Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

[The Rube]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

The original Godzilla (1954) has to be near the top of my list. They even somehow got Raymond Burr to appear in the 1956 US version (Godzilla, King of the Monsters, which, in IMDB, appears to have the same cast as the original except for him). That's the prototype for all the "nuclear accident transforms benign creature into terrible monster" genre.

At the very top of the list, so good that it's even on my list for one of the best movies of all time, open competition, is The Day the Earth Stood Still. The combination of realism and idealism is deftly handled, and the special effects are almost non-existent yet the story is so compelling, and the titular event is so masterfully staged. I still remember "Gort: Klaatu barada nicto" quite vividly (having watched it several times). It's a bare-bones archetypal story, if you've never seen it, you definitely should.

DrD already mentioned Creature from the Black Lagoon. If no one yet has mentioned Them (with an appearance by James Arness) that definitely deserves to be on the list.

and who can forget The Blob, with Steve McQueen no less!



Forbidden Planet received raves in some quarters, being based on The Tempest and all, but I never could get much into it, it was a bit, um, plodding, for my taste (if you've seen the movie you know I'm making a pun here )

Gojira. Awesome.

Lagoon and The Day are great, also.

 

[joecct]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

Cape Canaveral Monsters. A teenage horror flick.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

Huh. Totally missed it, I will definitely watch for it next time.

BTW, I second Pio's (I think?) nomination of it as simply a well made movie. Despite the monsters it's really a suspense / psychological thriller, and I have always maintained it has one of the best slow burn build ups ever done.

It is always great when you are not introduced to the monster too early. And the scene when they put a little formaldehyde under the little girl's nose and her reaction to it just is frightening.

 

[DrDemento]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

A few more lovely ladies of 50's sci fi:

Anne Francis from "Forbidden Planet" (she's the one on the right):

Dana Wynter from "Body Snatchers":

Mala Powers from "The Colossus of New York":

Kathleen Hughes being checked out by Barbara Rush in "It Came from Outer Space":

Again many thanks-Dana Wynter has the distinction of being in another of my all time favorite movies (not sci fi though). She plays a hot number who is taken as a prisoner by Burt Lancaster early in "The Crimson Pirate". The scene in Body Snatchers where Kevin McCarthy kisses her after she had unintentionally fallen asleep in the cave and he realizes that she is now one of the alien pod replicants-oh baby is that spooky!!
The others wer not on my hottie list-although I really should have reconsidered Anne francis when she was older and played Honey West on TV.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

Another sci-fi babe was Faith Domergue, who starred in something called "The Cult of the Cobra." I don't have a picture of her and couldn't post it if I did, since I don't know how. All I recall was she would occasionally transform herself into a Cobra and slither off into the sunset.

The lovely Faith Domergue, from "This Island Earth."

 

[FreshFish]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

There's a movie so awful it's inadvertantly funny. Can't quite recall the title. Some lady with a disembodied head on a table is angry about her state and wants to destroy the man and lab who made her that way. There's nothing below the head that can power air through her vocal cords but that doesn't stop her, she talks just fine anyway. Somehow through her talking she is able to convince someone else to do stuff she wants done, and he destroys the lab, final scene is the head laughing maniacally as the building burns around her.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

There's a movie so awful it's inadvertantly funny. Can't quite recall the title. Some lady with a disembodied head on a table is angry about her state and wants to destroy the man and lab who made her that way. There's nothing below the head that can power air through her vocal cords but that doesn't stop her, she talks just fine anyway. Somehow through her talking she is able to convince someone else to do stuff she wants done, and he destroys the lab, final scene is the head laughing maniacally as the building burns around her.

There are several "disembodied head" movies just like this, but the one you mean is

The Brain that Wouldn't Die:

Also great is:

The Man without a Body:

There are also a bunch of "head in a box" movies from the 50's. The usual rule is if the head is male it's evil and trying to take over the world, and if the head is female then it's the mad scientist's girlfriend and he's trying to find a hot young body to attach it to (which is a good excuse for scenes of picking up floozies at the local bar).

 

[FreshFish]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

the one you mean is

The Brain that Wouldn't Die:

Yes, that is the one. When they pan back you can see that the head is on a wheeled cart with nothing underneath that could pump air through vocal cords to allow her to speak.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

Another very similar concept is the Curt Siodmak story "Donovan's Brain," which has been done either as a radio play, a teleplay, or a movie about a million times. It's a great story; one of the foundational science fiction books.

"He thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts."

 

[joecct]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

There's a movie so awful it's inadvertantly funny. Can't quite recall the title. Some lady with a disembodied head on a table is angry about her state and wants to destroy the man and lab who made her that way. There's nothing below the head that can power air through her vocal cords but that doesn't stop her, she talks just fine anyway. Somehow through her talking she is able to convince someone else to do stuff she wants done, and he destroys the lab, final scene is the head laughing maniacally as the building burns around her.

I thought you meant this one:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/owk9CNzi2o8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

But I think Kepler nailed it.

 

[Hopkinja]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

No question the best 50's sci-fi movie was "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

AMC had "The Thing" on this past weekend. I hadn't seen it in a long time. Good stuff. And one of the local channels had "The Mole People" on. I never realized Alfred from the Batman TV show was the high priest.

