Sure Star Wars (a movie I have seen at least fifty times) beats all the others in special effects, but this film has every thing else!<br /><br />It has horror(non-graphical), romance, robots, witty repartee, intelligence, (surprisingly good) special effects, and drama.<br /><br />I saw this film a couple of years ago in a revival with a newly struck print, and I was amazed at how well it held up today. I thought the old 40's style electronics would look hokey, but they somehow looked futuristic and moderne.<br /><br />Ann Francis in here (mostly) short skirts and bare feet with a girlish innocence that is hard to beat still gets a rise out of me.<br /><br />The Krell monster appearing in the ray beams still scares the bejebees out of me.<br /><br />Of course we all know that the "Great Bird of the Galaxy" probably modeled much of "Star Trek" from this movie.<br /><br />No one has yet to beat Robby, the Robot, in terms of personality<br /><br />(sorry, R2D2 and C3PO).<br /><br />This movie, overall, is the standard that all other Science Fiction films will have to measure up to!<br /><br />Honorable mention for the haunting electronic score which kept us all on pins and needles.