Forbidden PlanetMGM's 1950s sci-fi reworking of William Shakespeare's The Tempest - featuring Walter Pidgeon, Ann Francis, Leslie Neilsen and Robby the Robot 'as himself'! - remains one of the most ambitious and best-loved of the genre.
Its matte-painted sets and sci-fi 'hardware' may instantly date it, but it's just those qualities that held a young Tim Burton spellbound, in a childhood spent, as the director himself confirmed in a 2001 interview, "in suburban Burbank, finding solace in monster movies, Vincent Price, cheesy '50s sci-fi cinema and indulging [an] affinity for outsiders, oddballs and aliens" (Premiere).
"Forbidden Planet is THE science fiction film of the 1950s. Sci-Fi epics of the day were usually handled by the B unit (or even Z unit) of the studios of the day. MGM decided to give their film the 'A' treatment. They shot it in glorious color, with high production values and in Cinemascope. A classic of its time" Monstersandcritics.com
