Science Fiction Movies of the 1950s I admit it, I am and always have been a movie buff. I am so much so that when I am looking at a movie and it turns out to be really bad, I usually still watch it to the end. It is sort of like hoping something in the rest of the movie might redeem it. I love all sorts of movies, but a few categories are my favorites. I really like a good science fiction movie. Unfortunately, there are some real stinkers out there. I also do not agree with the critics many times and not even with the fans. Contrary to what some believe, I think there were good and bad movies made in almost every decade since talking pictures came on the scene. I can even go back before that and truthfully say some of the silent comedies were hysterical. The first grand science fiction movie I can think of, and I don’t want anyone to confuse science fiction with horror, was Things to Come. I say grand because it had true scope but is so dated most people, even sci-fi fans may not want to see it. Most people alive today would not recognize the names of the stars but at the time they were the biggest. The movie was made in 1936 from a famous story by H.G. Wells. It starred Raymond Massey and Ralph Richardson and one could see it must have been expensive for the time. To me the start of the truly watchable sci-fi movies started in the early 1950s. It started with the two of my favorites, The Thing From Another World in 1951 and The Day The Earth Stood Still also in 1951 and both had big stars in them from the time. The Day The Earth Stood Still was remade with Keanu Reeves, a great actor, but the original story was much batter and should be watched. The Thing was also remade and was pretty good, but I would still rate it second best. An interesting fact is James Arness, the man who later became Matt Dillion on Gunsmoke was the alien in The Thing From Another World, the original title. I find that most movie sequels and remakes are not as good as the originals, but many originals are not known about. I was talking to someone one day and for some reason the movie Ben-Hur was mention. I said the remake couldn’t hold a candle to the original starring Charlton Heston and the other person said, it was a remake? Anyone who saw the original and then saw the remake should realize how inferior the remake was compared to the original. The original is a full color cinematic masterpiece even though there was no CGI at the time. CGI being computer generated graphics. In 1956 a very well received movie came out named Forbidden Planet. It starred some very big stars of the time and the robot named Robby which became very famous. The star was someone even today who would be recognized, he was Leslie Nielsen who played a serious part as captain of a spaceship. The movie doesn’t show its age, has a great story and is said to be the forerunner of Star Trek. At the time most of the big sci-fi movies were in color which makes them easier to watch by the people of today. In the 1950s science fiction came blasting on the stage with many top notch movies which seemed to have expensive budgets. Take for example War Of The Worlds. One has only to look at it to realize it was a big budget movie with top notch stars and a comprehensive story by H.G. Wells. It seems H.G. Wells stories lend themselves to big budget movies. I say this because the original movie of the Time Machine, another H.G. Wells story was very popular. If we go to the very start of the 1950s we find a black and white movie named Rocket Ship XM. It had big stars for the time and a really good story. It is a sort of anti-war movie in a way, but a true science fiction thriller. I would recommend this movie even today to science fiction fans. One movie which was a little cornier, was still interesting. It was Invaders From Mars. It was made in 1953 and the aliens in the film could have had better costumes, but the premise was interesting. The film was not in the class of the others mention so far. One movie which should not be overlooked is When Worlds Collide. It was made in 1951 and is in full color. Obviously money was spent making this film and it is about an attempt by people to get off the earth before it is hit by another planet. The idea is for them to build a space ship. It is about all the trials and tribulations of the job. It is a very good movie and you should look at it to see if they make it. Earth verses The Flying Saucers was a movie from 1956. Ray Harryhausen was the special effects artist who was used for the movie. At the time he was considered one of the best special effects person and used stop motion. The movie was interesting and even with primitive effects I enjoyed it very much. A saucer lands on earth and the aliens are not very nice. I think I should also mention the worst science fiction movie ever made since it was made in the 1950s. It was 1959 and Edward Wood released a movie named Plan 9 From Outer Space. It was so bad; it was worth looking at for laughs. The lead actor died in the middle of the movie; his name was Bela Lugosi who was famous for horror movies. He was replaced by his dentist who walked around with his arm over his face for the rest of the movie. Ed Wood was famous for never doing a retake to save money. There is a scene in a cemetery where someone is coming up from a grave and all the tomb stones around him are shaking because they are all made from plastic or Styrofoam. Another scene has a supposed pilot flying a commercial plane who is really in a small room which is supposed to be the cockpit and holding on to a 2x4 with a semi-circle nailed to the top which is supposed to be the planes controls. Another strange thing is the film was shown in 1956 once, and that should have doomed it, but it didn’t. It has become sort of a collector’s item.
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