The writer of the original story died in 1981, the screenwriter died in 1990, Blaustein, the producer, has been dead for more than ten years, and Bob Wise, the director, has been dead for about a year. AFAIK, there was only one documentary made about TDTESS in which Bob Wise appeared, and it was made well after the writer died, so they certainly could not have appeared together in the same documentary unless it had been put together from older clips.
In the documentary "Making the Earth Stand Still" Wise expressed a degree of surprise wrt to people seeing a religious allegory in the film, although he did say he could see how one might interpret that based on Klaatu taking on the identity of a man named Carpenter considering that Jesus was supposed to have been a carpenter. The only other religious aspect of the film is when Gort brought Klaatu back to life after he was shot by the soldiers, and Klaatu said that only the maker could restore life permanently (paraphrasing here). Wise, Blaustein, and others involved in the film, were clearly of the mind that the film dealt with cold war issues and the fears and distrust that sprung from that. But, Bob, the beauty of movies, like other art and creative endeavors, is that the viewer can put onto them whatever interpretation they choose. Shel > [Original Message] > From: Bob Shell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Date: 2/16/2006 3:26:14 AM > Subject: Re: OT - So you think your details are secure.... :-) > > > On Feb 15, 2006, at 7:56 PM, Shel Belinkoff wrote: > > > <ROTFL> Even the producer and director, as well as others close to > > the > > production, said it was never intended as a religious allegory. It > > was a > > lot simpler than that ... but both Wise and Blaustein said that if > > you read > > such things into the film, it was a good film, in that it made you > > think. > > > > > The director and writer were both on a recent TV documentary. They > said they had to sneak the religious allegory past the producer and > studio or the film would never have been made. > > Bob > > Klaatu barada nicto
