Louis and Bebe Barron's Forbidden Planet

James Wierzbicki

"Forbidden Planet (1956) is a product of the MGM studio, which at the time was hardly in the business of making science-fiction films. Originally planned as a "B" picture, Forbidden Planet was praised for its spectacular special effects and brilliant color cinematography. The plot practically tingles with sexual innuendo and the dialogue is rich in references to Freudian psychology, yet the the movie was marketed to a juvenile audience." "Notwithstanding the film's uncommon look and feel, perhaps the most unusual aspect of the film is the way it sounds. Never before had a major Hollywood movie been scored entirely by electronic means, and seldom does one find commentary on how Louis and Bebe Barron's score challenged Hollywood conventions." "In addition to placing the composers and film in historical context, Wierzbicki's study offers a thorough analysis of not only the music as used in the film, but also of the decontextualized music as presented by the Barrons on the 1977 original soundtrack album. The text is illustrated with transcriptions and graphs, and can serve as a model for the examination of other extended works of electronic music for which no written score has ever existed."--Jacket.