Does anyone out there recall seeing any electric train or layout in any sci fi movies made before 1960 ?. The reason I ask is because when I was a kid, I remember seeing an old black and white sci fi movie one Saturday afternoon on TV where a kid had a train set that he kept under his bed, but don’t recall the title of the movie and it’s bugged me all these years. The train appears to be an O gauge Lionel - I think…
Tracklayer
I believe you are refering to “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, staring Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal. She had a son who had a layout under his bed.
Michael Rennie (the unknown alien at the time) came into his room as he was playing with it. The son asked him whether they had trains where he came from. His answer was yes, but they ran much faster or didn’t use rails or something to that effect. I can’t remember his words exactly.
Google ‘the day the earth stood still’ and you will be directed to many sites about the movie.
Dale Latham
Yes!.. That’s it. Thank you Dale. That has bothered me for years.
What’s so dumb is that I saw the movie not too long ago, but must have gone to the bath room or not been paying attention when that part was on.
Good movie. Hope they do a modern remake - and not screw it all up like they do all the others ( War of the worlds [:(] ).
Again, thanks a lot.
Tracklayer (Mark)
I found a copy of the original movie on DVD at Wal-mart for $5 in the bargain bin, so check there periodically and you might run across it.
One of the best sci-fi movies ever made.I first saw it as a child and the robot Gort scared the hell out of me! There are a couple of additional train scenes when Klaatu stops all the electricity.
Thanks cacole. Will do.
Tracklayer [;)]
I never noticed that in the movie, I have it on DVD, time to pull it out and watch it.
A great movie, one of my favorites. The alien Klaatu, who is known as “Mr. Carpenter”, stops by Tommy’s room while he has his train set out and asks to borrow a flashlight. Before he leaves he tells Tommy to ask him about another type of train sometime, one that doesn’t use any tracks. This leads to Tommy secretly following Mr. Carpenter out to the spaceship as he signals the robot Gort with the flashlight.
This movie runs frequently on the Fox Movie Channel on cable, for those who have it.
The other “electric train” to be seen in the movie is a roughly 3 second shot of a prototype New Haven EP-4 stopped dead in its tracks somewhere between NYC and New Haven, with the engineer staring quizically up at the catenary lines, when Klaatu “nullifies” electricity.
CNJ831