September 18, 1951
The Day the Earth Stood Still (a.k.a. Farewell to the Master and Journey to the World) is a 1951 American black-and-white science fiction film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Julian Blaustein and directed by Robert Wise. The film stars Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Billy Gray, Hugh Marlowe, and Sam Jaffe. The screenplay was written by Edmund H. North, based on the 1940 science fiction short story "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates, and the film score was composed by Bernard Herrmann.
The film's storyline involves a humanoid alien visitor named Klaatu that comes to Earth, accompanied by a powerful eight-foot tall robot, Gort, to deliver an important message that will affect the entire human race.
In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".