In the shot of Klaatu being shot at in the beginning of the film, the device he held in his hand flies out of it, as if it was shot out of his hand. But when he subsequently gets up, the blood stain on his shoulder, and the sling he has his arm in in the hospital indicates that he was shot in the shoulder.
The small scale of space described in this film is rather quaint. Klaatu, in the hospital after being shot, tells Mr. Barley that his planet is 250 million miles away. So his planet's distance from Earth is just seven times that of Mars'? In a similar vein, he later tells Professor Barnhardt that although they knew about Earth's atomic weapons, that they only became alarmed when they learned that Earth began experimenting with rocketry. Obviously, another inhabited planet would be many light years from our solar system, and not accessible with rockets.
Also, was the distance to Klaatu's planet made available to public? After his escape from Walter Reed Hospital, a radio newscaster heard (during the scene when Klaatu removes the tag identifying the suit he stole as belonging to a Major Carpenter from its jacket sleeve) saying that scientists agree that he's either from Venus or Mars. Mars is only about 35 million miles away, and Venus is only about 25 million miles away.
How does Klaatu enter the Benson home? They seem shocked when he shows up. Maybe they didn't lock their doors back then. But then why would they have that spooky lighting, knowing someone might waltz right in and scare the bejeebies out of them?
How does Klaatu pay for his rented room?
After Bobby tells his mother that he witnessed "Mr. Carpenter"'s return to the spaceship, Tom presents Mrs. Benson with one of the diamond-like things he found in Carpenter/Klaatu's room, and Bobby says that Carpenter gave him a bunch as well for two dollars. Two dollars in 1951 is the equivalent of $16.85 today. How did a little kid at that age have that much money lying around to give? Was this his money, or money he took from some pot around the house? Mrs. Benson seems completely undisturbed by this.
When Klaatu and Mrs. Benson get in the elevator, he is cut off in mid-sentence by the sudden failure of the lights, when all the electricity around the world is neutralized. He asks her what time it is, and she says it's 12:00 noon. He says the electricity will be out for about an hour. It is clear that he arranged this to happen when he returned to his ship. If he arranged for this to happen, then why didn't he make sure to monitor the time, and to make sure that he wasn't in an elevator at the time the electricity went out? If he did, and wanted to be in such an enclosed space with Mrs. Benson, then why did he ask her what time it was?
Isn't Klaatu the robot?
Gort is the robot.
Ah. You're right.
Just finished watching this. I watched half last night, and other half today. Pretty darn good. The ending was a bit anticlimactic, but given the intended allegory, and the era in which it was made, it worked. I hope the upcoming version with Keanu Reeves as Klaatu that comes out in December is just as good, at least in its own way. ("Whoa, space men! I am Klaatu from this totally wicked planet called....Whoa, Jennifer Connelly?! Excellent!")
When Gort retrieves Klaatu after Klaatu is shot the second time, why is Klaatu in a conventional-looking police station holding cell with a barred window in it? Shouldn't he be either in a hospital, a high-security military prison cell, or if they believe him to be dead, in the morgue?
Luigi - Klaatu, in the hospital after being shot, tells Mr. Barley that his planet is 250 million miles away.
Which would put it between Mars & Jupiter. (Probably some undiscovered dwarf planet. ;-)
In a similar vein, he later tells Professor Barnhardt that although they knew about Earth's atomic weapons, that they only became alarmed when they learned that Earth began experimenting with rocketry. Obviously, another inhabited planet would be many light years from our solar system, and not accessible with rockets.
Ah, but according to Klaatu it's only 250 million miles away, not, at least, 25 trillion miles away.
Two dollars in 1951 is the equivalent of $16.85 today. How did a little kid at that age have that much money lying around to give? Was this his money, or money he took from some pot around the house? Mrs. Benson seems completely undisturbed by this.
I've generally found equivalizing money to somewhat dubious. Sure what you could buy was greater back then, but it doesn't mean people couldn't find ways to earn 2 dollars. The script was written back then & the scriptwriter & director didn't have a problem with a kid having $2. Also kids could have jobs back then to earn money.
My observation about the rocketry was an extension of aforementioned one about distance, which is why it was in the same paragraph.
I always thought it was a comment on human nature when Bobby immediately swaps Klaatu the two bucks for the diamonds...even a kid in the 1950s is smart enough to take advantage of a poor sucker from out of town!
Glen Larson ripped off the scene where Bobby and Klaatu visit the professor's lab in his childish Galactica: 1980. Instead of a chalkboard, Troy and Dillon erase a few lines on Professor Mortinson's TRS-80 and type in new formulas.
And, though I've known this for years, but didn't recall until later, obviously the design of Gort's eyepiece "inspired" (ie, "was shamelessly ripped off for") the look of the Cylons.
quote:Luigi Novi: In a similar vein, he later tells Professor Barnhardt that although they knew about Earth's atomic weapons, that they only became alarmed when they learned that Earth began experimenting with rocketry. Obviously, another inhabited planet would be many light years from our solar system, and not accessible with rockets.
quote:Luigi Novi:
When Klaatu and Mrs. Benson get in the elevator, he is cut off in mid-sentence by the sudden failure of the lights, when all the electricity around the world is neutralized. He asks her what time it is, and she says it's 12:00 noon. He says the electricity will be out for about an hour. It is clear that he arranged this to happen when he returned to his ship. If he arranged for this to happen, then why didn't he make sure to monitor the time, and to make sure that he wasn't in an elevator at the time the electricity went out? If he did, and wanted to be in such an enclosed space with Mrs. Benson, then why did he ask her what time it was?
I love this classic movie! But I've always wondered exactly how did Klaatu escape from his hospital room & get pass the military guards & hospital staff? He "appeared to have" no high tech sophisticated devices with him at that time. We saw no indication of his having mind powers of any kind,& there wasn't any transporter-like machine on board his saucer or he would have used it later on when he went to his space craft to set up halting the Earth's electrical systems.
"The small scale of space described in this film is rather quaint. Klaatu, in the hospital after being shot, tells Mr. Barley that his planet is 250 million miles away. So his planet's distance from Earth is just seven times that of Mars'?"
I'm thinking that Klaatu's people have a base set up somewhere in our solar system, that they use to monitor Earth. It's possible that is what Klaatu is referring to when he tells Barley where he came from, meaning Klaatu was stationed there.
"How does Klaatu enter the Benson home?"
It's not the home of Mrs. Benson and Bobby that Klaatu enters. Rather, it's a boarding house that the two of them are living at.
"When Gort retrieves Klaatu after Klaatu is shot the second time, why is Klaatu in a conventional-looking police station holding cell with a barred window in it? Shouldn't he be either in a hospital, a high-security military prison cell, or if they believe him to be dead, in the morgue?"
It looked to me that they had just stashed Klaatu there because the police station was conveniently close to where he was shot. No doubt they later planned to move him, but Gort got there and retrieved him first.
Just saw a commercial where they announced that this version of the film will be available with the upcoming DVD/Blue Ray release of the Keanu Reeves remake this Tuesday.
This movie is one of my personal faves.
Some at TV Tropes claim that Klaatu and Gort were staging an invasion.
No, they weren't.
Klaatu himself said that his superiors don't care how we run our planet. We can have all the wars we want, as long as it stays here on Earth.
However, if we carry out warlike ways into space, that's when it would become a problem for them.
This movie was quite a good message for the time it was released in (1951), when the Cold War was really gearing up (The Korean War was happening at that point).
Yeah, I had a rewatch not too long ago.