Forbidden Review

Sorry dear readers, I know that title writes a check that the rest of this review can't cash, it sounds steamy, sexy, and erotic, three things that have never been said when referring to this blog. For this review I didn't tackle anything that bears an X-Rating, it was instead a classic sci-fi movie entitled Forbidden Planet (1956) another title that is a tad misleading.

But this futuristic take on the Shakespeare play "The Tempest" is lacking nothing.

We find a space captain (played by the [at the time] stoic Leslie Nielsen, but we all know how his career changed) and his crew landing on a planet, distant and uninhabited... or so they think. The Away party soon discovers they aren't alone, and as such the plot develops out of the natives not being entirely altruistic.

The crew meets Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) and his daughter Alta (Anne Francis), who live in a remote house on the planet. The Dr wears all black and talks in a creepy intelligent manner... obviously he isn't an entirely good guy. For a sci-fi movie from the 50s the plot is pretty inventive, I won't spoil it but if you watch it I'm sure you won't be let down.

As I went into the movie I already knew that the Great Bird of the Galaxy himself (Gene Roddenberry for those of you that have girlfriends) cited this movie as a chief inspiration for Star Trek: TOS, and it's obvious from the beginning. The Captain (Cmdr. John J. Adams) is kind of a Kirk-esque character, charming, heroic, and tough. Also his right hand men are Farman (Jack Kelly), the pilot, and "Doc" (Warren Stevens) the... uh... you know.

For 1956 the effects are breath taking, in some cases this movie could have been seen as the Avatar of it's day with space ships, laser battles, and most importantly Robby the Robot (The star of the movie). I was quite impressed with the way the effects were handled, mainly to enhance the story not try and over shadow (Michael Bay... take some notes). I also must add this, as a fan of Star Trek TOS's ingenuity this is meant as a high compliment, to predate TOS by 10 years the effects were equal to or beyond that of Star Trek, which I find quite impressive, especially when these days ten year old movies seem dated in most cases.

Also of note is the hypnotic, electric score. Everything sounds futury, not contemporary forced on a future time period.

For acting it's all pretty standard, no truly great performances, but nothing worth harassing. But in some cases (especially when there is a strong script like this one) average acting is alright.

This is a short review, I know, but I just have good things to say about this movie, even though it seems like a missing Star Trek Pilot.

Dr. Brooklyn says: LIKE this movie (9/10)