# 1950's science fiction



## Brian G Turner (Sep 24, 2003)

There's a general impression that, 1950's sci-fi, although cute, was ultimately cheesy.

Maybe it was in some instances, but in other instances perhaps anything but.

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was frankly scary and disturbing - there was far more in that film that was memorable than forgettable.

And although I've never rally watched the "saucer" flicks, I do remember other black and white fiction such as "It came from Outer Space". The general sense of unease was great!

I even watched "Attack of the 50 foot woman" expecting nothing but a silly film, but I actually found myself becoming quite drawn into it. It was an interesting take on familiar themes of inter-personal relationship and infidelity.

So...1950's science fiction, take a bow. You're not that cheesy. In fact, sometimes, you're darn entertaining - as you were supposde to be.


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## Foxbat (Sep 24, 2003)

> There's a general impression that, 1950's sci-fi, although cute, was ultimately cheesy.


If I was one of those giving that impression the I apologise most profusely.
Yes, there was cheese - lots of it. But there were also classics in abundance. The simple fact is - chalk or cheese - you've got to love them both. 
Even cheesy films had their moments - check out the ending to 'Journey To The 7th Planet' - quite moving actually.

There. I feel suitably chastised


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## Brian G Turner (Sep 24, 2003)

Not at all - I was actually talking about _my own_ impression - before I'd actually made the effort to sit and watch some of them quite a few years ago.


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## Gnome (Sep 24, 2003)

What's more I think "Journey to the Seventh Planet" gave the author of "Solaris" his idea. In fact there hasn't been much original stuff since the 50's. With 2001 and Star Wars being the exceptions. The Star Trek films are all just a ripoff of "Forbidden Planet" and "Alien" is derived from "IT: The Terror from Beyond Space".  Guess that's why I like the old ones...the effects may have been cheesy, but at least the ideas were fresh.


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## Foxbat (Sep 24, 2003)

That's certainly true about the lack of originallity. I watched a documentary with the scriptwriter of Alien (O'Bannen I think his name was). It turns out he also wrote the script for Carpenter's classic Dark Star. He admitted it was basically the same script for both films.  Add this to the fact that it was  derived from  IT: The Terror From beyond Space and you start to see a serious lack of original material.


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## Gnome (Sep 26, 2003)

I think that's why I liked Bigmacscalan's Hippo screenplay joke so much 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




At had an original quality sadly lacking today.....but then originality doesn't sell tickets to those who want the same explosions over and over.


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## mac1 (Oct 4, 2003)

Gnome said:
			
		

> I think that's why I liked Bigmacscalan's Hippo screenplay joke so much
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks Gnome, but that was no joke, one day you will see that on the big screen - LOL


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## Marianne (Oct 5, 2003)

I grew up in the fifties and saw some of these movies as first run flicks...It and Invaders from Mars made a huge impression on me and probably molded my literary life forever.  I remember Invaders from Mars showing on the afternoon movie on the tv which showed every day for a week and I watched it every day at 4 pm.  I was about 8 at the time and it scared the heck out of me.  I started looking at the backs of everybody's neck and looked out the bedroom window at night looking for saucers...The Day the Earth Stood Still with Michael Rennie was another of the time period which, when viewed today looks 'cheesey' because they did not have the special effects that they have now(Didn't have color tv until I was almost e teenager).  But in its day it was a fascinating film.


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## Foxbat (Oct 5, 2003)

> [The Day the Earth Stood Still with Michael Rennie was another of the time period which, when viewed today looks 'cheesey' because they did not have the special effects that they have now(Didn't have color tv until I was almost e teenager). But in its day it was a fascinating film.


I suppose the sad fact is that some people just will not watch these films now because of the lack of fancy special effects. Quite often there were films that were great _despite_ the lack of technology to properly represent what the script called for. In this day of CGI overkill and a complete lack of subtlety (and in some cases - storyline), many of these films are standing the test of time because of their sheer quality.
As far as I'm concerned The Day The Earth Stood Still is still a fascinating film - and still relevant today. Wake up World! Your future lies in our past!


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## littlemissattitude (Oct 6, 2003)

Foxbat said:
			
		

> I suppose the sad fact is that some people just will not watch these films now because of the lack of fancy special effects. Quite often there were films that were great _despite_ the lack of technology to properly represent what the script called for. In this day of CGI overkill and a complete lack of subtlety (and in some cases - storyline), many of these films are standing the test of time because of their sheer quality.
> As far as I'm concerned The Day The Earth Stood Still is still a fascinating film - and still relevant today. Wake up World! Your future lies in our past!


As far as I can see, a lot of those 50s films are just fine without all the modern special effects - leaves more to the imagination, for one thing.

The thing that amazes me is that there are people who just will not watch any film that is in black and white.  I don't understand that at all.  Aside from content, the photography in a lot of those old films is absolutely exquisite.  They are beautiful just to look at.

And, as far as relevance - "The Day The Earth Stood Still" is, if anything, more relevant today than it was when it was made.  Goodness knows, attitudes aren't a whole lot different today than they were then.


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## BAYLOR (Oct 16, 2016)

*War of the Worlds* 1953


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## psikeyhackr (Oct 16, 2016)

Gnome said:


> "Alien" is derived from "IT: The Terror from Beyond Space".



