Rating: 
Summary: A Cosmic Endorsement of the U.N.
Review: Made at the terrifying height of the Cold War, "Day" is a surprisingly timely plea for the validity of the United Nations. Unlike its famous "right-wing" counterpart, "The Thing (From Another World)" where science and the intelligencia were treated with suspicion, if not disdain, and it was all up to the military to save the day, "Day" presents the military and modern weapons of mass destruction as the essence of the problem and has the international scientific community banding together to teach the politicians a thing or two. The Army comes off as inept, at best. Naturally, they refused to provide men and equipment for the filming.Both "Day" and "The Thing" are wonderful films, among the best of their time. And don't forget Bernard Herrmann's breathtaking score! The film is presented in its original 1:37 or "Full Screen" aspect ratio and does not need to be letterboxed. Picture is first-rate. Sound, both original mono and newly-remixed stereo, is fine but dubbed a little too low. The commentary by director Wise and Nick Meyer is worth the cost all by itself.
Rating:
Summary: Great film! Great DVD! Great sound!
Review: ...TDTESS was never presented in widescreen. It came out 2 years before CinemaScope and it certainly was not in Cinerama... This is a fine DVD, especially attractive for the combination of the three-track recording of Bernard Herrmann's score with the mono dialogue, which may or may not have been made gently directional by re-channelling (someone tell me). My only reservation is that this perfect picture is not a marked improvement on the 1993 laserdisc master which already was truly magnificent, with only a few moiré effects due to the lower definition, a few scratches and dust particles here and there to differentiate it from the DVD master.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant film - even better if it was in widescreen
Review: Of all the many 50s Sci-Fi movies (This Island Earth, Invaders from Mars etc) this is my favourite and perhaps the best. It's theme is timeless, performances excellent and direction impeccable. My favourite scene is the one where Klaatu finishes off the mathematical equation on the blackboard - great stuff. I think the reviewer below, Therooksnook, should perhaps rewatch the film. What the US is doing to Iraq is not what the film advocates at all. In fact it's just a shame Klaatu and Gort can't land in Washington now and put a stop to the warmongering of Bush and Blair that the rest of the World objects to. Clearly they need to watch this DVD before it's too late.
Rating:
Summary: Get it for the soundtrack
Review: The music that accompanies this picture is definitely THE definitive spooky sci-fi music. Patricia Neal was a classic beauty and emminently believeable in this role. The kid who plays her son showed up later as "Bud" in Father Knows Best. Now the bad part: the speechifying Rennie does at the end is a turn-off for people who are politically aware and conservative. Rennie basically advocates turning Earth's sovereignty over to a galactic United Nations, including the threat of complete annihilation if we don't "obey" and "stay within the guidelines" and "play nice with each other". Given the UN's recent performance as an effete and impotent debating society that accomplishes nothing this would seem to be bad advice. I cannot watch the movie anymore without that last soliloquy souring the overall great effect. I know, get over it. Gort is definitely cool, though. Only understands Latin, understated malevolence, the threat of violence to keep you in line, the original Robocop. A UN with actual teeth, a backbone, and true impartiality, unlike anything we have now. Maybe it would work? These are scary times, but it was just as scary back then - it was 1951, we just got out of a war 6 years ago, now we're in Korea providing the men, muscle, and blood for a UN-sanctioned "police action" against an insane Communist dictator running a bellicose North Korea and backed up by China, plus we've just realized we're in a nuclear stare-down with the Soviets. The movie's an interesting look at how all this was spilling over into the culture's entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: one botched scene
Review: I have waited years for this movie to come out on DVD. I ordered it the minute it was announced. It arrived yesterday and I immediately sat down to watch it, eager to see the restoration. I was incredibly pleased until the scene where Gort picks up Patricia Neal to take her into the spaceship. Suddenly, lines appeared on the print, looking almost like strings attached to Patricia Neal because the robot could not hoist or carry her. It looked like all those cheesy sci-fi films where you can see the strings attached to the flying saucers! I cannot believe the company could release this important film with this important scene in such shoddy condition. What print did they use for the scene? I checked an old video which I had taped off of television and the lines were nowhere to be seen in it. If a crummy tv print is better than a restoration, then the company wasted its time and my money. And there was a noticeable difference in stock quality in a close up of Patricia Neal in the same sequence. It looked as if a third rate print had suddenly been used for this close-up.
It took so long for this film to come out, why couldn't they have taken greater care to make a supposedly pristine print, pristine? I am really disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: how did the wires get in there?
Review: Movie; 5 stars keeping in a scene that reveals wires; 0 stars
how this studio could release a classic sci-fi movie and screw up this badly is beyond me. Patricia neal delivers her famous line to Gort. Gort pickes her up and turns to carry her into the saucer and there for all of us to see are, in clear view, the wires that are holding Ms Neal up. Talk about pulling you out of a great movie. My 16 burst out laughting at what was suppose to be a very tense part of the movie. How could they miss that?
