Day the Earth Stood Still, The (Blu-ray)

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Audio:

Two English audio soundtracks are provided for "The Day the Earth Stood Still." The original English mono mix is included in the form of a Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtrack and a new English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This is another comparison where the new Blu-ray release is, for the most part, identical to the older technology of the DVD and this is directly a result of the source materials. The visuals did show occasional improvement in clarity, but I was hard pressed to find any differences in the soundtrack. The new multi-channel surround mix does provide a little bleed to the rear channels for the early show of military power and for the musical score that is highlighted with the Theremin. The .1 LFE channel is typically silent throughout the film and is not too heavily used. High ends tend to be a little shrill, but are clean. For a film where the big moment is comprised of the world´s electricity being turned off, there is not much beyond music and dialogue for the soundtracks to reproduce. Dialogue is very clear. The DVD contained Spanish and French mono mixes, but the Blu-ray provides 5.1 Dolby Digital for its foreign language support.

Extras:

The Blu-ray release of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" arrives in the form of a one disc special edition that finds the film and its special features squeezed onto a single BD-50 dual layer disc. The special features that are contained on the two disc DVD special edition are all carried over to this release. The two versions are not identical, however, as the Blu-ray exclusive Interactive Theramin: Create Your Own Score feature somewhat fulfills my recent desire to obtain my own Theramin to make creepy science fiction music. This feature finds "The World of the Theramin" as its own submenu, complete with a brief introductory clip. The interactive feature allows you to create a thirty second sound clip and then you may apply it to a brief film clip showing the arrival of Gort. Had this allowed me to record and entire score and save it to the hard drive, this would have been the best feature ever. But it is not. The Gort Command! Interactive Game is also exclusive to the Blu-ray release.

Three alternate audio tracks are contained on the disc. The first is a Commentary by Director Robert Wise & Nicholas Meyer Meyer is the director of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and serves as an interviewer as he leads Robert Wise through the commentary with some very good questions. As Wise died three years ago, this is not a new commentary, but recorded from an interview some time ago. It is still a very nice listen and Wise has a lot to say about his film and his own theories on film. The Commentary by Film & Music Historians John Morgan, Steven Smith, William Stromberg & Nick Redman is the second commentary track was recorded for this release and has four men sitting down together talking about the film, what they know about the production of the picture and the legacy of "The Day the Earth Stood Still." This is a detail heavy commentary that is for those that truly love the picture and I guarantee you´ll take something from this commentary after listening to it. The Isolated Score Track featuring Bernard Herrmann´s music is also included.

As with the DVD, booting the disc begins the Sneak Preview of the New Film (7:49) and this is nothing more than a long trailer for the forthcoming Keanu Reeves remake of this classic. I still shudder at the thought of the remake, but as I stated in my review of this original film, Reeves might be a good pick for the lead role. I´ll wait to see it before final judgment. There were things I both liked and did not like during the preview. Aside from the preview, the disc contains one stand alone feature on the first menu page. The Making of The Day the Earth Stood Still (23:52) features film historians and others talking about the legacy of the film and what went into bringing the short story to the big screen. This is a nice little retrospective look at the film and its legacy.

The features are organized differently than the DVD, but returning to the "World of the Theramin" delivers The Mysterious Melodious Theremin (5:40) and this looks at the early electronic musical device that creates the spooky music heard throughout the film. This was interesting and I´ve always wondered about that style of music. I want one. The Day the Earth Stood Still Main Title Live Performance by Peter Pringle (2:17) shows Pringle use the Theremin he talked about in the previous feature. Farewell to the Master: A Reading by Jameson K. Price (41:29) is an audio reading of the short story in which the film was based. It is broken into three chapters and is a unique and interesting supplement. Fox Movietonews (1951) (6:22) is a news clip that would have been shown in theaters during the time when "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was shown in theaters. I´d love to have a DVD of these news clips. The film´s Teaser Trailer, Theatrical Trailer and The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) Trailer closes out the special features on the first DVD.

Six Galleries are contained on this disc. The Interactive Pressbook, Advertising Gallery, Behind-the-Scenes Gallery, Portrait Gallery, Production Gallery, Spaceship Construction Blueprints and the Shooting Script can be navigated using the remote. I really enjoyed the inclusion of the shooting script. The Decoding "Klaatu Barada Niktu": Science Fiction as Metaphor (16:14) looks at the political tensions of the times and the relations between Russia and the United States and how this related to the themes in "The Day the Earth Stood Still." This is a nice statement about the film and reminds me of what it was like to grow up during the Cold War. A Brief History of Flying Saucers (34:02) should excite those who believe in UFOs and any fans of the "X-Files" with some very good information on purported UFO sightings. Whether or not you believe aliens have visited us, this is an interesting feature.

After the features surrounding themes of the film, the disc focuses on the writers behind the story. The Astounding Harry Bates (11:03) is a brief look at the author whose short story became "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Edmund North: The Man Who Made the Earth Stand Still (14:44) moves past the author of the short story and looks at the person responsible for the film´s screenplay. Finally, Race to Oblivion: A Documentary Short Written & Produced by Edmund North (25:42) is a public service announcement about nuclear disarmament created by the director and starring Burt Lancaster. This is very vintage and roughly preserved, but is a true artifact of the Cold War and provides more hints at the anti-war nature of the film´s screenwriter.

Closing:

Watching the Blu-ray release was the second time I have seen "The Day the Earth Stood Still" in the past two weeks and this was after having never seen the film before in my life. The vintage nature of this fifty seven year old film results in a technically challenged disc that cannot separate itself from the DVD because of aged source materials. There were times when the detail was improved, b it was not strong enough to warrant the higher price of the Blu-ray disc and the exclusive special features were underwhelming and limited. As with the DVD release, the Blu-ray disc contains many hours of bonus materials and some commentary tracks that are worth listening to. If you have the ability to play the high definition disc, then it is perhaps worth the extra couple bucks for the minor visual improvement, but if you do not have Blu-ray, you are not missing much. It is still a good release, but the age of the film doesn´t help the film make the leap into the modern age of high definition video and audio.

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