Customer Reviews

The Day The Earth Stood Still: 20th Century Fox Film Scores - The Classic Series

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Who didn't love "The Day the Earth Stood Still"? It's old, yet it can still stir you. Part of the reason has to be the mysterious, haunting score by Bernard Herrmann, who did similar work for Alfred Hitchcock. By mixing uplifting, inspirational sequences of notes with ominous bass lines he helped reinforce the movie's message about the dangerous path into the future. It's as though Herrmann is saying, "There's something worth seeing at the end of the trip, but you better watch your step along the way."

Today, it may seem a bit cliche'd, but Herrman fearlessly embraced the Theremin's musical potential, producing the weird, liquid, electronic glissandos that have become science fiction cinema's signature music, ever since. Others may have done it first, but he was the first to do it right. And, as with many soundtracks, you get to hear all of his work without voice-over or sound effects, which, in this case, is a big reason to buy the CD. There's more in there than you'll ever hear by watching the movie.

A bit of tape hiss stops this from being a 5 score, but the music is fine, nonetheless.

Eerie, groundbreaking soundtrack to the science fiction classic by Robert Wise (The Haunting, The Sound of Music). Composer Bernard "Psycho" Herrmann incorporated everything from a collection of Theremins to a hot water bottle (!) into the making of the recording.

Theremin fans may also want to investigate the documentary, Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey, about the mysterious Russian inventor of this otherworldly string instrument, Leon Theremin, and the many uses to which it's been put over the years (soundtracks, classical recordings and pop numbers from The Beach Boys and The Pixies). It features clips from The Day the Earth Stood Still, Spellbound and The Lost Weekend.

Herrmann fans would also probably enjoy his similarly excellent work for Cape Fear (which was reworked for Martin Scorsese's remake) and Taxi Driver (his last; fittingly for Scorsese again). The CD booklet features complete liner notes about the film, the soundtrack, and the origins of the immortal sci-fi phrase, "Klaatu barada nikto" (spoken by Michael Rennie as the mysterious alien, Klaatu).

This is the Ultimate Sci-Fi movie soundtrack, recorded in Multi-Channel Stereo Surround High Fidelity in 1951 it is a recorded masterpiece in Sci-Fi music featuring the classic Theremin, the first electronic musical instrument of the 1930's, and TRUE Stereo Multichannel Surround Sound with a magnificent score and excellent musical interest of the highest level. Recording quality is stunning in BOTH its Stereophonics and in its very High Fidelity, especially for 1951, which was considerably ahead of its time.

"The Day The Earth Stood Still" from 1951 has got to be one of the greatest science-fiction movies of all-time. And if one didn't know who provided the incredible music score for this picture, I'll bet they could guess correctly with one shot at it. Yep -- it was the amazing Bernard Herrmann! Mr. Herrmann's movie scores are legendary; and this one is one of my favorites, and arguably his best.

From those first few notes at the beginning of the film, the tone is set for a very creepy journey. Every track on this album has that Herrmann "stamp" on it. Just perfect for this motion picture. This music will raise the hair on your arms each time you give it a listen. Classic stuff ... with a Capital "C"!

The appeal of certain 1950s sci-fi movies stays with you strangely through the years, and you eventually come to realise it wasn't so much the movies that captivated you, but the soundtracks, which gave a profundity to the movies they didn't always deserve. Such is the case with Bernard Herrmann's soundtrack for the 1951 movie, "The Day the Earth Stood Still", where Herrmann created a new musical form that was so entire and perfect in one try that there was little left for anyone else to add, no matter how many bucks and computers they subsequently threw at it.

In this soundtrack, extraordinary instruments are in constant dialogue with each other, like the two theremins - one high and one low - that call to each other like hyper-intelligent other-worldly cats, and the four pianos answering each other across the vastness of space. Herrman's instrumental sounds seem to evolve out of emptiness and then disappear back into it without trace, just like matter and life does in the universe. The internal heart of this music has never been approached, except maybe by the all-electronic "Forbidden Planet" soundtrack of Louis and Bebe Barron, although its external form has been repeatedly imitated in many sci-fi movies. The audio quality of this recording allows total immersion in the extraordinaty sounds that Bernard Herrmann created.

