1956-2006: 4 Classic Science Fiction Movies Celebrate Their 50th Anniversaries
2006 marks the 50th anniversary of the films made in 1956�and many of these are classics, so this summer would be a perfect time to pick them up for a weekend sci fi festival�
Before I get to the films of 1956, I’ll give a brief run down of the films from 1950-1955.
1950
There were only five American science fiction movies released in 1950. Of these, the classics are Destination Moon and Rocketship XM – tales that attempted to tell of the ‘near’ future, chronicling the attempts of man to send a rocket to the moon. Famous science fiction author Robert Heinlein co-wrote Destination Moon. (“There’s no law against taking off in a spaceship, it’s never been done, so they haven’t gotten around to prohibiting it.” )
Rocketship XM starred Lloyd Bridges and Osa Massen and had a downbeat ending – the rocket crashes on its return to Earth and all aboard die. Massen played a female scientist, one of the first of several female scientists in 1950s films. “I suppose you think that women should only cook and sew and bear children.” “Isn’t that enough?” While it’s nice to see a 1950s woman in a position of power, the scriptwriters make it *her fault that the ship runs out of fuel.
1951
The 14 sci fi movies released in 1951 include Mr. Drake’s Duck (about a duck that lays radioactive eggs) and such fare as Jungle Manhunt, only tangentially sci fi. But the classics are The Thing From Another World, in which military men and scientists in a remote Arctic outpost find a crashed flying saucerâÂ?¦and a humanoid figure frozen in the ice (“So few people can boast that they lost a man from Mars and a flying saucer all in one day.”) and When Worlds Collide, in which the Earth is doomed by an asteroid, and a group of scientists struggle to build an ark to rescue a portion of the human race. (Billionaire Stanton – who banrolls the project says: “I’m not interested in your salvation, only in mine.” Guess who gets left behind at the end.)
George Reeves played Clark Kent/Superman for the first time in Superman and the Mole Men, which was a thinly disguised plea for tolerance towards people different than ourselves, and The Day The Earth Stood Still starred Michael Rennie as a visitor from outer space who warns humans that they will not be allowed to bring their warlike ways out into the solar system. (“In matters of aggression, we have given them (robots) absolute power over us. This power cannot be revoked. At the first sign of violence, they act automatically against the aggressor.”)
1952
11 science fiction movies were released in 1952âÂ?¦and only one of them dealt with space travel. The others were concerned with technological advances – usually advanced weaponry but sometimes plain old inventions that threaten to destroy a lucrative field for the wealthy – and so it must be destroyed. Thus, Alec Guiness played a scientist who invented a cloth that would never need cleaning inThe Man in the White Suit.
Bill Warren terms Red Planet Mars “one of the most preposterous films of all time.” But, it stars Peter Graves (who will save the Earth a few times in 1950s sci fi films before going on to star as Jim Phelps in Mission Impossible.)
1953
22 science fiction films made their debut in 1953, including the classics It Came From Outer Space and The War of the Worlds, and the first movie featuring animation by Ray Harryhausen, with a script somewhat based on a story by Ray Bradbury: The Beast From 20,0000 Fathoms.
1954
The classic The Creature From the Black Lagoon appeared on the scene in 1954, along with 14 other films including the Disney masterpiece 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea starring James Mason and based on the Jules Verne book of the same name – in which nuclear power was used for good, and Them! starring James Whitmore and a lot of giant ants, in which atomic experiments had generated these rapacious mutants. (“Get the antennae! Get the antennae! Get the *other antenna! Get the other antenna!)
1955
1955 was a light year, as far as sci fi was concerned, with only 9 movies released, but one of those was the classic This Island Earth, in which two scientists (Rex Reason and Faith Domergue) are kidnapped by the alien Exeter and brought to his planet Metaluna in a vain attempt to save his planet from the attack of an alien aggressor. The planet is doomed, however, and Exteter helps the two scientists return to earth.
This year also saw Revenge of the Creature (that’d be the first sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon) and another Harryhausen sci fi fest, It Came From Beneath the Sea. But this would be the last ‘sparse’ year of sci fi for some time.
