ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Here's why 50s Sci-Fi movies are the best ever!
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Back in the 1950s the world was going through some amazing changes.

WWII was barely a decade in the past, the second half of the 20th Century had just begun, and technology was experiencing labor pains as it was about to give birth to more technological innovations than you could shake a Geiger counter at!

As the world watched 1949 fade into the sunset and 1950 rise above the horizon with the dawn of a new era, Americans ate breakfast and read headlines which described atom bomb tests, V2 rocket launches, and bizarre sightings of glow objects in the sky.

It was a bold and brave new world, and it as headed towards the future at jet propelled speed!

Hollywood caught a whiff of these startling changes, so naturally they wondered how it might help them sell more movie tickets. Slowly but surely the 1950s began to produce movies that teased our gray matter, tickled our fancy, and (sometimes) put goose bumps on our arms.

However, the true beauty of all this was the way some of the better movies in this genre known as science fiction would start out with a fascinating concept and then build a story premise around it.

In other words, they didn't just entertain us — they puzzled us and frightened us and challenged us and (most of all) . . . they inspired us.

Which of the 1950s movies did all these things the best? Below are a few examples.

Warning: I'm including major spoilers on the assumption that every member of All Sci-Fi as seen these movies fairly often.
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Destination Moon (1950)

The Concept: WWII proved that rockets were useful for more things than just Chinese fireworks and bombing London. So, after the U.S. squired a butt-load of V2 rockets from Germany, mankind started wondering just how far UP we could go with this new contraption!

The Story Premise: WWII also made us realize that we needed to worry about WWIII . . . and get ready for it.

This movie presents the scary idea that a base on the Moon could launch missiles at any nation on Earth and there wasn't jack shit we could do about!

So, the Space Race actually started right here in this George Pal film, and it climaxed when Apollo 11 left American footprints on the Moon and told them thar Ruskies that there was a new sheriff in town!



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Rocketship X-M (1950)

The Concept: Rockets can take us well beyond the Moon, and by doing so we might find a lot more to study than cold dead stones!

The Story Premise: For years I didn't understand the true strength of this movie. I wasn't alone, either, because its unique nature is subtle and well hidden.

For some reason, many folks flat-out deny the fact that when the main scientist gazes out the spaceship's view port and realizes that — against all odds — the ship has been deliberately brought to Mars by "a higher power" so that mankind will learn a valuable lesson from the tragic fate of the Martian civilization.

To its credit, the movie doesn't water down this noble element of the story by having the space explorers return to Earth and deliver their message about the Martian catastrophe. The two crewmen who almost make it back manage to deliver their message to Morris Ankrum's character by radio, and then they plummet to their deaths!






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The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

The Concept: Intelligent life not only exist in outer space, the citizens of alien civilizations travel among the stars . . . and someday they might visit Earth.

The Story Premise: An ambassador from an interstellar coalition of alien species lands in Washington and delivers both a message of peace and a dire warning. Mankind learns that these aliens have established both a code of conduct and specific consequences for misbehavior.





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Flight to Mars (1951)

The Concept: Mars just might be inhabited by human-like aliens, some of whom are friendly, while others are not. If so, visiting Mars would be the adventure of a lifetime!

The Story Premise: A small, diverse group of space explorers land on the Red Planet and establish friendly relations with Martians who bear a remarkable resemblance to humans!

Unfortunately, these Martians don't just look like humans, they also possess the same capacity for deceit and treachery! But they have the most gorgeous legs in the solar system . . .







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The Thing from Another World (1951)

The Concept: Aliens who come to Earth might well be so different from mankind that their only reason for coming here would be use us to supply their nutritional needs!

The Story Premise: A lone alien crashes his ship at the North Pole and appears to be both dead and frozen when found by a group of military men and scientists.

However, the alien is very much alive — and once it's thawed out, this being becomes an "invading army of one", hell-bent on staying alive and putting all the humans in the green house, hanging upside-down and providing baby food for its growing brood of cute little Super Carrots!


https://i.imgur.com/Xt3oMQt.jpg




Composite image showing all the man in one shot ~ by Orzel-w.





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When Worlds Collide (1951)

The Concept: This concept is a proven fact that threatens the future of all mankind! Wandering objects in space pose a significant risk to the survival of mankind, as well as the continued existence of Earth itself!

The Story Premise: A rogue Red Dwarf, and the Earth-sized planet which orbits it, are on a collision course with Earth. Mankind is domed!

But a small group of carefully chosen people might be able to preserve mankind's existence if they can build a spaceship and travel to the rogue planet before Earth is obliterated!

