Based loosely on Shakespeare's The Tempest, this has rightly become something of a cult classic sci-fi movie. The score (electronic music) and special effects are both way ahead of their time and suspension of disbelief is readily achieved from a cast that includes Walter Pidgeon as the scientist who discovers the remains of a lost advanced civilisation on a faraway planet. He also discovers a terrifying secret that threatens anyone who lands on the planet. If you keep in mind that this film is over 50 years old it's a remarkable achievement and a most enjoyable 90 minutes. Aldous Huxley used a quote from the play to title what was to become perhaps his most famous novel but this film, too, is an apt warning of the pitfalls of uncontrolled scientific advance. Perhaps its warning is as apt today as it was in 1956.
Review of Forbidden Planet
