We witnessed a more linear transition between the horror and sci-fi films from the 1930s to the ‘40s. But in the 1950s, things went drastically sideways. This was the decade that reflected our workaday fear and trepidation of communism and the atomic age. Our fear of nuclear weapons and invasion -though real, also provided the escapism moviegoers needed in the ‘50s.

Actual atomic tests and UFO sightings provided plenty of inspiration for filmmakers; giant mutant insects, lizards, transformed human beings, and aliens were the defining hallmarks this era. Understandably, this was also the era when horror and sci-fi films slowly transitioned to the lower budget, B-movie status (eschewing A-list stars and awards).

Despite sharing company within this genre renowned for its campiness, there were a few films that transcended this B-movie norm; The War of the Worlds (1953) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) won Academy Awards, while The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) won a Hugo Award.

The horror and sci-fi films of the 50's featured a long list of B-list actors as well as some aging, former A-list actors. These actors kept busy appearing in many of these films enabling a Déjà vu effect amongst many moviegoers. These actors included: Barbara Payton, Barbara Rush, Beverly Garland, John Agar, Peter Graves, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, Jr, John Carradine.

HORROR-SCIFI FILMS OF THE 1950s

20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957)
(82 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
One of special-effects wizard Ray Harryhausen's pre-Seventh Voyage of Sinbad efforts, 20 Million Miles to Earth borrows a few pages from King Kong. An American spaceship crashlands off the coast of Sicily. The rescue party discovers that the astronauts have inadvertently brought back a curious gelatinous mass from the planet Venus. This lump of goo rapidly evolves into be a living reptilian creature, which scientists label an "Ymir". While being subjected to laboratory experimentation, the Ymir begins growing by leaps and bounds, and before long the gigantic monstrosity has escaped and is wreaking havoc in Rome. After battling a zoo elephant and taking a swim in the Tiber, the gargantuan creature holes up in the Colosseum, where the film's pyrotechnic finale occurs. — Hal Erickson
Starring: William Hopper, Joan Taylor, Frank Puglia, John Zaremba | Directed by: Nathan Juran

27TH DAY, THE (1957)
(75 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
A locked-in-the-fifties science fiction film, The 27th Day begins with five different people from five different countries suddenly disappearing from view. They have been gently abducted by the agent (Arnold Moss) of a faraway dying planet, who gives each of the five earthlings a "killing capsule" that will destroy everything on Earth and allow the residents of the alien planet to re-colonize the planet—but which will be ineffective if not used after 27 days. In typical Cold War fashion, the representatives of the "good" countries (including Gene Barry) refuse to utilize the capsules, while the Soviets, (personified by Azemat Janti and Stefan Schnabel) intend to deploy the capsules for their own nefarious purposes. Their perfidy only results in the utter decimation of the USSR.
Starring: Gene Barry, Valerie French, George Voskovec, Arnold Moss | Directed by: William Asher

ALLIGATOR PEOPLE, THE (1959)
(73 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
A confused horror yarn set in the Deep South, Alligator People stars Richard Crane as a husband who becomes accidently separated from his new wife (Beverly Garland) during a train ride. She tracks him down to the swamplands surrounding his family mansion. Her reunion with her husband is tarnished by the fact that he's been partially transformed into an alligator! This is the handiwork of doctor George MacReady, who's been conducting curious experiments with gators and humans. Garland must figure out a way to save her mutated husband from both the scientist and a drunken alligator hunter (Lon Chaney Jr.). The story is told in flashback, as psychiatrists try to figure out what has driven Garland insane. The Alligator People was the last film directed by Roy Del Ruth, light years away from his glory days at Warner Bros.
Starring: Beverly Garland, George Macready, Richard Crane, Lon Chaney, Jr., Frieda Inescort, Vince Townsend, Jr. | Directed by: Roy Del Ruth

AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, THE (1957)
(79 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
A "Shock Theater" perennial since it was first released to television in the early 1960s (stretch-framed to pad out its running time), The Amazing Colossal Man is firmly in the "So Bad It's Good" category. While overseeing the atomic tests in the Nevada desert, Army colonel Glenn Langan is exposed to extensive amounts of radiation. As a result, Langan grows, and grows, and grows, at the rate of ten feet per day. This sudden height gain adversely affects the poor man's mind, and soon he's as mad as a hatter. Looking for all the world like Mr. Clean in a diaper, the Colossal Man goes on a murderous rampage, laying waste to several Las Vegas landmarks before he is killed by army bullets while standing atop the Boulder Dam. The special effects are adequate, but the dialogue is ridiculous-in fact, if we didn't know better, we'd say that the film was intended to be funny. Our favorite bit: the huge hypodermic needle.
Starring: Glenn Langan, Cathy Downs, William Hudson, James Seay | Directed by: Bert I. Gordon