It's a gamble with infinitesimally small odds — but with nothing to loose! Our stalwart band of space explorers put their fate into the hands of God and journey to this new planet, hoping to find a new home for the human race!







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The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

The Concept: It might be possible for a creatures from the prehistoric age to become trapped in the Arctic ice and then somehow thawed and brought back to life.

The Story Premise: To hell with whether it's "possible" — let's just do it, and then put the magnificent beast smack in middle of the Big Apple and see what happens!

Atomic bombs at the North Pole might not be able to bring extinct animals back to life, but Ray Harryhausen can do it with his bare hands! So, when this movie came out in 1953, we had no desire to debate the merits of the concept, we just enjoy the spectacular images on the screen and yearned for the creation of an amusement park which allowed us to see real dinosaurs in the wild!







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Invaders from Mars (1953)

The Concept: Every Monsterkid has looked out his open bedroom window on a warm summer night while gazing up at the stars, yearning for a glimpse of a Martian spaceship dropping down from the sky.

The Story Premise: Be careful what you wish for, guys . . .

In this unique fantasy-driven movie, presented to us as a young boy's dream, we get to experience the ultimate version of what I call Gee Whiz Science Fiction — the kind that springs straight out of our boyhood imaginations from the days when we gobbled up pulp sci-fi and EC comic books.

In this delightful bit of "wish fulfillment", young Jimmy Hunt gets to save his parents for insidious aliens, fight shoulder-to-shoulders with a courageous American coloel, help a noted astronomer solve the Martian mystery, and befriend a gorgeous redheaded lady psychologist!

If this ain't the stuff of our boyhood fantasies, then my name ain't Bud Brewster!







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It Came From Outer Space (1953)

The Concept: Here's the recipe; take one amateur astronomer, put him outside on a warm summer night in Arizona, and have him witness the spectacular crash-landing of a crippled alien spaceship which makes a crater the size of a football stadium!

The Story Premise: The amateur astronomer is the only one who knows that the aliens from the crashed spaceship can assume human form and sneak around the small Arizona town while they steal the mechanical parts and raw material needed to repair their damaged ship!

If I had a nickle for every time I've yearned for this to happen to me, I'd be knee-deep in nickles!









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War of the Worlds (1953)

The Concept: Mars is a dying world, but it's the home of an ancient race of intelligent beings who possess advanced technology.

The Story Premise: The Bad Boys of the solar system decide this place ain't big enough for both of us! So they come ready to rumble in a global free-for-all, with no holds barred.

Monsterkids all over the world went google-eyed at what this movie showed them. This was the cinematic experience that puzzled, frightened, challenged, and inspired our hungry minds as much as any other movie in 1950s.









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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)

The Concept: Even in the late 1800s, a sea vessel could have been built which has the ability to submerge to great depths and propel itself underwater.

The Story Premise: Here we have the wonders of the ocean's depths, presented in CinemaScope and stereophonic sound, based Jules Verne's novel!

This movie inspired countless young people to discover the literary works of Jules Verne. In fact, I know of one person who became a marine biologist because he saw this movie 1953 . . . at the age of six!

Now THAT'S inspiration!







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Them! (1954)

The Concept: Atomic radiation from nuclear weapons tests can cause insects, such as ants, to grow to tremendous size.

The Story Premise: A colony of ants in the Midwest grow to the size of horses and start eating the local animals, as well as the local people!

The idea that common creatures like ants can become monsters the size of triceratops must have inspired more than one young mind to do something with his magnify glass other than frying the ants in his backyard. He used it to find out just how amazing those ants really were.

So, he saw this —





— and he wondered what other monster might be living his backyard.







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Conquest of Space (1955)

The Concept: A spaceship could be built by the crew of space station in orbit around Earth and then sent out to explore the solar system.

The Story Premise: The first interplanetary exploration begins with a trip to Mars. But the hazards of the voyage include technical malfunctions, fatal mishaps en route, and mental stress so extreme it fractures the fabric of a strong man's mind!









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It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955)

The Concept: In the extreme depths of the world's oceans there are creatures which have inspired the centuries-old legends of sea serpents.

The Story Premise: San Francisco is attacked by an octopus which is almost the size of . . . well, San Francisco!

The commander of an atomic submarine teams up with two of the world's top marine biologists to stop an octopus so large it can reach its tentacles up from San Francisco Bay and send them right into the city streets to crush the citizens!