Hermann's music is both eerie and fascinating. Some tracks feature the funky sound of the theremin, which was very appropriate at the time. It still sounds just right for the film. Most of the tracks are rather quiet, which succesfully sets the mood for that huge robot lurking around the city. I reccomend this for any Hermann fan as well as people looking for a fantastic sci fi film score. The cd even features a cool graphic of the robot on the physical cd!

The movie itself is one the most literate, adult-themed sci-fi films ever made. The soundtrack music revolves around several basic themes, and the liner notes with the CD point out that the intention was to perform these themes with unusual instrumentation to add to and enhance the effect of the film. What I find most remarkable about this release is that these original recordings were made in 1951 and are, with the exception of the 20th Century Fox theme, all in real stereo. Sometimes the separation isn't quite as broad as more modern stereo techniques, but it's stereo nonetheless. One set of selections, "Elevator/Magnetic Pull" is musically jarring and very effective, possibly moreso than the same scenes it was created for in the film. There is no explanation in the package about the existence of these early stereo recordings, which would have been appropriate. Even though there are only several basic themes and variations, I would recommend this soundtrack to all sci-fi and music fans. Also, to comment on a couple prior customer reviews of this CD, I wonder if some listeners could be confusing a violin with the theremin; they are different. Has "The Day the Earth Stood Still" actually been featured on Mystery Science Theatre 3000? I watch that series, have never seen it as an episode, and it would seem unusual for a top-notch film to be featured when the whole perspective of the show is to present and ridicule the worst sci-fi and horror movies ever made.

Although he had previously worked with Orson Wells and later became closely associated with Alfred Hitchcock, it was his score for the 1951 science-fiction film THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL that really put composer and conductor Bernard Herrmann on the Hollywood map.

With THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, Hermann first creates an almost sub-sonic bedrock of slowly and smoothly rising brass suggestive of distance and then layers two more sounds above it. Rapid and sharply struck tones of various keyboards are evocative of both technology and speed--and the introduction of the theremin rising and falling above all dominates all with a tone that is, paradoxically, unearthly, uneasy, and yet somehow very smooth and unexpectedly calming.

With this basic sound occasionally punctuated by menacing jolts to herald the dangerous power of the mammoth robot Gort, Herrmann wrings a host of changes that are never less than aural delight. But memorable as it, he discards it almost completely for what two of the film's finest moments: "Arlington," in which the characters contemplate the graves of the war dead, and "Lincoln Memorial," in which they consider the words of the great president of the United States. These are simple phrases of music, clean, and yet insistent in their call for us to see the loss, to head the warning.

The 20th Century Fox CD release on Arista is very good indeed, the sound as clean as the day it was first recorded with Herrman (assisted by Lionel Newman and Alfred Newman) conducting. It is easy for a film score to add nothing to a film--it is equally easy, I think, for a film score to overpower a film. But it is a rare thing when the score not only works with the film but also stands alone as a thing of beauty in its own right. Few film composers have that gift, but Herrman was not only among them, he may well have been the most gifted of all. Strongly recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer
In Memory of Bob Zeidler, Amazon Reviewer
Greatly Missed and Not Forgotten

I am in agreement with other reviewers that this is a great soundtrack. The music for "The Day the Earth Stood Still" shows Bernard Herrmann at his most innovative. The transfer is excellent and I thought the booklet notes were very good at explaining what Herrmann was after in writing this music. The stills from the movie were well chosen. My only gripe is that the music times to 36:02! This is by far the shortest CD I own. I am grateful that the price was discounted but there is far too little music to see it even at that price. It would have been a far greater CD if another sci-fi score were coupled with this one. I highly recommend this CD but buyers should be aware of the short playing time.

Words cannot be added to the already glowing praise for Herrmann's innovative score to the sci-fi classic. Techniques used by the composer will be integrated in scoring for many years to come.

Now, that is the measure of greatness: imitation.