Bernard Herrmann | browneyedmusic

The Day the Earth Stood Still (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“The Day The Earth Stood Still” was a landmark film directed by the versatile Robert Wise that was released along with the cold war, McCarthyism and the Korean conflict. Told from a tourist point of view there is a deeply ingrained sense of country that’s tied to monuments and places in downtown Washington D.C.

This film vibrates with life; The sights, the sounds of the early 1950’S. A time capsule with a message reflecting the tenor and times of a war-weary populace.

This movie scored by Bernard Herrmann uses a theremin which gives the eerie shimmering quality that holds the film up. This film is so tied up with the music it is hard to think of one without the other. Few movies have those bragging rights.

Shot in black and white it gives the shadows and shades of a deeper fear that only the best cinematography could convey.

Associated with science it awakens a deeper curiosity about what we were afraid to ask. This nightmarish quality from the deeper recesses of our being is mainly considering the continuing survival of the planet Earth and the religious overtones of a visitor named Carpenter who was brought back to life with a message to save us all that is still very relevent today.

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