gallons Of Booze
19.Battle With The Invisible Monster
20."Come Back To Earth With Me"
21.The Monster Pursues – Morbius Is Overcome
22.The Homecoming
23.Overture (Reprise) [this track recorded at Royce Hall, UCLA, 1964]
Influences[edit]
In the authorized biography of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Roddenberry notes that Forbidden Planet "was one of my inspirations for Star Trek."[21]
The robot B9 and set of the spaceship Jupiter 2 in the TV series Lost in Space were inspired by Forbidden Planet and designed by Robert Kinoshita, creator of Robby the Robot.
The underground complex of Project Tic-Toc in the TV series "The Time Tunnel" is very simular to the underground Krell laboratory.
Elements of the Doctor Who serial Planet of Evil were consciously based on the 1956 film.[22]
Forbidden Planet is named alongside several other classic science fiction films in the opening song "Science Fiction Double Feature" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
The U. K. musical Return to the Forbidden Planet was inspired by and loosely based on the MGM film [23] and won the Olivier Award for best musical of 1989/90.[24]
A scene from the science fiction TV series Babylon 5, set on the Epsilon III Great Machine bridge, strongly resembles the Krell's great machine. While this was not the intent of the show's producer, the special effects crew, tasked with creating the imagery, stated that the Krell's machine was a definite influence on their Epsilon III designs.[25]
In Strata, an early Terry Pratchett novel, Silver – a bear-like alien – mentions portraying the Id Monster in a remake of Forbidden Planet.
Reception[edit]
[icon] This section requires expansion. (February 2014)
The film appeared on two American Film Institute Lists.
AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores – Nominated[26]
AFI's 10 Top 10 – Nominated Science Fiction Film[27]
Possible remake[edit]
New Line Cinema had developed a remake with James Cameron, Nelson Gidding and Stirling Silliphant involved at different points. In 2007 DreamWorks set up the project with David Twohy set to direct. Warner Bros. re-acquired the rights the following year and on October 31, 2008, J. Michael Straczynski was announced as writing a remake, Joel Silver was to produce.[28] Straczynski explained that the original had been his favorite science fiction film, and it gave Silver an idea for the new film that makes it "not a remake", "not a reimagining", and "not exactly a prequel". His vision for the film would not be retro, because when the original was made it was meant to be futuristic. Straczynski met with people working in astrophysics, planetary geology and artificial intelligence to reinterpret the Krell back-story as a film trilogy.[29] As of November 2013, no more information had been released about this Forbidden Planet remake; the project appears to have disappeared into development limbo or gone directly into industry turnaround.
See also[edit]
Return to the Forbidden Planet, a musical based on the modern film
Id, ego and super-ego
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Forbidden Planet (1956)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2006-08-14.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger. Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
3.Jump up ^ Variety film review; March 14, 1956, page 6.
4.Jump up ^ Harrison's Reports film review; March 17, 1956, page 44.
5.^ Jump up to: a b c "Forbidden Planet: Ultimate Collector's Edition from Warner Home Video on DVD – Special Edition". Whv.warnerbros.com. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
6.Jump up ^ Robert C. Ring, Sci-Fi Movie Freak, page 22 (Krause Publications, a division of F+W Media, 2011). ISBN 978-1-4402-2862-9
7.Jump up ^ M. Keith Booker, Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Cinema, page 126 (Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2010). ISBN 978-0-8108-5570-0
8.Jump up ^ Wilson, Robert Frank (2000). Shakespeare in Hollywood, 1929–1956. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 10. ISBN 0-8386-3832-5. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
9.Jump up ^ Miller, Scott (2008). "Inside Return to the Forbidden Planet". Excerpt from Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, and Musical Theatre. Northeastern University. 2011. ISBN 9781555537432.
10.Jump up ^ "The Robot Hall of Fame : Robby, the Robot". The Robot Hall of Fame (Carnegie Mellon University). Retrieved 2006-08-14.
11.Jump up ^ "Library of Congress announces 2013 National Film Registry selections" (Press release). Washington Post. December 18, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
12.Jump up ^ "tkm fav the forbidden planet". klangmuseum.de. Retrieved 2006-08-16.
13.^ Jump up to: a b "Forbidden Planet". MovieDiva. Retrieved 2006-08-16. "He cost $125,000; a lot of money for a single prop, and was inhabited by a couple of different actors and voiced by Marvin Miller, whose other brief moment of fame was the title role in The Millionaire, a 1950s TV show."
14.Jump up ^ Lev, Peter (2006). Transforming the screen, 1950–1959. History of the American cinema 7. University of California Press. p. 176. ISBN 0-520-24966-6.
15.Jump up ^ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956', Variety Weekly, January 2, 1957
16.Jump up ^ "Forbidden Planet" (Ultimate Collector's ed.). Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2010-08-15.[dead link]
17.Jump up ^ "HD DVD review of Forbidden Planet (Warner Brothers, 50th Anniversary Edition)". DVDTOWN.com. 2006-11-28. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
18.Jump up ^ W. J. Stuart, Forbidden Planet (A Novel), New York: Farrar, Strauss and Cudahy, 1956.
19.Jump up ^ "Recommended Reading," F&SF, June 1956, p.102.
20.^ Jump up to: a b c Notes about film soundtrack and CD, MovieGrooves-FP
21.Jump up ^ Alexander, David (1996-08-26). "Star Trek" Creator: Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry. Boxtree. ISBN 0-7522-0368-1.
22.Jump up ^ "A Darker Side", documentary on Planet of Evil DVD (BBC DVD1814).
23.Jump up ^ Return to the Forbidden Planet, The Henley College
24.Jump up ^ "Oliviers:Olivier Winners 1989/90". officiallondontheatre.co.uk. Society of London Theatre. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
25.Jump up ^ Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5, "A Voice in the Wilderness (Pt 1)" episode guide, 'JMS Speaks' section
26.Jump up ^ AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores Nominees
27.Jump up ^ AFI's 10 Top 10 Ballot
28.Jump up ^ Borys Kit and Jay A. Fernandez (2008-10-31). "Changeling scribe on Forbidden Planet". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2008-10-31.[dead link]
29.Jump up ^ Casey Seijas (2008-12-01). "J. Michael Straczynski Promises His Take On ‘Forbidden Planet’ Will Be Something ‘No One Has Thought Of’". MTV Movies Blog. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Forbidden Planet
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Forbidden Planet.
Forbidden Planet at the American Film Institute Catalog
Forbidden Planet at the Internet Movie Database
Forbidden Planet at the TCM Movie Database
Forbidden Planet at AllMovie
Forbidden Planet at Rotten Tomatoes
DVD Journal review
NPR: Barron Score
Cinematographic analysis of Forbidden Planet
"Geological Time Termination in a SciFi Biosphere: An Alternative View of THE FORBIDDEN PLANET"


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Fred M. Wilcox























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William Shakespeare's The Tempest













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Categories: 1956 films
English-language films
American films
1950s science fiction films
American science fiction action films
Electronic soundtracks
Films directed by Fred M. Wilcox
Films set in the 23rd century
Films shot in CinemaScope
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Robot films
Films based on The Tempest
United States National Film Registry films
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