Top 15 Sci-Fi Movies of the 1950s - how do yours compare?

[diebitter]

Okay, I love Science Fiction movies - always have. I'm the same with horror. However, SciFi really does has a discreet golden age that many know and love, and it's the 1950's. Why was this period so filled with Sci-Fi (good and bad)? I don't know for sure, but it was something to do with the fear and tension around the Cold War, and the use of the atomic bomb in Japan and the issues and doubts arising from radiation and its uses.

It was also a time where Sci-Fi became mainstream in cinema. There are indeed notable Sci-Fi films earlier; Metropolis being the most significant, but also Things To Come (based on H.G.Wells' work), and the kids' serials like Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Rocket Men of the Moon. You could also include Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein (many consider the original novel of Frankenstein to be the first work of Science Fiction written), though I consider these more works of horror that use Science as a basis to start the story, and little more.


There were many great Sci-Fi films made in the 1950's, and some I'm listing here as 'honourable mentions' - they're good, but not suitable for this top 15.

Some have Sci-Fi elements, but the story is more conventional; these include Kiss Me Deadly and The World, The Flesh and the Devil. Others are much more horror than Sci-Fi, and an example of this is The Curse of Frankenstein.

Others would have made the list, but were just not good enough, and were pipped at the post: 20 Million Miles from Earth, Tarantula, and It Came from Outer Space are examples of this.


So here's the top 15 I chose:

15. Fiend without a Face (1957)

This is a strange little shocker, taking a premise from the magnificent Forbidden Planet (made a year earlier), of how machines can be used to interact or expand on the thoughts of scientists to produce something horrific. It's a little plodding initially, but as it gets to the second half, the tension mounts and the death-count rises, and it gets more and more tense - using the idea of invisible creatures to good effect. Finally, the weird creatures become visible, and the ending is pure grand-horror as they try and suck out the brains of the human targets.

A pretty nifty little horror/Sci Fi, made in Britain but using an American as a central character (a usual trick for small British films in this era), this is a lively little number that I have a great fondness for. I saw it at a youngish age (10?), and it made quite an impression.

Also there's a Criterion DVD out now for this (Huh, Criterion did THIS?!?) that contains some great extras. A cool little Sci-Fi film that's half silly, half pretty-good.



14. This Island Earth (1955)

A fairly serious movie initially (well, until they actually get into space), this involves human-like aliens coming to Earth to see if scientists can help them save their planet. There's initially assorted shenanigans whereby the aliens make themselves known, and then scientist and his love interest get rocket-shipped to the planet in question, where the end is drawing near. Coupled with this end is a giant bare-brained thing with pincers instead of hands that serves the humanoids, and which scares the hell out of the token girl, along with various cool-looking impacts on the planet itself.

Pretty fun, this was also given the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment in 'Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie' (hmmm, it's really too good a movie to really deserve this - but I did laugh, even though I felt a little guilty), and it has very good production values.



13. Plan 9 from Outer Space (1956)


Nutty and much-laughed-at SciFi directed by Ed Wood - the film won the 'Golden Turkey Award for Worst Movie' and Ed Wood won the 'Golden Turkey Award for worst director'. And this is just wrong - there's no way this is the Worst Movie ever made. It's entertaining in its extreme amateurish for sure, but the point is that it entertains (to me the first and most important thing about any movie). There are tens, if not hundreds, of movies much worse than this. From the moment the psychic Criswell introduces it in such a conoluted way it seems he's claiming it happened AND it's a prediction of what might happen in one breath, to watching the overweight wrestler Tor Johnson struggle to climb out of a grave while gravity seems to be winning, right through to the obvious 'exploding paper-plate sprayed silver and set on fire' ending, it entertains.

It also contains some plot points that are quite provocative and weren't really picked up by anyone, given the rest of the film is somewhat ridiculous. These include the proposition that there is a government conspiracy hiding the truth behind UFOs, and that humans are clearly not intelligent enough to handle technology maturely (okay it was done by 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' 5 years before, but what the hey). Okay, these are old hat now, but I'm pretty sure they were relatively new ideas at the time.

I like this movie an awful lot, and do honestly and genuinely think it's worthy as a top sci-fi movie of the 1950s.


12. The Fly (1958)

Okay, this suffers considerably when compared to its vastly superior remake by Cronenberg ( reviewed here ), but this is a cool movie that sticks out because of its cool story of body-part-swap between man and fly (it's got great 'uggg' factor), it's bright colours, and that cool reveal of the giant fly head that we all know is coming, but can't help get a kick out of. An original story idea, and one of those movies you can watch as a straight horror and as a camp classic, and it works either way pretty well.