Rating:
Summary: This wonderful film's DVD is only slightly dissapointing
Review: It is only because of the wonderful story line and a great movie itself that I give this all 5 stars. The video quality is excellent. The audio is well done - no hiss or drop-outs - thanks to Lucas' THX team, I assume. It is wonderful to be able to look at the detail here. I was born 5 years after the movie was made. By the time I was able to read, upon seeing the movie (on B&W TV!) I couldn't read the sign on the boarding house - I assumed it read "room for rent." In this film, I can now read that sign and I can see the clouds when the ship first lands. Buildings and other scenes are not white washed of detail. Again, the audio is great. One can really appreciate Bernard Herrmann's work here. It completes the film. I can't say enough about the film and the story. Others here have done well so I won't attempt a repeat. So unworthy of a great film now restored and available (I can remove my copy from my TiVo!), there are two great disappointments with this DVD production. (I've not yet watched the 70-Minute "Making the Earth Stand Still" Documentary.) The first disappointment is the missing ending credits. The most distressing thing about this DVD is the commentary. Unlike the sentiments of a previous reviewer, I have to say it was very very disappointing. Nicolas Meyer could barely keep on the topic of the movie. What was the significance of the address on Harvard Street? Anything? Not even a mention of Aunt Bee. How was that language devised? Latin? Over probably the most famous line in science fiction (along with 'live long and prosper'), "Klaatu, barata, nikto" Meyer led Wise down some other random esoteric diatribe. At one point, Wise started to provide some background about the military base scene (where the 'duce-and-a-half's were assembling) but was cut off by Meyer on some other arcane issue of directing. I would have liked to hear a little more about the equations on the blackboard.... That ship!!! What were some of the inspirations for the ship and its inside design - those displays - the inner 'control' room? Was that center bubble used on the Jupiter 2 ("Lost in Space")? How did Gort come into being? What was any thinking behind the cool ray that Gort carried. Melting the artillery was pretty cool. I can't say how almost angry I was at this conversation. I guess my expectations were set by the fine commentary in other DVD's (such as Gladiator!). If anybody out there is listening, I'd buy another copy with Wise talking to somebody who loved the movie ABOUT the movie. I did learn a few things such as Wise having no idea of the Christ analogy until well after the film was complete or the DOD not wanting to help in the production. Rather than a commentary, this was more one director comparing methodologies and practices with another. My wife and four year old daughter have seen the movie twice on TiVo. My daughter (her first black and white movie) again sat with me glued to the set to watch the DVD the night it arrived. When I got my first DVD player, this is the movie I waited for. I'm glad I have it!
Rating:
Summary: A Film For the Ages
Review: "The Day the Earth Still" is a nearly perfect production ... a film for the ages. Superb talent in Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal make this a standard by which I judge sci-fi films. In addition to the superb acting talent, the original music score by Bernard Herrmann adds to sugar topping to a gripping story. They just don't make 'em like this any more.
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT MOVIE, DISAPPOINTING NOT IN A WIDESCREEN FORMAT
Review: AS WE ALL KNOW THIS IS A GREAT FILM. MY DISAPPOINTMENT IS THAT 20TH CENTURY FOX DID NOT RELEASE THIS FILM IN ITS ORIGINAL FORMAT, A WIDESCREEN FORMAT. THEY RESTORED THE FILM, BUT NOT FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER THAT APPEARED IN THE MOVIES, BUT FROM THE VHS VERSION. IT TOOK THEM A LONG TIME TO RELEASE THIS FILM ON DVD. THEY PUT IN MANY NICE FEATURES, REMASTERED THE VHS VERSION OF THE FILM WHICH IS THE PAN & SCAN VERSION. FOR ALL THIS EFFORT WHY DID THEY NOT RELEASE IT IN ITS ORIGINAL WIDESCREEN FORMAT. WHAT IS FRUSTRATING IS THAT WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE BACK OF THIS DVD PACKAGE THE TWO PHOTOS FROM THE MOVIE ARE IN THE WIDESCREEN FORMAT. WHEN I PLAYED THE MOVIE AND THE TITLE CAME UP ON THE SCREEN, THE "T" IN "THE" IS HALF OF THE SCREEN AND THE "L" IN "STILL" IS HALF OFF THE SCREEN. YOU CAN'T PAN & SCAN TITLES. YOU CANNOT RELEASE A CLASSIC FILM LIKE THIS AND NOT HAVE IT IN ITS ORIGINAL FORMAT. I CONTACTED 20TH CENTURY FOX AND THEY COULD NOT GIVE ME AN ANSWER. THIS SEEMS TO BE HAPPENING TO MORE CLASSIC B&W FILMS. VERY DISAPPOINTING.
Rating:
Summary: Extra features are the icing on an already wonderful cake!
Review: OK, you all know the film's a classic. Maybe THE classic fifties sci-fi film. So let's talk about the disc itself. As expected, the transfer is first-rate (never in my wildest dreams would have thought I'd ever see a THX-certified copy of this movie). The 70 minute documentary is chock full of good interviews, though the productions values of the program itself leave a bit to be desired. And an interesting choice for the audio commentary: One well-respected genre director (Nicholas Meyer) interviewing another (Robert Wise). Meyer obviously has a deep respect for this type of film and the era in which it was made, and his questions are as thought-provoking as Wise's responses are insightful. The 1951 newsreel is a nice touch, putting the viewer into the political climate of the year in which DAY was released. No DVD collection should be without this classic (and suprisinglly still-relevant) film. And Fox is to be commended for the deluxe treatment it has given the film.
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