The Day the Earth Stood Still was on tv yesterday, and we watched most of it because it’s a classic, and because the alternative was bad college football. Kate had never seen it before, and was surprised to find that it wasn’t campy.
There is, however, one scene that has become unintentionally hilarious over the past fifty-odd years. Two Army doctors are outside the room where Klaatu (Michael Rennie) is being held, and they have a conversation that goes something like this (paraphrased, from memory):
Doctor 1: How old would you say [Klaatu] is?
Doctor 2: Thirty-five, or thirty-eight.
Doctor 1: He told me his age yesterday when I examined him. He’s seventy-eight. He says his life expectancy is one hundred and thirty-eight.
Doctor 2: How is that possible?
Doctor 1: He says their medical science is just that much better that ours.
And then Doctor 1 leans over and hands Doctor 2 a cigarette, and they both light up.
That scene is almost as good as old advertisements for anti-wrinkle cream….by Ronald Reagan.
Klaatu verata nikto!
Aaah…
“Klaatu Barada Nicotine!”
I wondered when I first saw that scene if it really was unintentional humor. I mean, even in the 1950’s people knew smoking wasn’t healthy, and the fact the both immediately lit up cigarettes made me think the scene was a sly joke.
After Klaatu is seemingly raised from the dead, he reminds us “that power is reserved for the almighty.” Fascinating idea that advanced aliens can be religious.
I’ve seen cigarette ads from that era (late forties-early fifties) that played up the health benefits of smoking (usually in the form of a doctor lighting up). I don’t think the scene in the film is meant to be ironic. I’m more surprised that Klaatu doesn’t light up.
That line was apparently added very late in production. Originally, Klaatu’s resurrection was supposed to be permanent, but the studio’s censors decided that would be too left wing, and audiences wouldn’t accept it, so they insisted on the change. To be honest, even though I disagree with the reasoning behind it, I think the change made the movie better, in that it added to Klaatu’s humanity, and showed that there was a sacrifice involved on his part.
I saw the movie in an auditorium at CU-Boulder a few years ago. They had gotten a wonderful clean, clear print that showed off the great BW cinematography. When the cigarette scene came up, the entire audience broke out in gales of laughter. I suspect that didn’t happen during the original release.
I’ve seen cigarette ads from that era (late forties-early fifties) that played up the health benefits of smoking (usually in the form of a doctor lighting up). I don’t think the scene in the film is meant to be ironic.
Eh. You can find ads now for “healthy” products that obviously aren’t. (“All-natural ingredients 7-up,” anyone?) Cigarettes had long earlier gotten the nickname coffin nails, and apparently its health effects were being debated in the press in the 19th century.