Forbidden Planet Spellbound

I think it's safe to say that this version of Forbidden Planet doesn't need a thorough or detailed review. The test for whether this edit works or not is dependent on whether you think the change in music works or not, and for me, it did.

Now, I must confess that I like the original version's musical score. It was highly ambitious to use mostly synthesizers in a time when the norm was to be as classical as possible. With that said, though, I do think the music of Miklos Rozsa does a nice job of making things more "emotive" here than in the original edit. This version definitely felt like something from the 1950s, and I mean that in a good way. The change in music makes this feel like an authentic vintage blockbuster from the 1950s. One that almost reaches the same level as the more biblical epics of the time like The Ten Commandments or even Ben-Hur (Which is a fair comparison, since Rozsa also did the score for the latter).

So, with a comparison like that, am I saying that this edit is better? Well, in all honesty, I don't know. They're both equally good if you ask me. This is one where I believe your own personal tastes will make the best judgment. My guess is that if you crave ambition, you're most likely to prefer the original version. However, if you want things to sound more like a 1950s epic, and you want something that packs a more emotional punch, this edit will most likely impress you more. Whatever the case, I highly recommend giving this one a watch to see (or hear) for yourself.

Visual quality is pretty good, if a little softer than I'd like. The shot at 44:30 is noticeably more compressed than the rest of the edit but I can't think why that would be. It's also accompanied by a "bong" noise and a loud hiss.

From the cutlist I don't get the impression there were any visual edits, but there was a moment at 1:19:06 which I found to be quite jarring. Maybe that's something inherent in the original film?

Audio-wise, the score itself is very crisp, clean and dynamic. Not what you'd expect from the time, but it does sit at a comfortable volume throughout and I never found it overbearing (if anything, it may be too quiet at points). The choice of cues etc. are well chosen. Where the edit falls short for me is the limited foley. More often than not I think the audio scrapes by, but there are some notable moments where it feels very bare:

0:12:50 - the replaced footsteps are too loud and heavy to fit in with the audio. Some low mids could do with being scooped. It's also pretty noticeable that audio is missing when we then start hearing the robot sound effects when they weren't sounding before.
0:15:08 - there is no sound for the car, and then there is when it drives off again.
1:17:00ish - the lack of screams is noticeable, and there's a moment where the captain yells. His voice sounds very quietly and then just vanishes. Some of the "minor" deaths would have been more fitting for the Wilhelm scream IMO, rather than its use later on with the death of a more significant character.
1:30:08 - Altera's line gets cut off ("Not even if I-")

As a general comment, the dialogue that's been scrubbed sometimes sounds at a lower volume and could have done with a small boost or some EQ to help it cut through more. Later on the added scream for a certain death doesn't really fit IMO and is too quiet as well. A pitch shift could help it pass more believably as coming from the same person.

Narrative is virtually untouched as far as I can tell and so it flows just fine. On a subjective level, I would like more trims for pacing, but that wasn't the aim of the edit and so I can't complain. Things generally do benefit from the use of a traditional score here.

Enjoyment: Putting technical qualms aside, I think this is an ingenious pairing. It's been a while since I saw Spellbound, so I didn't really remember the score, but it absolutely fits here. The use of theremin firmly estabilishes the sci fi feel, and overall I felt that the music brought in a bit of an "original Star Trek" flavour; an association that I've always had with the film itself.

Thanks Scott Crane for putting this together. Definitely a version worth seeing!