Quality and Storytelling- B Movies- Forbidden Planet

http://curnblog.com/2016/08/29/60th-anniversary-forbidden-planet-star-trek/

In terms of budget, Forbidden Planet had a budget of $1,968,000 which is roughly $20,600,000 in 2018 money. A good portion of that budget was spent on Robbie the Robot, according to Moviediva.com "MGM spared no expense in this elegant and unusual science fiction film, quite a departure from the studio's usual fare" [1] And Wikipedia states that "At a cost of roughly $125,000, Robby the Robot was very expensive for a film prop at this time - it represented almost 7% of the film's $1.9 million budget and equates to at least $1 million in 2017" [2] This is quite uncharacteristic of B movies as their main goal was to make money and the problem with having a bigger budget is the potential to not make that money back when the film is shown.

In a trailer for the film, it states that the movie will be "The most provocative and unusual adventure film you've ever seen" [3] These are bold claims, but that is characteristic of B movies, they are made and marketed in a way to bring in the most amount of people and thus make money for the studio. A viewer in 2018 would be sceptical of such claims, as a society we seem to understand the tricks advertisers use to make us buy the product, but to someone in the 1950's it would be reasonable to say that they would fall for this sort of advertising which could be a reason why it was so widely used.

The sets for this film were all built on a MGM sound stage in Culver city and the whole film was shot indoors and any exterior shots created with matte paintings and visual effects. The animated sequences were done by one animator, Joshua Meador, who was loaned out to MGM by Disney.


5 Redeeming thigs about Forbidden Planet
 1- Very cool robot, both in terms of the look and all the work that was put into making it
2- Regarded as a forerunner to Star Trek (and possibly had influences on other sci fi films)
3- Had some very cool set design and effects for the time
4 The Monster from the Id was incredibly well animated, especially for one person
5- Featured a young Leslie Nielsen as the main character




[1] No name found, (No date of writing found), 'Forbidden Planet (1956) Directed by Fred M. Wilcox. Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Warren Stevens (98 min.)', Moviediva [online] Retrieved from: http://www.moviediva.com/MD_root/reviewpages/MDForbiddenPlanet.htm
[2] Wikipedia contributors, "Forbidden Planet," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Forbidden_Planet&oldid=872185649 (accessed December 14, 2018).
[3] fraserw2, 2006, "Forbidden Planet" Trailer [online video] Avaliable at: https://youtu.be/8y4crGU7dkg?t=200 (14/12/18)