Unlike modern Sci-Fi films, The Day the Earth Stood Still is not about dazzling special effects. It tells a story which is, at its base, biblical -- and the flying saucer aspect is almost incidental. It was a generation ahead of its time and not warmly received by the cold-warriors of the 1950s Hollywood had to tone down the peace-on-earth message, but it's still there. Michael Rennie, a British actor who had hitherto not been seen in America, was ideally cast in the lead precisely because he brought no star baggage with him to a role that combined the intergalactic with the celestial. 