As The Day the Earth Stood Still begins, a unidentified object approaches the Earth and starts to zoom around it, creating a worldwide climate of anxious curiosity. Landing quietly in Washington, D.C., under the shadow of the Capitol, the sleek ship is soon ringed by troops and artillery. A space-suited figure emerges, promising peace, but a nervous soldier shoots him. As the figure crumples, a monstrous robot appears and vaporizes the soldiers' weapons--even the tanks.

Rushed to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the alien, Klaatu (Rennie), tells the president's advisor he must announce a message to all nations. The advisor agrees to arrange a summit meeting but accurately predicts international tensions will prevent it from taking place. Impatient, Klaatu slips his guard to pursue his mission among the people. The media responds with escalating hysteria.

Klaatu finds lodging with Helen (Neal) and her son Bobby (Gray). Bobby quickly befriends "Mister Carpenter," but that night he follows Klaatu to his ship and learns the truth. Running home, he tells Helen and her hard-boiled fiance, Tom (Marlowe), what he's discovered.

Meanwhile, Klaatu has revealed his mission to a leading scientist, Prof. Barnhardt (Jaffe): If humans bring their violence into space, neighboring worlds will destroy them. Barnhardt has agreed to arrange a meeting of Earth's top scientists; they decide Klaatu must demonstrate his power. The next day he stops all electricity around the world for half an hour.

Unfortunately, this scares the Army into a dead-or-alive manhunt. Klaatu rushes with Helen to make the meeting, but Tom has already alerted the authorities to his presence. Klaatu is shot. Helen, following Klaatu's instructions, goes to the robot and, overcoming her own terror, parrots Klaatu's command: Klaatu barada nikto. No one knows what will happen next...

The alien is the message

It's easy to sensationalize a mysterious alien, distorting him into a monster. In fact, the media portrayed in The Day the Earth Stood Still show how it's done. These shenanigans are in stark contrast to the film's own treatment of Klaatu. One of its more striking scenes finds the boarders at Mrs. Crockett's house anxiously listening to radio reports about the escaped "Martian," startled by a shadowy figure in the hall. After a tense moment, the stranger steps into the light: a simple man looking for a room. Everyone sighs in relief and welcomes the visitor into the house. The film's subtext, a warning about projecting our fears onto the unknown, is encapsulated in this moment. Klaatu's inability to bring together the world's leaders, who are afraid of each other, completes the unsubtle but powerful message.

The film further demythologizes Klaatu by removing the barriers between him and the sensible Helen. Benevolent-alien films generally pair the heroine with a square-jawed hero, neutering the alien and setting him apart (This Island Earth, for example). Here, Klaatu relates directly to Helen (and her son), and the audience is invited to identify with him.

At his core Klaatu is not an alien but an advanced human--featuring the best parts of humanity--and Rennie conveys this perfectly. Neal's Helen Benson is nicely understated, displaying both warmth and caution. Several members of the talented supporting cast went on to create memorable TV characters, including Marlowe (Ellery Queen), Gray (Father Knows Best), and boarder Frances Bavier (Eve Arden and Andy Griffifth).

The excellent cast and compelling story combine to make The Day the Earth Stood Still a "message" SF movie of the highest order, offering provocative social commentary under the guise of a peril from outer space.