Planet Of The Apes Film Analysis

I have read the novel many years ago (long after I‘ve seen all the films), and found the novel borders more on sci-fi fantasy than contemporary science fiction tales. The fantastic story as told by Boulle, sets everything in modern times, modern transportation, zoos filled with humans, a most bizarre setting as the main character tries to fathom how apes created whole cities that resemble our own from a 1960s era point of view. And the novel’s twist ending on the discovery of a written message left floating in a bottle in deep space, read like a harsh joke that apes have now conquered outer space with spaceships, where humans are still considered dumb, and incapable of anything, especially spaceflight. The note was written by a fleeing astronaut

Most likely because of this fact, an “American independent producer Arthur P. Jacobs had bought the film rights to the novel before publication, and eventually persuaded 20th Century Fox to finance the picture. The first Planet of the Apes script, by Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling, was rejected as too expensive,” (Haley 209). The Serling script was bold, ambitious, and set in modern times like in the novel, but filming such a massive undertaking was costly and impractical at the

Schaffner (1920 - 1989), directed Planet of the Apes, an acclaimed film and television director. He directed such TV series like Studio One in Hollywood (1949 - 1956), Person to Person (1953 - 1959), and Playhouse 90 (1957 - 1960), and has won several Emmys and an Oscar (Best Director) for Patton (1970). Schaffner’s other best known films include, Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), Papillon (1973), and The Boys from Brazil (1978). The compelling and innovative music score for Planet of the Apes was by Jerry Goldsmith, Schaffner often teamed up with Goldsmith in several of his best films.

Academy Award winning cinematographer, Leon Shamroy (1901 - 1974), best known for the Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) and The Robe (1953), was Fox‘s main cinematographer utilizing Cinemascope in the 1950s and 1960s, he demonstrated high creativity during the filming of Planet of the Apes and gave the film its excellent widescreen shots. “Filming took place between May 21 and August 10, 1967, in California, Utah and Arizona, with desert sequences shot in and around Lake Powell, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area“