Of all the 1950s science fiction films, this one is arguably the most profound, the least typical, and the most liberal. It involves an alien arriving on Earth, but he is not hostile, despite the knee-jerk fears of the military who thinks he must be something dangerous and to be destroyed. Ultimately it’s about humanity, and whether we can mature, overcoming our tribal differences, sufficiently to be worthy of membership into some kind of interstellar community. (Still, for all its high-mindedness, it is not without a few points of naivete about how things work. But they are pretty minor.)
[Draft. I’ll do another pass and fill in/correct details.]
Gist
A peaceful alien with a powerful robot companion comes to Earth to delivery a message: Earth needs to clean up its act, and join the galactic union, or face destruction.
Take
Perhaps the best of the 1950s science fiction, it challenges the notion that aliens are hostile and must be destroyed, and turns its attention to humans and human nature, and what it would take for humanity to join an alliance of other peaceful alien races.
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