Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31277 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-04-18
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, DVD-Video, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 99 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
This 1956 pop adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest is one of the best, most influential science fiction movies ever made. Its space explorers are the models for the crew of Star Trek's Enterprise, and the film's robot is clearly the prototype for Robby in Lost in Space. Walter Pidgeon is the Prospero figure, presiding over a paradisiacal world with his lovely young daughter and their servile droid. When the crew of a spaceship lands on the planet, they become aware of a sinister invisible force that threatens to destroy them. Great special effects and a bizarre electronic score help make Forbidden Planet as fresh, imaginative and fun as it was when first released.

Customer Reviews

Id vs. ego
In the 23 century a rescue ship is sent to the planet Altar to look for survivors of an earlier expatiation. They find nothing except an ominous voice warning them not to land. What would you do?

Notice that the investigating party is the captain, first officer, and medical doctor. Can your say Star Trek?

This movie has many plusses as both sociological (people like to compare this to Shakespeare's "The Tempest"). Visual from the color of the sky to the accoutrements of Altiara (Anne Francis). The speculation on what would you do in this situation. And the introduction of Robby the robot who went on to be a star in other movies and a guest on many TV programs.

The movie was great I watch it over and again. However it made a major deviation from the book or the book by W.J. Stuart, also written in 1956, deviated from the movie.

Classic gets the classic treatment
Forbidden Planet is undeniably a classic film of the 50s, a cult favourite that doesn't look, feel or sound like anything else made before or since. Not until Kubrick's 2001 did a film so completely stand apart in style or substance.

This 50th Anniversary edition is beautifully restored -- clean as a whistle and loaded with extras including a tiny handful of deleted scenes and raw footage. For the special deluxe set, the Robby "action figure" doesn't actually move and is much smaller than the picture makes it look but it's a nice piece despite that.

A Joy to watch and a lovely set. Even "The Invisible Boy" is worth a watch!

The first great space opera
It is a crime against humanity that this film is only available in Region 1. It is treasure that deserves to be more widely appreciated.

It is impossible to overrate this film in terms of its importance to the development of the science-fiction genre. All the key qualities that made 'Star Trek' a phenomenon are here - but nine years early: interstellar travel is a given; advanced technology without responsibility always leads to disaster; people, including aliens, are (mostly) good even if sometimes misguided and Man may not play God for fear of dire consequences. It is great stuff, with an ensemble / crew not hugely different from the Enterprise's, including an action-hero captain and a cerebral science officer and some SFX that have stood the test of time rather well. This was a massively expensive film to make and it shows. Forgive some corny dialogue, dubious broad comedy and romantic scenes and there is little to complain about. Even the 'tonalities' that serve instead of music still give the desired 'other worldly' effect. At heart, this is a tremendously imaginative film with a strong SF pulse - not a lame reworking of Shakespeare.

If you have not seen this film and enjoy the SF genre, you owe it to yourself to seek it out. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as one early masterpiece of the genre. Unlike 'Metropolis' and 'Things to Come' it rejects the Earthbound and socio-political for the kind of 'Boldly going...' that defines much modern SF. Without this film, modern space sagas would not exist - it is the granddaddy of them all.