Ratings: 2 out of 5
Date: 1956
Director: Fred McLead Wilcox
Written by: Cyril Hume, Irving Block, Allen Adler
Music/Soundtrack: Bebe Barron, Louis Barron
Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Fancis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens
Rating: G (may frighten very small children)
Distributor: MGM
This film is set in the year 2200 A.D. on the planet Attair four, where a colonizing survey team had not been heard from for nineteen years. Commander Adams (played by Leslie Nielsen) and his crew are sent to find out the fate of the survey team.

As their spaceship nears the planet they are warned off by Dr Morbius (played by Walter Pigeon), the sole survivor of the survey team. Ignoring his warning the Commander lands on the planet, the first thing to come to greet the visitors is Robby the robot whom invites the Commander and Lieutenant Doc. Ostrow (played by Warren Stevens) to meet Dr Morbius.

The Commander and Lieutenant are taken to what is an oasis on the barren planet. There they meet Dr Morbius and his daughter Altaia (played by Anne Francis) who was born on Attair four years before the survey team mysteriously disappeared. The crew finds trouble in the form of a strange invisible monster which attacks the ship and kills members of the crew. Needing answers, the Commander and Lieutenant return to Morbius who shows them advanced technology he had come across from a civilization known as Krell, from which he had built Robby the robot and his home.

A lot of people would look on the Forbidden Planet as a comedy with bedroom made special efforts, but I feel that for the fifties the special effects were excellent, especially the scene when the invisible monster hits the force field around the ship. The film is good family entertainment although I think a couple of the scenes may frighten very small children. For the die hard Sci-fi fan however, it's worth a watch.