50's sci-fi movies

Movies
#1

Any favourites?

Fiend without a face - Diembodied stop-motion brains sucking out people’s grey matter - can’t go wrong with that :D

Them! - Life size giant ant models? Cool!

Earth vs the Flying Saucers - Not a great film, but Harryhausen’s fx in the closing attack on Washington are a treat.

Quatermass trilogy - Classic British Sc-fi scripted by Nigel Kneale

Invaders from Mars - Martians always get a bad rap

Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Classic.

Day the Earth Stood Still - Ditto.

And so many more…

#2

Forbidden Planet - the whole sequence at the end with the creature progressively burning its way through blast doors had a profound effect on my childhood - I had nightmares for years. Why can’t they generate atmosphere like that in modern SF movies?

#3

Man, do I LOVE Forbidden Planet. Totally groundbreaking at the time. The horror is that it still holds up today IMO.

#4

Wild guess:

You’re not an impressionable young child any more?

:)

#5

Forbidden Planet is the hands down winner for old sci-fi for me.

Day the Earth Stood Still is super awesome though.

The Thing From Another World is also fantastic. AKA The Thing AKA not John Carpenters.

#6

Speaking of Forbidden Planet, when I lived in NY in the '80s there was a wonderful comic book/sci fi/fantasy store in the East Village that took its name from the movie. They later opened a second store uptown on E. 59th. Anyone know if it’s still there?

Two other British classics:

Day of the Triffids

The Day the Earth Caught Fire

#7

Godzilla is the King of All Monsters, and the original movie is why.

#8

Speaking of Quartermass:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/cinema/features/quatermass.shtml

I’m sure it’ll be up on some BT sites and usenet after Saturday - will be very interesting to watch.

— Alan

#9

Day The Earth Stood Still is probably the one that holds up the best.

The non-Carpenter Thing doesn’t have Keith David, and thus is an abomination before God.

#10

I don’t think he was even born when The Thing From Outer Space was made, which is seen as one of the great sci-fi movies of the 50s - which broke many barriers (typically with women).

It is said that the Carpenter version is more faithful to the short story, however.

— Alan

#11

Yeah, that’s the one I was talking about. I totally love that movie. Incredibly creepy.