With special effects that completely sell this wild idea to all the Monsterkids in 1955, this is the movie that made cephalopods sexy!







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Man and the Moon (1955) aka Tomorrow the Moon

The Concept: The 20th and 21st centuries will see mankind conquer the challenges posed by our need to venture out into space.

The Story Premise: The geniuses at the Disney studies presented America's youth with a series of inspirational programs which so excited the nation that our top political leaders began to make plans to send men to the Moon.









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This Island Earth (1955)

The Concept: Alien civilizations exist among the stars — but they might be warring against each other, the same way the nations do here on Earth!

The Story Premise: "Looking for an exciting new career? Look no further! Representatives from the planet Metaluna need qualified applicants who seek a lucrative career with a company which manufactures hi-tech scientific equipment! Fame, fortune, and adventure awaits those who can pass a challenging test. Applicants must be willing to travel to distant places at a moments notice."

"Contact Electronic Services Unit 16 for further details."









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Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956)

The Concept: A distant planetary system is destroyed, and a surviving fragment of its interstellar fleet finds itself alone and without a home! How can they survive? Where can they go?

The Story Premise: A group of survivors from a "disintegrated solar system" make a desperate attempt to subjugate Earth and force mankind to serve the needs of alien beings who prolong their lives with the aid of full-body suits.

As Dr. Russell Marvin states, the aliens are, "Humanoid, and ancient. These suits must serve as an electronic and mechanical outer skin to take the place of their atrophied flesh and muscles."

So, this is a story about a poor feeble race of aliens who don't want to enslave mankind . . . they want us to care for them in their declining years!











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Forbidden Planet (1956)

The Concept: The future is exactly the way it should be. It’s just like we dreamed of when we were kids and saw all those great Disney “Science Fact” episodes like [i\Mars and Beyond, Man and the Moon, Magic Highway USA, and Eyes in the Sky!

The Story Premise: United Planets Cruiser C-57-D is a rescue mission to find out what happen to "a prospecting party of scientists". Did they every arrive at their destination? Did they crash? Are there survivors?

What happens next is a dream come true for science fiction fans, and nothing Hollywood did after this one (until Avatar was released) came anywhere near it.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, here's 26,000 word essay on this movie.





















































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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

The Concept: Alien spores can float through space and land on alien planets, where they can sprout and proliferate.

The Story Premise: A small town in California is slowly overrun by alien copies of its citizens. These imposters can mimic human behavior, but they're actually soulless and unemotional.

This is one of two movies that frightened me (in a good way) when I saw them on The Big Movie Shocker, a Friday night late show in Atlanta back in the 1960s.

I was also frightened by my 5th grade teacher, Miss Hughes, because she seemed like a soulless, mean-spirited alien.

Or maybe she was just soulless and mean spirited.

Okay, maybe she had a soul — but she was definitely mean spirited!







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20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

The Concept: Venus is not like the scientist have predicted. Yes, the atmosphere is poisonous. But no, the planet is not lifeless.

The Story Premise: One minute the little Sicilian boy is fishing with his father, and the next minute he's helping his father haul injured astronauts out a crashed spaceship!

If ever Ray Harryhausen ever brought a fictional creature to life with his amazing animation, this is the one! And if that wasn't enough, Ray magically conjured up a bull elephant to battle the incredible Venusian.

Imagine seeing this one at a drive-in with your parents in 1957. {Ah, but I don’t have to image it. I can simply remember it.)



















If this movie had been shot in color, the climax might have looked like this.


]


And that would have inspired us to imagine a prequel with scenes which told the story of the Venus mission's arrival and its first encounter with a full grown Ymir!



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The 27th Day (1957)

The Concept: An alien race can be highly moral, super-intelligent, and possess advanced technology — but if they have a desperate need for the planet Earth, they might find a way to allow mankind to eradicate himself.

The Story Premise: Who could doubt the possibility that mankind is doomed to destroy himself? This story presents the idea that benevolent aliens whose planet is threaten with destruction from some natural disaster have presented us with small-but-powerful devices that we could used to wipe our enemies!

Unfortunately, they gave the devices to our enemies as well.

I saw this one as the first feature at the Roosevelt Drive-in in 1957, with 20 Million Miles to Earth as the second feature. Heck, no wonder I’m a Monsterkid!











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The Land Unknown (1957)

The Concept: Antarctica is mostly an extremely cold place . . . but it actually has its own “garden spot”, if you know where to look. :wink;

The Story Premise: Deep in a hidden Antarctic valley which is warmed by geothermal springs, as well as being sheltered from the extinction event which eradicated the dinosaurs, there's a prehistoric world which is doing just fine, thank you very much!