1956
Now we come to 1956, with its 23 sci fi films, of which four are classics, some are pretty fun, and only a handful are�.Z-grade (about the same ratio as any other genre).
The classics:
The Creeping Unknown
Forbidden Planet
Godzilla, King of the Monsters (American release)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Creeping Unknown (The Quatermass Xperiment)
Science fiction is known as an American phenomena, but Britain has given the world some pretty good creations. After all, before the US took over after 1926, it was Mary Shelley who created the form, and H. G. Wells had been the first to explore themes such as time travel, interstellar war, invisibility, and eugenics. And for 1950s British television sci fi, the big name is Nigel Kneale. He was the creator of Professor Bernard Quatermass (*not Quartermass) ad “The Quatermass Experiment” was a popular television serial in 1953. Three years later, it was made into a movie, directed by Val Guest and starring American actor Brian Donlevy as Quatermass.
A rocketship crashlands in England. Two of the three astronauts aboard have vanished, and the third is in shockâÂ?¦unable to speak. But it’s worse than thatâÂ?¦he’s changingâÂ?¦metamorphasizing…and seeking human flesh to do so. The description makes it sound like a horror story, but it is that only tangentially.
Forbidden Planet
Forbidden Planet, starring Leslie Nielsen, Walter Pigeon, Anne Francis, and Robbie the Robot, is one of the most famous and influential science fiction movies of all time. Gene Roddenberry borrowed many aspects of it for his own *Star Trek television series. Leslie Nielsen as Captain J. J. Adams brings his ship to the planet Atair-4 where he intends to rescue any survivors from the crash of a research ship decades before. But the only survivors are Dr. Moebius (Walter Pigeon) and his daughter, Altair. Moebius refuses to leave, and warns Adam to leave immediately or he won’t be responsible for the consequences. And soon the crew of the C-57-D are fighting for their lives against an unseen foe. (“My evil self is at the door, and I have no power to stop it!”)
Godzilla, King of the Monsters
Gojira made its debut in Japan in 1954, and, as Godzilla, with extra scenes inserted starring Raymond Burr, made its American debut in 1956. The plot of the movie, it must be admitted, is similar to that of The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, or even It Came From Beneath the Sea (or even King Kong!) Underwater nuclear explosions have wakened a 400-foot! “dinosaur-like amphibious monster, and given it fiery radioactive breath.” Godzilla appears indestructible until a scientist manages to kill it with his invention, “The oxygen destroyer.” Godzilla is totally destroyed, and according to Warren in Keep Watching the Skies: “So thoroughly was Godzilla destroyed that an entirelt new beast, another Godzilla, had to be “revived” for the sequel Gojira no Gyakushyu, released in the US as Gigantis the Fire Monster. It is *this Godzilla that appears in all the sequels. (“I can’t believe that Godzilla was the only surviving member of its species… But if we continue conducting nuclear tests… it’s possible that another Godzilla might appear somewhere in the world again.”)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Dr. Miles Bennell, attending a medical conference, leaves early and returns to his home town of Santa Mira to deal with an overflow of patients. He starts meeting people who claim that other people “aren’t themselves.” Soon Bennell discovers that the people of the town are being replaced by duplicates, born of pods. What was to have been the last shot of the film was Dr. Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) running down the street screaming, “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next, You’re next…” as cars drive by unheedingly.
The fun:
The Creature Walks Among Us – the last in the Creature trilogy. The Creature Legacy DVD set is a must have – and you should watch the movies in order.
Earth vs the Flying Saucers – Think of Ray Harryhausen and you think of dinosaurs, or of giant cyclops or centaurs, but he also did the dinosaurs for this feature.
It Conquered the World – Roger Corman’s invader from VenusâÂ?¦.it looks like a psychotic carrot. Beverly Garland is in this as wellâÂ?¦and indeed any 50s sci fi film starring Beverly Garland and directed by Corman is a must view.
Bibliography
Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifites. Volumes 1 and 2, by Bill Warren. McFarland. 1982 and 1986
