I still remember the first time I watched it and my mother talked about Patricia Neal, saying she had suffered a stroke and was great to see her return to acting. Her performance as Olivia Walton, the matriarch of the Walton clan, is excellent. She is the embodiment of an Appalachian mother struggling to survive day to day during the depression. There is a scene where she gives a short speech about wishing for spring and you can hear the longing in her voice for better times. It was a shame that the producers were concerned for her health and did not offer her the role of Olivia Walton for the successful TV series.
Neal won and Academy Award for Best Actress playing opposite Paul Newman in the movie Hud. She was also nominated in 1968 for her performance in The Subject Was Roses. This film was her return to acting after recovery and rehabilitation from the series of strokes she had in 1965. She also appeared on Broadway and won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role in Another Part Of The Forest.
Two of her other famous roles were opposite Andy Griffith in A Face In The Crowd and early in her career she starred in the sci-fi classic The Day The Earth Stood Still. In this film she uttered the immortal line "Gort, Klaatu barada nikto!"
The Day The Earth Stood Still is one of the earliest Hollywood films to deal with an alien invasion. Released in 1951the film starred Micheal Rennie as the alien Klaatu, and was directed by Robert Wise (West Side Story, Sound Of Music, The Sand Pebbles). The film is very simple by today's standards and also very preachy as a message movie for the cold war mentality of the day. The big budget effects back then are very sub-standard today. But the film still holds up well. The first two thirds featuring the arrival of the flying saucer in Washington and the shutting down of the world's electrical systems are done effectively. All the actors, including Neal, give the material the respect it deserves and that lifts the film up out of the level of "B" picture.
Watching it today I chuckled at the scenes of the space ship in the park with only two guards. The throngs of the curious public and the hungry media hordes would surround such a ship night and day. Robert Wise should have checked out Billy Wilder's Ace In The Hole to see how to put a media event on film.
The Day The Earth Stood Still is considered a classic today and set the standard for many films to follow.
At the Movie House rating ***1/2 stars.
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