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Forbidden Planet (1956)
If I may be so bold, this is probably my favorite science-fiction film from the 1950s, a decade which produced some of the most awe-inspiring space pictures of all time. It's entertaining in a silly, almost campy way, providing lots of gizmo-gazmo talk and outrageous sexual innuendos; but in an almost unthinkable opposition the film then turns its plot into a Freudian driven psychological thriller, a story meant to cater to the thinker, not just the thrill-seeker. This daring combination pays off, and while it is a joy to absorb the film's more nostalgic escapist pleasures (glorious Cinemascope, beautiful space color palette, Robby the Robot) it is also exciting to watch such an audacious plot unravel, one that was loosely adapted from Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'. The cast is pitch-perfect; the young Earth crew is lead by Leslie Nielsen, and Walter Pidgeon is the planet-marooned genious who seems quite upset when the former arrives, satisfied to occupy the forbidden planet alone. Worlds collide as the two begin to take different kinds of interests in Pidgeon's daughter, played by Anne Francis. Added to the film are miraculous special effects which seamlessly blend animation and film, arming director Wilcox with an arsenal of magic allowing anything imagined to be created for the screen. The movie is a rare achievement, a science-fiction film whose bright ideas are ageless and whose antique visuals become finer through the years.
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