Robert Wise's science fiction masterpiece may just be the greatest sci-fi flick I've ever seen. This a damn near flawless film, and perfectly reflects the scared, ignorant era of which is represents.

The single greatest aspect of this film has to be Michael Rennie's performance of Klaatu, the alien who has come to Earth to warn of a potentially disastrous future. Klaatu is the most likable alien I have seen on film (Paul comes in at a close second, of course), and every scene with him and the young boy, Tom, is heartwarming and sincere. Patricia Neal is also great as the female lead, and Sam Jaffe plays an incredible professor of science.

The script, undoubtedly 1950s, contains some wonderfully memorable dialogue, and tells this story of alien "invasion" expertly. The special effects are even pretty good, holding up just fine today (and looking better than some CGI effects we see nowadays).

I loved virtually every minute of this sci-fi classic, and recommend it to anyone who has missed it to this point. Note that the Blu-ray (which is included with the 2008 remake on Blu-ray) looks immaculate, and is definitely worth owning.