I didn’t get around to watching "Forbidden Planet" (1956) until forty years after its initial release. I've revisited it a few times since then and here are my thoughts: It's remarkable how much of what we consider standard in Star Trek—and Gene Roddenberry was certainly a visionary—was already present in “Forbidden Planet,” which came out nearly a decade before the first Star Trek pilot. Seriously, you can find almost everything there: warp drive, the Captain/First Officer/Doctor setup, attractive women from other planets, being transported up or down (visually speaking), and so on. The movie blends Shakespeare's "The Tempest" with ideas about psychology. The monster, which is invisible until it appears, is genuinely frightening when you finally see it; it resembles a very intense version of the Tasmanian Devil. The idea behind the monster is an interesting discovery, and I wasn’t expecting such sophisticated commentary in a science-fiction film from the 1950s. The explanation that Dr. Morbius gives about the previous inhabitants of his planet, the Krell, remains impressive even now, and the older special effects still work pretty well. It was the first major movie to take place entirely in space and one of the first with a completely electronic score—or soundtrack, as you might call it. What always strikes me is Anne Francis’s performance as Altaira (or Alta for short), especially her outfits. I've heard some people complain about the scene where it seems like Alta (Francis) is skinny-dipping, but it’s clear she’s wearing a loose, skin-colored bathing suit. Was this done to avoid issues because of the time period? I don’t think so; you can easily see the swimsuit once she comes out of the water. Despite her sheltered nature, Alta deserves some acknowledgment—she was clearly pulling a playful trick on the Captain, intending to shock him and stir his desire, which it obviously did. Of course, "Forbidden Planet" is from 1956, so you have to expect certain things that haven't aged well, like the sound effects or bits of dialogue, or even the Captain’s communicator. Nevertheless, it needs to be recognized as a foundational work for many science-fiction films and television series that followed. The film is an hour and 38 minutes long and was filmed entirely in a studio in Culver City, Southern California. GRADE: A

Source on TMDB