I know I’m in the minority on this, but I feel that the FX in this movie are so skillfully done I really don’t regret the fact that Ray Harryhausen didn’t do the prehistoric critters! The movie works fine just the way it is.

Oddly enough, if I’d seen it at a drive-in in 1957 a few weeks after watching 20 Million Miles to Earth, I would have been deeply disappointed. Actually, I don’t remember when I first saw this enjoyable movie, but it was probably on television in the 1980s, when I old enough to appreciate the movie's merits.

As they say, with age comes wisdom . . . although it usually comes too late do you any good.











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The Colossus of New York (1958)

The Concept: The body of a great genius cannot avoid the inevitability of death.

But the brain can live on in a mechanical life support system so it can continue to benefit mankind!

Hey, what could possibly go wrong?

The Story Premise: The year was 1958 . . . when rock and roll was king! And a drive-in move was THE place to go.

So, I went to the Roosevelt Drive-in (again) with Mom and Dad and Sis, and I saw this movie (along with the next one below on this list).

Ross Martin is a brilliant humanitarian, a loving husband, and a devoted father . . . until he’s hit by a truck. His famous father (a brilliant surgeon) and his talented brother (an automation specilists) decide to save Martin’s unique brain, for benefit of all mankind.

Truly it has been said, the road to Hell has no potholes. They’re all slap full of good intentions.

This movie so impressed me that I remember raving about it to my parents during intermission. And then the second movie started, and my life really changed . . .















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The Space Children (1958)

The Concept: The heavens might home to benevolent-but-strange aliens who watch over mankind.

The Story Premise: Seven Magnificent children — the precocious offspring of the families who are working on an ambitious satellite program — aid a strange alien who wants to prevent mankind from making a terrible mistake.

In a very moving scene, the heroic scientists desperately asks the alien an important question.

“Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocents of a child?”

The alien answers . . . with complete silence. And thus the answer must be, "No."

So, if there isn’t such a man, then who could a god-like alien call upon to aid it in saving mankind from our worst enemy?

That enemy, of course, is Man himself.

I saw this wonderful movie for the first time in 1958 . . . and then for the second time in 1986, twenty-six years later. I was thirty-eight years old, and I desperately hoped it would prove to be as good as I remembered.

It wasn’t.

It was better.

However, please don’t think this movie will impress you as much if you see it now as it impressed me in 1958. After all, you only get to be a ten-year-old kid once . . . and you only get to be a thirty-eight-year-old / ten-year-old kid once, too.

















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The Fly (1958)

The Concept: Science can find a way to turn matter into energy, transmit it to a distant location, and reverse the process. Instantaneous transportation!

The Story Premise: David Hedison is going to change the world by giving mankind a great gift; the ability to move matter from point A to point B at the speed of light.

The result: Food can be transported to the starving areas of the world. Injured people can be delivered to hospitals in seconds. This would bring about the elimination of trains, planes, and automobiles — along with the pollution they cause. People could evacuated en masse from disaster areas before the disaster even hits.

Hedison is so passionate about his world-changing discovery that he forgets to be cautious — and he miraculous machine turns him into a hideous creature!

Here’s a movie that embodies the very essence of what makes 1950s science fiction movies so special — a concept-driven story that encourages scientific advancement, while warning us that progress has a high price.













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It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958)

The Concept: Mars once held life in the form of semi-humanoid creatures. Few remain . . . and they’ve turned savage.

The Story Premise: A murderous creature stows away aboard a rescue ship sent to find the lone survivor of a previous Martian mission. It might be the last remnant of a dying race, but the crew of the ship never learn anything about it — except that once it’s aboard the ship, it survives by sucking all the nutrients from the crewmen it captures and drags into the ventilation system.

What did all this mean to Monsterkids like me in the 1950s?

Just this: we need to get to Mars and find out what really IS and ISN”T on the famous Red Planet!










https://i.imgur.com/P1Ob0Yx.png
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First Man into Space (1959)

The Concept: The dangers of space exploration might demand a terrible price from those who attempt it. But science has a way a turning the knowledge gained from disasters into scientific progress.

The Story Premise: A reckless young astronaut pushes his experimental aircraft to the fringes of outer space. But he encounters something which destroys his aircraft and turns him into a blood thirsty monster . . . literally.

Here’s another “pure science fiction” movie I experienced at the drive-in when I was just eleven years old. It’s still a favorite of mine.





