SciFiDrive

The 50’s, a time of monsters, rocketships and flying saucers. Hollywood’s film production was an all time high varying from big budget productions to cheap knock-offs. SciFi films in the 50’s were either great or schlock. It was the “Golden Age” and the rise of the “B-Movies”.

Two notable icons of the era, George Pal and Ray Harryhausen, created films that have become timeless classics. Advancing special effects with their techniques in stop motion and model animation, George Pal and Ray Harryhausen brought a sense of “realism” to SciFi cinema, amazing audiences with their ingenuity and imagination. Though George Pal would receive a number of academy awards for special effects, Ray Harryhausen received the Gordon E. Sawyer Award from the Academy in 1992.

Here’s a list of some of the memorable films of the 50’s.

Destination Moon (1950)
George Pal’s first feature film based on Robert Heinlein’s novel, Rocket Ship Galileo. This is the first SciFi film shot in Technicolor. Destination Moon depicted rocketships, spacesuits and the moon landscape in a realistic manner. A space battle with the USSR added a touch of the Cold War to the film.

When Worlds Collide (1951)

Produced by George Pal based on the SciFi novel by Philip Gordon Wylie and Edwin Balmer. One of the earlier doomsday movies about Earth getting hit by another planet. Filmed in Technicolor, directed by Rudolph Maté and winner of the 1951 Academy Award for special effects. Inspiration for the movie “Deep Impact”.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Robert Wise directed this film about first contact. The strong non-violence message contrasted in the era of the atomic bomb and The Cold War. The classic line “Klaatu barada nikto” and the robot Gort are familiar pop culture icons.

The Thing from Another World (1951)
The first SciFi horror movie about an alien spacecraft discovered buried in the Arctic. After recovering the occupant the arctic base is victim to The Thing’s terror. The film reveals only glimpses of The Thing riveting audiences in suspense. Directed by Howard Hawks (uncredited) and Christian Nyby released through RKO Radio Pictures Inc. “The Thing” is a precursor to “Alien” and future SciFi horror movies.

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
Ray Harryhausen’s first solo production based on “The Fog Horn” a short story by long time friend Ray Bradbury. The first film to use “Dynamation” Harryhausen’s trademark model animation. A low cost special effect with effective results, the technique combines live actors with stop motion models. While rear projecting the live actors shot, animators can blend the model animation giving it an illusion that both elements are interacting. Harryhausen’s “Dynamation” films never failed in thrilling movie audiences.

War of the Worlds (1953)

George Pal’s film adaptation of H.G. Wells SciFi novel. Pal reinvented the story by setting it in 50’s Los Angeles California. The Martian Tripods are replaced by sleek manta ray shaped crafts floating above ground with “invisible” legs. Attempting to use stop motion animation on the Martian’s machines proved impractical and time consuming Pal decided to use wires instead. The film became a box office hit and a memorable classic.

Gojira (1954)
Japan’s first successful monster movie was a box office hit in its first release. Inspired by Harryhausen’s “Beast from 20,000 Fathoms” Gojira is Japan’s first “Kaiju”. Due to budget and lack of skilled animators Gojira was originally planned as a stop motion movie but later changed to a man in a rubber suit stomping miniature cities. The movie’s plot was inspired by an incident were Japanese fishermen came too close to a nuclear test site and got contaminated. Gojira would spawn numerous sequels and keep the tradition of a man inside the rubber costume. In later releases “Gojira” is renamed “Godzilla”.

This Island Earth (1955)
A big budget production directed by Joseph M. Newman and adapted from the novel by Raymond F. Jones. Though shot in Technicolor, the groundbreaking special effects was done with the new standard colour Eastman process. The film was the first to depict faster than light travel and interplanetary battles. Later spoofed in Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Movie (1996).

It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)A six tentacled octopus terrorizes San Francisco after being awakened from the deep by a hydrogen bomb test.
Producer Charles H. Schneer and special effects visionary Ray Harryhausen first collaboration would be the beginning of many films to come. Due to budget restrictions the octopus had only six tentacles instead of eight.

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)
Charles H. Schneer and Ray Harryhausen’s next project about flying saucers invading Earth. Precursor to Independence Day.

20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
A showcase of Ray Harryhausen’s special effect wizardry. A returning space mission to Venus crash lands in the Mediterranean bringing with them an alien creature that grows to the huge “Ymir”. A low budget film, Harryhausen wanted the film to be in colour. In 2007 he worked with Legend Films to create a colorized version it was later released in the 50th anniversary version.

Forbidden Planet (1956)
Based on Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. A big budget film production with amazing special effects for its time. The film features a young Leslie Nielsen in command of the United Planets Cruiser C57D the spaceship journeys to the planet Altair-IV investigating the fate of colonists from an earlier expedition. Forbidden Planet’s look and feel became the inspiration for Gene Roddenberry’s “Star Trek” and George Lucas’ “Star Wars”. The film introduces Robby the Robot for the first time.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

SciFi paranoia at its best an invasion film without invaders the film only shows people being victimized by “pods” and the resulting conspiracy of infected hosts out to take over the world. In the time of the McCarthyist witch hunt and Soviet Red scare of the 50’s the movie grew in popularity for its allegorical message of losing one’s individual freedom.

The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958)

Inspired from Tales of the Arabian Nights. The movie retells the voyage of Sinbad and his encounters with fantastic creatures.
The incredible special effects without the use of computers or CGI animation is the culmination of Ray Harryhausen’s “Dynamation”. The movie needs to be mentioned here for reason that this film, Harryhausen refined his Dynamation techniques to a science. It took Harryhausen 11 months to finish the film’s animation.

The Blob (1958)
A meteorite falls in a small town revealing a jelly like amoeba that later grows as it devours more people. The Blob is eventually defeated by freezing and dropped in the North Pole.
SciFi horror film introducing a young Steve McQueen. Produced with a budget of $120,000 it would later gross $4 million.

The SciFi films of the 50’s have become a source of inspiration and remakes for today’s studios. Special effects have taken a leap from early cinema with advances in film technology and colour film adding more realism. SciFi cinema will still go further to achieve greater believability and realism.