Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 R72) Australian Daybill

 Robert Wise directed this Christ parable, which is cleverly enough concealed to keep the science fiction uppermost. But after pressure from the MPAA, writer Edmund H. North was forced to add a line explaining that Klaatu’s resurrection was only temporary… Klaatu, a spaceman who ‘comes in peace’ is wounded by a nervous soldier, and Gort, his eight foot robot, proceeds to disintegrate all the weapons in the vicinity. As Klaatu recovers and escapes to see what human life is like outside the politicos and military hawks, he is in turn befriended, accepted, loved and betrayed. His message, ‘shape up or else’ is a bold one for the time, when ‘Better Dead than Red’ was the usual message of the day.

Klaatu dogged Michael Rennie’s career in the same way Norman Bates dogged Anthony Perkins. He was a rather limited hatchet-faced actor (perfect for an alien), and his end in Euro films was inevitable, with The Young, The Evil and the Savage, The Last Chance (both 1968) and Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1970).

Artist: Unknown - this stone litho version is the 1970s re-release, printed from the original 1950s plate, the only differences being the change in printers (W. E. Smith Limited, Sydney to M.A.P.S. Litho. Pty. Ltd.) and the 'For General Exhibition' to the right of 'Still' carefully inked out by the printers, and a G (for 'General') added in a triangle bottom right.

Condition: VERY FINE - small tear and slight creasing to left border

Cast: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray, Lock Martin (Gort)