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Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)

The Concept: Only Jules Verne could turn a spelunking trip into a grand adventure, completely with subterranean oceans, prehistoric monsters, and giant mushroom forests.

The Story Premise: A walking journey through endless caverns, passed countless wonders, to experience mind-boggling adventures in a world no man has witnessed before.

Realistic? Of course not. Fantastic? Undoubtedly!

I saw this movie for the first time on television in the 1960s (in B&W and 4:3), and later on VHS tape (in color and letterbox on a 27” TV). So, it was decades before I finally saw it on DVD and an HD television.

It took technology a long time to finally present this movie in a manner somewhat like it was seen in 1959.













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Beyond the Time Barrier (1960)

The Concept: In the far future, a deadly plague devastates humanity, leaving most of humanity either mute or severely deformed.

The Story Premise: In 1960, an experimental aircraft flies to the threshold of space and encounters a freak phenomenon which catapults it forward in time.

The pilot meets the survivors of the plague which has devastated the planet. He fails in love with a beautiful girl who is mute, but telepathic. The leader of this future society asks the pilot to return to 1960 so he can warn humanity and prevent the plague!















I saw this movie at the East Point Theater, located in the little town right next to College Park, my home town. A short bus ride with my buddies and we were comfortably seated, ready to enjoy a great Science Fiction Experience.





Unfortunately, this movie is the unofficial “end” of The Golden Age.

Despite great movies like Robinson Crusoe on Mars and 2001: A Space Odyssey, the 1960s had a lower ratio of quality science fiction films which were based on interesting concepts. Spy thrillers and sci-fi comedies dominated the list during this decade.

And, of course, by that time I was no longer the freckled-faced kid who sat the back seat of our family car at the Roosevelt Drive-in, watching these great movies through the gap between my parent's heads . . . while flying saucers cruised overhead.





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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

First of all Bud....A BRILLIANT POST! You very accurately focused on some of the best of the Fifties Sci-Fi and I'll come back later with more comments.

In general these movies were "archetypes" in that they presented iconic situations seriously for the first time. Most of the schlock "monster mania / space" movies were produced more for shock effect than real artistic expression.

Good selection Bud!
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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Thanks, Gord!

It took me a couple of days to create that post, because I had to find new ways of saying things about movies we've discussed frequently here on All Sci-Fi.

The idea was to point out the concepts which drove the plots, and then to relate the film to my own life and the memories they created.

One movie I omitted was The Time Machine, because I create a extensive post about that movie and my experience with it, several years ago.

So, the goal of the thread above was to encourage other members to share their memories about the movies from The Golden Age. This thread provides a single discussion where they can talk any 50s science fiction movie or TV series, and any fond memories connected to them.

For example, I mentioned the East Point Theater and the way it became the place I would go to see sci-fi movies when I got old enough to ride the bus down the road to the next town with my friends.

Later today I'll add a post to the thread here, with this title.

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Keeping our Monsterkid Memories Alive!
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Gord, your recent post about you and your sister watching Men Into Space and The Man and the Challenge is EXACTLY the kind of comment I hope we'll see more of here.

And the post I'll add later today about East Point Theater deals with the same thing; the fond memories I have for the movies and TV shows that made me who I am today!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

An excellent and thoughtful essay, Bud.

Many of these films remain favorites of mine to this day, even with their weaknesses here and there.

Forbidden Planet is not only a visual masterpiece and SF classic, but it has a rollicking & intelligent story and fine acting to go along with it.

Them! is the best of the giant bug movies which starts off as an intriguing mystery and is all supported by a marvelous cast.
The bug props themselves haven't dated well though.

I still must stand by my opinion that The Unknown Land's dino effects are awful. Had they done them via stop~motion animation we could have had a minor classic on our hands. I will say the beautiful matte paintings & jungles sets are terrific.

Even the carnivorous flesh eating plant was a handsome life-size prop. No stop~motion required.

Earth vs The Flying Saucers could have been better than it was. Ray's saucer designs, destruction of Washington and animation are all up to his top notch standards.

The story is weak and is merely there to support his visuals. There were some intriguing concepts such as the aliens initially attempting to contact us in peace. However, after that it devolves into a routine humans battle alien invaders plot. Nothing truly original.

The Day the Earth Stood Still & The Thing From Another World are superb movies that I never grow tired of seeing.

It Came From Beneath the Sea only comes to life when the mutant octopus is on screen. The rest of the time is like watching wet paint dry.

Twenty Million Miles To Earth is much more fun.

As I said, all these films have their strong points and their weak ones.