cult film freak: ANNE FRANCIS & LESLIE NIELSEN IN THE CLASSIC 'FORBIDDEN PLANET'

Title: FORBIDDEN PLANET Year: 1956 Rating: ***1/2

The 1950's science-fiction classic FORBIDDEN PLANET not only influenced the use of beaming people for STAR TREK, also including a crew of human explorers slowly learning that their investigative situation is dire, even deadly, but Disney's THE BLACK HOLE is basically a remake...

Both involving an old scientist and a giant sidekick robot... who remained on the titular planet, once inhabited by brilliant aliens: while his entire crew vanished on the way home, providing the search/mission for Leslie Nielson's spaceship to explore the same place that he's warned not to land on...

Anne Francis and Jack Kelly in FORBIDDEN PLANET

He's lucky enough to meet the scientist's gorgeous, male-fantasy, scantily-clad daughter Anne Francis (who actually had more chemistry with his womanizing third-in-command), and eventually learns what's causing random crew-members to die, involving something caused by that plot-important scientist...

Who's actually a somewhat miscast Walter Pidgeon, not neurotic or dynamic enough to fit the mad scientist motif (or even someone on the verge): instead spouting loads of expository dialogue liken to a Shakespearian stage-play (while THE TEMPEST is an actual inspiration)...

Anne Francis and Leslie Nielsen in FORBIDDEN PLANET

Making the best moments of FORBIDDEN PLANET the eye-popping visuals, from the planets matte-painted lunar surface to the steely industrialized interiors that's like a formidable character in itself...

There just needed more overall suspense and danger (beside the inevitable monster-battle) that could have been in any lesser science-fiction adventure... but that delivers a wonderfully-presented, groundbreaking fable combining the visual presentation of cinema and the mind-devouring intrigue of space/fantasy pulp literature.