Directed by Fred M. Wilcox / Screenplay by Cyril Hume

The 1950s were a boom time for science fiction cinema, the genre loosely dividing into two principal scenarios: aliens arriving on Earth, and Earthmen setting off into space. The second category spawned such pioneering pictures as Destination Moon (1950), Flight to Mars (1951) and When Worlds Collide (1951), but the film that really moved the dial on this particular sub-genre was Forbidden Planet. Director Fred M. Wilcox was previously best known for Lassie Come Home (1943), while screenwriter Cyril Hume had scripted Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) and Flying Down to Rio (1933). Hume’s screenplay for Forbidden Planet draws on elements of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest: Duke Prospero and his daughter Miranda, exiled to a remote island, here become Dr Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) and his daughter Altaira (Anne Francis), the stranded survivors of a lost expedition to a distant planet. When, after 20 years, a rescue mission arrives from Earth, the sinister forces dwelling on Altair IV begin to manifest themselves. Forbidden Planet is a compelling film and in many respects a groundbreaking one, setting spectacular new standards in special effects, and becoming the first picture in any genre to use an entirely electronic musical score. It’s also the first film to depict faster-than-light space travel, and in the character of Robby the Robot it creates a true cinema icon. Perhaps most influentially of all, the set designs, costumes and sidearms of the starship crew (captained by a young Leslie Nielsen, decades before he found comedy stardom in Airplane! and The Naked Gun) provided a direct inspiration for Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry when devising the look of the USS Enterprise ten years later.

Framed Dimensions: 400mm x 315mm

Acrylic on 230gsm Winsor & Newton canvas paper

Glazed, mounted and framed

Supplied with signed letter of authenticity from Barnaby.