That is so obvious but you are the only person I have seen mention it.

psik


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## Ray Pullar (Oct 17, 2016)

I believe Stephen King mentioned the It/Alien connection in Dance Macabre from the early eighties. The makers of It considered suing Walter Hill and co.  I think A.E. van Vogt won damages for the similarity to his 'Discord in scarlet' and 'Black destroyer' stories published in 1940 Astounding magazines.


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## BAYLOR (Jan 19, 2017)

*The Monster That Challenged the World   *1957 .  An earthquake releases carnivorous prehistoric mollusks from an ancient lake and the proceed to travel up canals and devious anyone they come into contact with  It's a very good film , The monsters even by today production standards still look pretty good.


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## BAYLOR (Jan 19, 2017)

Then there the 1951 George Pal film *When Worlds Collide  *based on the novel of the same name by Phillip Wylie and Edwin Balmer.   Two rogue worlds enter our solar system from deep space , one will collide and destroy the earth , the second will be a new home for survivor who build a rocket ship to take the surveyors to this world. This is one the greatest science fiction  disaster films of all time.


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## Foxbat (Jan 19, 2017)

BAYLOR said:


> Then there the 1951 George Pal film *When Worlds Collide  *based on the novel of the same name by Phillip Wylie and Edwin Balmer.   Two rogue worlds enter our solar system from deep space , one will collide and destroy the earth , the second will be a new home for survivor who build a rocket ship to take the surveyors to this world. This is one the greatest science fiction  disaster films of all time.


One of my favourites from this time period, It was also one of the first movies I bought when I first began collecting laser discs (how many people still remember them?)


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## HanaBi (Jan 19, 2017)

Am so pleased this fairly old thread has been revived! I feel suitably encouraged to devote a whole weekend (as yet unspecified), watching some classic 50s sci-fi !

Might be a tough task whittling the list down to about 8 films, but the ones highlighted throughout this thread will certainly be in there somewhere!

And I would agree, there is something rather charming/alluring about these quaint old films. Some of which were probably driven by some political paranoia of the time (Cold War, McCarthyism etc). But for all that, some of those films were the stuff of nightmares - not least War of the Worlds and ... Body Snatchers.


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## BAYLOR (Jan 20, 2017)

Let's not forget one the most memorable since fiction films of the 50's  *The Forbidden Planet* , staring Leslie Nelson, Walter Pigeon, An Francis, Warren Stevens, Richard Anderson, Earl Holliman and Robby the Robot.  This film is a science fiction retelling go Shakespeare's *The Tempest. * It's  well written and well acted even by todays standards this film still looks fantastic. It is a try classic and is by far one of the greatest science fiction films ever made.


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## clovis-man (Jan 20, 2017)

Foxbat said:


> That's certainly true about the lack of originallity. I watched a documentary with the scriptwriter of Alien (O'Bannen I think his name was). It turns out he also wrote the script for Carpenter's classic Dark Star. He admitted it was basically the same script for both films.  Add this to the fact that it was  derived from  IT: The Terror From beyond Space and you start to see a serious lack of original material.



Dan O'Bannon also played the part of Sergeant Pinback in *Dark Star*. His encounter with the beach ball alien is one of the funniest things in SF. His untimely death was unfortunate. He had a great imagination. But don't forget that one of the stories in Van Vogt's *Voyage of the Space Beagle* was the original inspiration for *Alien*. The alien critter Ixtl was pretty scary.


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## clovis-man (Jan 20, 2017)

I should bring readers' attention to the big two volume edition of *Keep Watching The Skies* by Bill Warren. The title comes from the script at the end of the 1951 movie, *The Thing From Another World*. Keep Watching the Skies!

Unfortunately, he died this past October, but his exhaustive work is worth having for any fans of fifties SF movies. A real treasure trove of information. He doesn't rate them, but he pulls no punches when it comes to giving his opinion, both positive and negative.


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## BAYLOR (Jan 24, 2017)

Foxbat said:


> One of my favourites from this time period, It was also one of the first movies I bought when I first began collecting laser discs (how many people still remember them?)



I think there were plans to adapt the Sequel book *After World Collide   *but it never happened.


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## BAYLOR (Feb 1, 2017)

*The Day The Earth Stood Still.*    Classic  stuff.


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## Vladd67 (Feb 1, 2017)

I was going to say The Day the Earth caught fire, but I see that was 61 so just ignore me.


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## Steve S (Feb 1, 2017)

Marianne said:


> I grew up in the fifties and saw some of these movies as first run flicks...It and Invaders from Mars made a huge impression on me and probably molded my literary life forever.  I remember Invaders from Mars showing on the afternoon movie on the tv which showed every day for a week and I watched it every day at 4 pm.  I was about 8 at the time and it scared the heck out of me.  I started looking at the backs of everybody's neck and looked out the bedroom window at night looking for saucers...The Day the Earth Stood Still with Michael Rennie was another of the time period which, when viewed today looks 'cheesey' because they did not have the special effects that they have now(Didn't have color tv until I was almost e teenager).  But in its day it was a fascinating film.



I agree about *Invaders from Mars* - I remember watching it as a child and finding it very creepy!


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