Some movies that scared the crap out of me as a kid:

"Tarantula"
"Earth Vs. The Spider"
"War of the Colossal Beast"
"Monster on the Campus"

 

[DrDemento]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

No question the best 50's sci-fi movie was "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

AMC had "The Thing" on this past weekend. I hadn't seen it in a long time. Good stuff. And one of the local channels had "The Mole People" on. I never realized Alfred from the Batman TV show was the high priest.

Some movies that scared the crap out of me as a kid:

"Tarantula"
"Earth Vs. The Spider"
"War of the Colossal Beast"
"Monster on the Campus"

Thanks for bringing up tarantula. That one shook me up a bit also. Can you believe Leo G Carroll in that one? AMC used to be a great staion-showing movies uncut and commercial free. Now with all their advertising and coming attractions on top of the movies, and their editing-I just cannot watch the channel. When TCM shows 'The Thing'-it still scares the heck out of me.

 

[Hopkinja]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

Thanks for bringing up tarantula. That one shook me up a bit also. Can you believe Leo G Carroll in that one? AMC used to be a great staion-showing movies uncut and commercial free. Now with all their advertising and coming attractions on top of the movies, and their editing-I just cannot watch the channel. When TCM shows 'The Thing'-it still scares the heck out of me.

Maybe it was TCM. It was the one without the commercials.

 

[Slap Shot]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

I remember this crapfest from a time when they would air this type of film late on Saturday nights:

 

[DrDemento]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

Maybe it was TCM. It was the one without the commercials.

Great station-although they can be a bit repetitive showing some things a bit often-they show so many of the great movies from the past.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

Thanks for bringing up tarantula. That one shook me up a bit also. Can you believe Leo G Carroll in that one?

As immortalized in the first song of Rocky Horror.

Michael Rennie was ill the day the earth stood still
But he told us where we stand
And Flash Gordon was there in silver underwear
Claude Raines was the invisible man
Then something went wrong for Fay Wray and King Kong
They got caught in a celluloid jam
Then at a deadly pace it came from outer space
And this is how the message ran:

Science Fiction - Double Feature
Dr. X will build a creature
See androids fighting Brad and Janet
Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet
Oh-oh at the late night, double feature, picture show.

I knew Leo G. Carroll was over a barrel
When Tarantula took to the hills
And I really got hot when I saw Janet Scott
Fight a Triffid that spits poison and kills
Dana Andrews said prunes gave him the runes
And passing them used lots of skills
But when worlds collide, said George Pal to his bride
I'm gonna give you some terrible thrills, like a:

Science Fiction - Double Feature
Dr. X will build a creature
See androids fighting Brad and Janet
Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet
Oh-oh at the late night,
double feature,
picture
show

Annotation.

 

[joecct]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

Script written --
The Gulf Monsters
Plot: Following the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, toxic chemicals seeped into the ocean floor resulting in "The Gulf Monsters"

Pick your cast from the 1950's:

Hero
Scientist
Scientist's assistant (opposite sex of Scientist)
Law Enforcement / Government Official
Innocent victims #1, #2, #3
Evil Person(s)
Cameo

Miss anyone?

 

[DrDemento]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

As immortalized in the first song of Rocky Horror.

Michael Rennie was ill the day the earth stood still
But he told us where we stand
And Flash Gordon was there in silver underwear
Claude Raines was the invisible man
Then something went wrong for Fay Wray and King Kong
They got caught in a celluloid jam
Then at a deadly pace it came from outer space
And this is how the message ran:

Science Fiction - Double Feature
Dr. X will build a creature
See androids fighting Brad and Janet
Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet
Oh-oh at the late night, double feature, picture show.

I knew Leo G. Carroll was over a barrel
When Tarantula took to the hills
And I really got hot when I saw Janet Scott
Fight a Triffid that spits poison and kills
Dana Andrews said prunes gave him the runes
And passing them used lots of skills
But when worlds collide, said George Pal to his bride
I'm gonna give you some terrible thrills, like a:

Science Fiction - Double Feature
Dr. X will build a creature
See androids fighting Brad and Janet
Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet
Oh-oh at the late night,
double feature,
picture
show

Annotation.

Says it all right there, doesn't it? For those of us who saw most if not all of those movies-Great posting!!

 

[Kepler]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

The Gulf Monsters

Scientist -- Gene Barry (Dr. Clayton Forrester from "War of the Worlds")
Scientist's assistant (opposite sex of Scientist) -- Margaret Sheridan (Nicki from "The Thing from Another World")
Law Enforcement / Government Official -- Alan Hale Jr. (Sheriff Townsend from "The Crawling Hand")
Evil Person -- John Hoyt (Mr. Stanton from "When World's Collide")

Miss anyone?

There is also:

Rival for Assistant's Love (sacrifices himself in final reel)
Town Drunk or Misunderstood Teen (first sees the monster but is ignored)
Wise Old Man (offers calm in time of crisis; usually clergy)
Child In Danger (often niece of Scientist to get Assistant's maternal juices flowing)

 

[Hopkinja]

Re: Favorite 1950's SciFi movies

Nice call on the Rocky Horror Theme, Kep.

And my nominee for "Misunderstood Teen who First Sees the Monster" has got to be Steve McQueen in "The Blob."