David Rose, composer of light orchestral music such as "Holiday For Strings", was originally hired to write the score. He was relieved of his contract by producer Dore Schary in December 1955 when Schary discovered avant-garde electronic music creators Louis and Bebe Barron in a nightclub in Greenwich Village, New York, and hired them on the spot. The only confirmed piece of music which still remains from Rose's discarded original score is his Main Title Theme, which he released as a single on MGM Records in 1956.
Louis Barron and Bebe Barron worked on the electronic soundtrack music "tonalities" for only three months, the length of time given them by Dore Schary, head of MGM. He authorized the studio to send them a complete workprint at Christmas 1955. They received the complete 35mm Eastmancolor workprint at New Year's 1956, a week later, still with many visual effects sequences missing and timed in with blank leader by editor Ferris Webster. From January 1, 1956 to April 1, 1956, they worked on the soundtrack score in their Greenwich Village studio in New York City while the film was in post-production in Culver City. The score was completed and delivered to MGM on April 1, 1956, and the film was released for a studio sneak preview soon afterward. The musician's union, however, objected to the soundtrack, and blocked the Barrons from being credited as "composers", hence the term "electronic tonalities".
Robert Kinoshita, who is credited as building Robby the Robot, was also Art Director for the TV series Lost in Space. Many of the Lost in Space Robot's features are similar to Robby's: glass "head" with animated elements; rotating antenna "ears" (although LiS Robot's ears rarely moved after the pilot episode); flashing light "mouth"; chest panel with more animated elements. For that matter, much of the layout of Forbidden Planet's spaceship is mirrored by LiS's Jupiter 2: saucer shape; integral landing gear/entry stairs; lower external dome with animated lights; central, plexi-domed navigation station; vertical hibernacula arranged along perimeter. In addition, Robby and the LiS Robot had a couple of "family reunions" in two LiS episodes: War of the Robots and Condemned of Space.
Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry has been quoted as saying that this film was a major inspiration for the series. Perhaps not accidentally, Warren Stevens, who plays "Doc" here, would later be a guest star in 1968's By Any Other Name, where the true shape of the alien Kelvans, like the Krell in this movie, was implied to be extremely non-humanoid but never shown.
Apart from the electronic tonalities composed by Louis Barron and Bebe Barron, the music score known to many as "Forbidden Planet Fanfare - Parts 1 & 2" on the original 1956 theatrical trailer was composed by André Previn, and pieced together seamlessly by an MGM music editor. The music was originally written by Previn for the MGM films Scene of the Crime and Bad Day at Black Rock.
Bellerophon is a hero from Greek mythology. His greatest feat was the destruction of the Chimera, a monster who breathed fire.
Film debut of Robby the Robot.
First mainstream film to have the music performed entirely by electronic instruments.
In addition animating the monster that invades the camp, Disney artist Joshua Meador provided approximately 29 other animation effects depicting laser beams and other forms of visual energy.
In preparing this film for production, MGM borrowed a print of This Island Earth from Universal-International.
Loosely based on "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare.
MGM had had a full animation department at one time but by 1956 it was largely dismantled. Critical animation effects (landing beam, weapons, Robby overloading, the Id Monster) were provided by Joshua Meador on loan to MGM from Disney. Meador's recognizable style can be readily discerned from that of the other three effects animators working on Alice in Wonderland and in other Disney releases.
MGM insisted on changes to Cyril Hume's script by adding comic relief scenes with the ship's cook (played in the final film by Earl Holliman). Among these scenes was one in which Robby the Robot responds to the cook's complaint about the lack of female companionship by bringing him a female chimp. The scene was reportedly not filmed.
Studio chief Dore Schary and producer Nicholas Nayfack were unsure about releasing the film with a solely electronic score by Louis Barron and Bebe Barron. A rough cut of the film was previewed with the electronic score. The audience reaction to the film overall was so favorable that Dore Schary ordered the rough cut to be released with the electronic score and no further editing.
The "electronic tonalities" created by Louis Barron and Bebe Barron were reused several years later in another science fiction film From the Earth to the Moon that was produced by RKO.
The film was originally conceived and approved by MGM's Dore Schary, himself no fan of science fiction, as a B-picture. The studio's art department, still headed by veteran Cedric Gibbons pulled out all stops. The budget ballooned to $1.9 million and barely managed to break even amid a dismal year for the studio. The relative failure of the film was cited as a reason for Schary's ouster soon after.
The model of the "flying saucer" style Earth space cruiser was retained by the MGM prop department and subsequently used in a number of productions on the MGM lot, including the "To Serve Man" of the The Twilight Zone. Robby the Robot, his ground transporter, and crew uniforms would be used on that show as well.
The movie's poster was as #5 of "The 25 Best Movie Posters Ever" by Premiere.
The only sound film produced without any musical score or theme music, only the "electronic tonalities" by Louis and Bebe Barron.