Forbidden Planet (1956) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Theatrical Trailer-3:45
Rating
Year Of Production	1956
Running Time	98:33
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Sided	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Fred McLeod Wilcox
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Walter Pidgeon Leslie Nielsen Anne Francis Warren Stevens Jack Kelly Richard Anderson Earl Holliman George Wallace
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Louis Barron Bebe Barron

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Pan & Scan	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French Spanish English for the Hearing Impaired French Spanish	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Science Fiction has a number of inherent problems. One of them relates to science. If you just use the science of today, then you're not writing science fiction - you're writing ordinary fiction (yeah, OK, that's a massive generalisation). So you have to get into the game of prediction. You can get around this - if you set your story a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, then you can argue that any anomalies are the results of divergent scientific evolution. If you do want to write about Earth, you can choose to set your story far in the future, and you may get away with your predictions; although those writers who had their heroes using valve technology - E E 'Doc' Smith in Space Hounds of the IPC, for example, or George O Smith in Venus Equilateral - found themselves overtaken by solid-state electronics.

    Forbidden Planet begins with a narration: "In the final decade of the twenty first century men and women in rocketships landed on the Moon...". When this film was made, in 1956, that prediction probably looked pretty good. After all, the first artificial satellite (Sputnik) wasn't launched until 1959. It was a while yet before Yuri Gagarin became the first man launched into space. And it was some time before American arrogance caused a young President to declare that the USA would land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade - launching the biggest and most expensive PR exercise of all time. If it weren't for that, mankind might have followed the original plan, which involved developing a space shuttle, then establishing an orbital station, (sound at all familiar?) and then sending a Moon expedition from that orbital station.

    Forbidden Planet is an interesting story, and one that still works today - that's impressive, and a test of good fiction (science fiction or otherwise). A few of the attitudes may strike you as a little odd, but that's because they are based on the world of the 1950s - the generally military approach; the idea that everyone (even the cook, who is the obligatory comic relief) wears a sidearm; the idea that the starship is crewed solely with Caucasian men - keep in mind that this film was made fairly soon after World War II, during the beginnings of the Cold War.

    United Planets Cruiser C57D (a flying saucer!) is visiting the star Altair, and more specifically the planet Altair 4, to investigate what happened to the people on the starship Belerophon - lost for 20 years. They discover the only survivor, Dr Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) - the expedition's philologist (studying words and languages) living quite happily on the planet, aided by his robot Robby. He explains that most of the crew died under mysterious circumstances, leaving only him and his wife (who died of natural causes). The commander, Commander Adams (Leslie Nielsen), of UPC C57D is taken aback - he decides he must contact Earth for instructions. Perhaps his decision is influenced by Dr Morbius's daughter Altaira (Anne Francis) - she has quite a selection of short-skirted dresses.

    The deaths of the colonists were fairly simple - they were torn limb from limb. Dr Morbius is gravely concerned that the same may befall the new arrivals. His concerns turn out to be justified...

    It's quite entertaining to see Leslie Nielsen playing the handsome young starship commander - it is such a contrast to how we see him now.

    The special effects are very good, considering when the film was made. They are mostly crackly blue lines and glows, and the blasters fire dotted lines, but they do the job.

    There are those who will emphasise how this movie is based on Shakespeare's The Tempest. I have to admit that I haven't read that play, nor seen it performed, so I can't comment on that.

Video

    This is another NTSC disc - if your system won't handle NTSC, stop torturing yourself and go on to the next review.

    This film is presented in two aspect ratios. On one side of the disc we get the movie presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced. That's the original theatrical aspect ratio, and it shows. The other side of the disc provides a pan & scan version - I took a quick look to confirm its existence, but I did not review it - it is very grainy. The rest of this review concerns the widescreen side.

    The image is more than a little grainy, and consequently fairly soft. Shadow detail is reasonable, but there is a point at which the colour drops off sharply into black. There's apparently no low-level noise, but it would be hard to spot.

    Colour is surprisingly good - have a look at the trailer to see how bad it might have been. Skin tones look accurate. There are some vivid colours, but most look a little faded. Blacks are quite solid, though.

    There are continual film artefacts, but they're mostly small flecks and spots. There's a frame bounce at 3:41. There's what looks like an interlacing artefact at 7:51 during a cut between scenes - it looks quite interesting viewed frame by frame, especially given that it's adorned with a couple of bright blue hairs. This transfer is clearly taken from a cinema print - there are reel change markings at 15:55, 30:35, 47:23, 63:57, and 81:42. There's some minor aliasing, but no moire. There's a fair bit of background MPEG shimmer, exacerbated by the film grain. It's not a hardship to watch this transfer, but it would never be mistaken for a modern film.

    There are both subtitles and captions in English, French and Spanish. I checked both the subtitles and the captions - they seem accurate, well-timed, and easy to read.

    The disc is double-sided and single layered. That means we have no layer changes to worry about. I personally don't like double-sided discs because they are harder to handle than single sided ones.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The only soundtracks on this disc are in French and English. The French is clearly mono, being Dolby Digital 1.0. The English is Dolby Digital 2.0, not surround encoded, but it doesn't offer an extensive stereo spread. There's some audible hiss in the soundtrack, and some minor pops and crackles.

    The dialogue is clear and comprehensible, with no audio sync errors.

    The music is electronic, made by Louis and Bebe Barron. It is credited as "electronic tonalities".

    There is no use of the surrounds or subwoofer. They are not really missed.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu static and silent.

Theatrical Trailer (3:45)

    Here's an interesting experience - a 1950s trailer, narrated by what sounds like Robby's voice.

    The cover of the Region 1 disc is different from the Region 4, but the discs have identical content.

    Forbidden Planet is a good movie that's an ancestor to many movies since.

    The video quality is not fabulous, but we are unlikely to see a better transfer ever.

    The audio quality is fair, and unlikely to be better.

    The extra is minimal.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall