Forbidden Planet Review

A sci-fi widescreen late-nighter for script-aficionados as opposed to special effects bores — although they’re good, too. US planet cruiser C-57D touches down on a remote astral playground (playful lions, a sweet-natured chrome butler called Robby The Robot) to be met by a creepy scientist (Walter Pidgeon) who has been marooned on the planet for 19 years. His mini-skirted teenage daughter Alta (the ravishing Anne Francis) has never seen a young man before (“ . . . and now three of them at once!”) and after 378 days in hyperspace the boys are getting frustrated themselves. High-quality camp dialogue, well-kept straight faces and, of course, the daddy of the deadpan delivery, a youthfully brown-haired Leslie Nielsen (as the cruiser’s commander), looking like Al Bundy from Married With Children. Enjoyable (and quotable) with or without alcohol.