The MGM Lion
The MGM Lion at the beginning of the film looks very nasty to me.
Dark face, sunken eyes, huge fangs.
I think he's a Monster From The Id!
There is a similarity between MGM's mid-50s lion and the outline of the id monster's face seen in the atomic rays during its attack on the saucer. Product placement?
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I looked at the beginning of _Tea and Sympathy_, another 1956 MGM film,
and that lion seems a lot more friendly than the one in _Forbidden Planet_.
I think the FP artists did some work on their lion.
I think it's the same lion. The one they used in 1956 had a full mane and was more ferocious than the ones before and after. I don't think that '56 lion lasted much longer than one or two years before being replaced by the calmer one they had by '58 and '59. He was perhaps MGM's most unique lion, not least for his resemblance to the id monster.
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