11. When Worlds Collide (1951)

A good movie on balance, where it is good by virtue of being a mix of really great parts and really awful parts. Great; amazing special effects and production values, excellent archetypal story based on Noah's Ark, cool premise of people working together for a common goal, but the actual saved being chosen by lottery, wonderful scene where the rocket prepares to take off and actually does take off while a horde try to stop it, and the great ending; awful are the atricious dialogue and acting.


10. Invaders from Mars (1953)

Beating out the Invasion of the Bodysnatchers by 3 years, this has a boy realising something is going on over the hill at the end of his garden, and that adults seem to be being taken over by...something. Okay, this doesn't do the paranoid 'bodies being taken over' thing anywhere near as well as 'Invasion', but it does have a final battle that brings a nice resolution to this particular invasion movie.


9. Them! (1954)

Starts well, with a creepy paranoid vibe, and works excellently up until the giant ants are seen, and they really aren't that convincing. After that, it becomes straightforward monster fare, but is a lot of fun despite going from scary to action/fun. The first of the big bug movies. Followed by Tarantula, The Black Scorpion and several others.


8. Quatermass Experiment (1955) (aka The Creeping Unknown)

This is an excellent, creepy and gripping little British Sci-Fi movie. It starts with rocket crashing, and one astronaut being recovered from inside, where there should have been several - the rest have disappeared. It then moves on to the recovered astronaut being hospitalised, but obviously somehow infected/taken over with a life form that can drain life from other living things - and each thing it drains, it takes some of the qualities of that thing. He absorbs a cactus, and becomes part cactus-like, for example. He escapes, and wanders London (it is reminiscent of the Karloff-Frankenstein movies, where the creature is wandering alone in the countryside), and has some memorable scenes - encountering a small girl playing; the aftermath of this creature going through London zoo, leaving behind the dried husks of the animals it has absorbed.

Very creepy, very engaging.


7. Forbidden Planet (1956)

This combines a great story, humour, interesting use of sound and visuals, high production values and about the coolest spaceship there is into one great package. Oh, and Robby the Robot. Very cool, and based on Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' no less.


6. Quatermass 2 (1957)

The only sequel on the list, and also the first ever sequel to use 'xxx 2' as its title, 'Quatermass 2' is another great British Sci-Fi that deserves to be seen. This one has meteors from space that open and infect human hosts, and possess them. This is happening near a secret research centre, and crusty Professor Quatermass investigates. Here we have a mix of zombies/possessed humans, parasitical blobs, creeping tension of a group fighting the enemy and being trapped and outplayed, and the slow working-out of exactly what's happening and who is possessed - including those in government.

Gripping and dark - one of the darkest sci-fi movies of the era, along with Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.



5. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

"Klaatu Barada Nikto". Okay, we all know it, big spaceship lands, tries to establish dialogue with humanity, and it doesn't work out. Much has been made of this being an allegory of Christ, and of course it is, if you think it is, but this only adds to the resonance of the story, and doesn't diminish it as a standalone tale. A very, very good work, and probably the most mature movie in this list. Oh, and a great title.



4. War of the Worlds (1954)

Forget the remake, this is way more fun. Great effect, great visuals (Gene Barry on a ruined battlefield, for example), great colour, and an exciting premise make this one of the fun-fests of the 1950's. Based more on the legendary Orson Wells' radio broadcast thanb H.G.Wells' source novel, this is exciting and fun. One of my favourite alien invasion movies.


3. The Thing (1951)

A really pacy movie, tight and zippy. The characters rattle out their dialogue, often overlapping, giving this a tremendous sense of energy, and has a number of iconic shots that are hard to forget; the men standing on the ice, arms out, to mark the shape of the craft; the opening of the door to go start looking for the creature, only to find it looming up RIGHT THERE! A cool movie, most likely directed by Howard Hawks (he's not credited as such in the listing), and you can forgive the slightly hokey creature because of how good the rest of it is. Superior (but different) remake by John Carpenter in the 1980s, which hit number 7 in Dominic's 'top horror movies after 1970'


2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

I've already mentioned this in top horrors pre -1970 (Number 8,here ), but it works just as well as sci-fi. A creep-up-on-you movie that builds and builds the tension, becoming a truly great paranoia classic. The scene with the pods and the pitchfork still makes me wince. Astoundingly good. Remade twice in 1978, and in the 1990s.


1. Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

My absolutely favourite 1950's Sci-Fi movie, reviewed by me a while back here . This has drama, great effects, and a truly human element to the drama. I think because I have read the book 'The Shrinking Man' by Richard Matheson (upon which this is based), and Stephen King's remarkable analysis of the book/movie in his non-fiction analysis of the horror genre 'Danse Macabre', my thinking on this movie is not really based on just the movie, but it's meaning.

King for example asserted it mirrors the 4 sets of emotions that a dying person (or the relaties of someone dying) go through on getting the worst of news; first denial, then anger, then depression, then acceptance and some peace of mind. And this movie does indeed mirror this (not as clearly as the book though). First he finds it silly, then gets angry, lashing out at his wife, then he accidentally falls in the cellar and merely survives - his filmic version of depression. Then he overcomes; flooding; a spider, and the huge climb he has to make to escape the cellar, and in the closing scene we realise he is happy and accepts what is coming.

I really love this movie; it has the tension and drama of a Hitchcock, and combines the surreal and the emotional marvelously, and never looks foolish or trivial. It never puts a foot wrong.


I'll say again, I love this movie, and I do believe this is one of the few films that would be tremendous to remake in the hands of a gifted director/writer.




So, everyone agree with my choices? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[MidGe]

Whoa diebitter,

top 15 and "2001" doesn't get up there. I guess we are more jaded todaty, they are nearly common occurences images. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[diebitter]

[ QUOTE ]
Whoa diebitter,

top 15 and "2001" doesn't get up there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, I think I have a reasonable out here, given it says 'of the 1950s' [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[MidGe]

Oops,

Should spend more time reading before writing.. Sorry [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

OK, "War of the worlds" gave me huge nightmares!

[John Cole]

Fortunately, I got to see many of these movies when I was still a kid, so their affect on me registers still. In fact, the first time I remember going to a movie theater was to see a double feature of The Fly and The Alligator People when I was five or six. (I think walking out of the theater and being blinded by the August sun changed me forever.) Invaders From Mars and Forbidden Planet have always been favorites. And, I agree with your opinion of War of the Worlds, which along with The Day the Earth Stood Still look great on DVD.

I think, though, The Blob is a glaring omission. (Criterion also has The Blob on DVD.) And, I'd include On the Beach or The World, the Flesh, and the Devil since these films seem important within the time period.

[diebitter]

The Blob? A little too much horror for my list. Great theme song tho [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

On The Beach - haven't seen, so can't comment on whether it should have been in the list. And I thought it was 1960s...

[Ray Zee]

fantastic post.

invades from mars is one of my all time favorites as i watched it many times scared as hell when i was a little kid.
in the thing, the thing was james arness, marshall dillion from gunsmoke and was a classic although pretty bad.
the day the earth stood still has to be maybe the best ever made for its time.
wasnt the crawling eye made in the 50's. that was scary for a kid to see.
the classic, creature from the black lagoon needs to be on the list as its one of the first.
what about some of the 3D movies. i forgot which ones they were but were real scary with things coming at you all the time.
nothing beats king kong but that was before the fifties.
speaking of the atomic bomb did you ever see the atomic kid with micky rooney.

and was the time machine, and journy to the center of the earth, and war of the worlds made in the 50's. if not they belong in the 60's category.

[BobOjedaFan]

I just saw When Worlds Collide a couple weeks ago. Incredible special effects for it's time. Though the premis was utterly absurd. @ random planets flyign at Earth and a rocket ship to one of them in the 50's which just so happens to have breatabhle air? Wtf.

[BarronVangorToth]

Terrific post.

The =movies that first lept to my mind when I thought of 50's films were The Day The Earth Stood Still (I haven't seen it in too long -- that will be fixed within the day), Plan 9, and Donovan's Brain, the latter didn't even make your cut.

Terrific list, though, I'm not the sci-fi fan it sounds like you are, but I've seen your top 10 (+ Plan 9) so I guess I haven't missed anything.

Plan 9 probably either deserves to be a lot higher (or a lot lower) as it's horrid ... but so much so it's a cliche which almost makes it the poster child for bad greatness.

Anyway... If you haven't seen Donovan's Brain, you might want to grab it if you see it in one of those $4.99 discount DVD bins.

[MrMon]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a truly great film. Also one of the creepiest, but once you realize it's really just a commentary on McCarthyism, it takes some of the edge off.

For those who didn't know it's a commentary on anti-communist hysteria, watch it again with that in mind and it takes on a whole new meaning.