ASTOUNDING SHE-MONSTER, THE (1958)
(61 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Ronnie Ashcroft, an editor-turned-producer, made his directorial debut with The Astounding She-Monster, a shoestring-budgeted sci-fi film that was shot in a total of about eight days. Kenne Duncan, Ewing Miles Brown, and Jeanne Tatum play a trio of hoods who kidnap an heiress (Marilyn Harvey) and try to elude the police by hiding out in a lonely mountain cabin, holding geologist Robert Clarke hostage. They arrive just as a mysterious alien visitor (Shirley Kilpatrick) lands in the nearby countryside; totally mute, clad in a shimmering silver suit, and possessing a lethal radioactive touch, she wanders around the woods, and the kidnappers and their victims are now trapped, Key Largo-style, in the cabin. The film isn't terribly good but it is diverting and moves at a reasonably brisk pace, and it has a certain appeal unique to its low budget. Shirley Kilpatrick — who some sources claim later changed her name and became a more substantial actress as Shirley Stoler — was a well-endowed performer (a real-life stripper, in fact) who split the back of her skin-tight costume on the first day's shooting, which is why her character only backs out of scenes, her front to the camera, for the entire movie. The budget was so low that a break-away window intended for an important stunt got broken prematurely and couldn't be replaced, and was used in already broken form. The script was being written as the movie was being shot, according to Robert Clarke in his autobiography, the writer delivering the pages as they worked. And Ashcroft was so new to directing, and his skills were at such a low level, that he reportedly asked Edward D. Wood Jr., of Plan 9 From Outer Space fame, to serve as a consultant — and, strangely enough, the plot does have a pacifist angle to its science-fiction element that is also reflected in some of Wood's work. Shot for a total of $18,000, the movie's distribution rights were purchased by American International Pictures for $50,000. Robert Clarke, who got a percentage of the profits for his work acting in the movie, was inspired by this experience to produce and direct his own science-fiction thriller, The Hideous Sun Demon, which is actually a much better movie. — Bruce Eder
Starring: Jeanne Tatum, Shirley Kilpatrick, Ewing Miles Brown, Robert Clarke | Directed by: Ronnie Ashcroft

ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN (1958)
(72 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman may well be one of the worst science-fiction films of all time, but that's not to say that it isn't thoroughly enjoyable. Allison Hayes achieved screen immortality as Nancy Archer, the wealthy, dipsomaniac wife of shameless philanderer Harry Archer (William Hudson). When she witnesses the crash landing of a alien spaceship — whose occupant is a 30-foot giant, dressed in the manner of a medieval Frenchmen! — Nancy goes to the local sheriff (George Douglas) with her story, only to be laughed off as a drunken crank. Even the local TV anchorman makes cruel fun of Nancy on his nightly newscast. Meanwhile, hubby Harry is making whoopee at a roadhouse with his latest tootsie, Honey Parker (Yvette Vickers). Not long afterward, Nancy, who's been exposed to the radiation of the spaceship, begins to feel queasy. Within a few days, she has grown to the height of 50 feet and is lumbering around the countryside clad only in a gigantic towel, smashing houses and trees in search of her faithless husband ("HARRY-HARRY!!!") Hilarious in its ineptitude (the special effects are particularly shoddy), Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is impossible to dislike, which cannot be said of its slicker but less entertaining 1993 cable-TV remake (with Darryl Hannah in the title role). — Hal Erickson
Starring: Allison Hayes, William Hudson, Yvette Vickers, Roy Gordon | Directed by: Nathan Juran

ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE (1958)
(78 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Attack of the Puppet People is one of the few "mad scientist" opuses of the 1950s to be motivated by loneliness rather than megalomania. John Hoyt plays Franz, a seedy European doll-maker who harbors a crush on his secretary Sally (June Kenney). When Sally makes plans to marry Franz' top employee Bob (John Agar), strange things begin to happen. Before long, both Bob and Sally have been shrunken to doll-size by Franz, who keeps a retinue of living "puppet people" to avoid being left alone. Eventually, the little ones rebel against their addlepated but basically harmless keeper, though there's never any "attack" per se. Most of the acting is amateurish, with the exception of the always reliable John Hoyt; the special effects are somewhat better, but still nothing to write home about. — Hal Erickson
Starring: John Hoyt, John Agar, Michael Mark, Jack Kosslyn | Directed by: Bert I. Gordon

BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, THE (1953)
(80 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
A longtime "dream" project of production designer-turned-director Eugene Lourie, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms sees the titular beast unleashed on the world via nuclear testing. Making its way from the Arctic Circle, the monster-a carnivorous "rhedosaurus"-begins advancing towards New York. It stomps its way around Wall Street, pausing to have a policeman for lunch. By the time it has reached Coney Island, the rhedosaurus is more of a danger than ever because of the deadly bacteria it carries within its system. It's up to researcher Paul Christian and sharpshooter Lee Van Cleef to try to liquidate the beast with a grenade chock full of radioactive isotopes. Beast From 20,000 Fathoms represented effects artist Ray Harryhausen's first solo effort, after assisting Willis O'Brien on Mighty Joe Young (1949). — Hal Erickson
Starring: Paul Christian, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey | Directed by: Eugène Lourié

BLACK SLEEP, THE (1956)
(82 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Given its cast and director, it is disheartening that The Black Sleep isn't any better than it is. Basil Rathbone heads the cast as Sir Joel Cadman, who uses a mind-controlling drug known as "The Black Sleep" to place brilliant scientist Gordon Ramsay (Herbert Rudley) under his control. Cadman needs Ramsay's intellect and expertise to aid him in a series of mysterious, covert experiments involving brain transplants. Evidently Cadman has already endured a few failures, as witness the present feeble-minded state of his former "volunteer" Mungo (Lon Chaney Jr.). Ramsay and heroine Laurie Munro (Patricia Blake) finally learn what Cadman is up to when they stumble upon a dungeon full of his previous "experiments," including a demented, emaciated man (John Carradine) and a blank-eyed monstrosity (Tor Johnson). In his last mainstream film, Bela Lugosi essays the thankless role of Cadman's mute servant.
Starring: Basil Rathbone, Akim Tamiroff, Lon Chaney, Jr, John Carradine, Bela Lugosi | Directed by: Reginald Le Borg

BLOB, THE (1958)
(82 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
In his first starring role, Steve McQueen plays a typical oversexed, car-lovin' highschooler who can't get anyone to believe his story about a huge meteor, which crashes to earth and begins exuding a pink, gooey substance. Affixing itself to the body of an old man, the "blob" begins parasitically sucking the life out of several unfortunate humans, growing to an enormous size. Problem is, the disappearances of the victims can all be explained (one is supposed to be out of town, another is attending a convention), so the cops still won't believe McQueen or his girlfriend Aneta Corsaut (the future Helen Crump of The Andy Griffith Show). Rallying his teen pals, McQueen finally manages to get the adults' attention-but by now, the Blob is consuming entire city blocks. In 1972, the sequel Beware the Blob followed. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Steve McQueen, Aneta Corsaut, Earl Rowe, Olin Howland | Directed by: Irvin Shortess Yeaworth, Jr.

BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE, THE (1959)
(92 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
An arrogant scientist brings his fiancée back from the dead in this vintage cult horror film. Dr. Bill Cortner (Jason Evers, here billed as Herb Evers) performs medical experiments despite the trepidation of his surgeon father (Bruce Brighton); transplantation is Bill's main area of interest, but he's also had some success using electric shock to restore life to the recently deceased. When Bill causes a car crash that decapitates his fiancée, Jan Compton (Virginia Leith), he spirits her head off to his secret laboratory and keeps it alive with the help of an experimental new serum. Soon, the doctor begins scouring the dives, strip clubs, and suburban streets for an attractive woman whose body he can steal to restore his lady love to her full, ambulatory glory. Meanwhile, back at the lab, Jan grows to hate Bill for refusing to let her die. Developing telepathic powers that allow her to communicate with one of Bill's failed experiments -- a snarling creature kept locked up under the stairs -- she begins to plot her revenge. Things come to a head when Bill returns to the lab with his intended victim: a bitter, disfigured, man-hating figure model (Adele Lamont). The promotional tagline for The Brain That Wouldn't Die was "Alive...without a body...fed by an unspeakable horror from hell!" The film helped provide the inspiration for '80s horror/comedy director Frank Henenlotter's Frankenhooker and Basket Case 2. The former includes a decapitated woman restored to life by her lover, while the latter features both a cameo from Brain star Jason Evers and another character who looks like the twin brother of the monster under the stairs.
Starring: Jason Evers, Virginia Leith, Doris Brent, Bruce Brighton, Eddie Carmel | Directed by: Joseph Green

BRIDE OF THE GORILLA (1951)
(66 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
This silly, stagebound but entertaining little monster-mash from Universal horror writer/director Curt Siodmak stars burly Raymond Burr as a steward on a rubber plantation whose romantic tryst with the boss' wife (Barbara Payton) eventually leads to the employer's murder. When one of the voodoo-practicing servants of the ex-boss learns of this, he concocts a magic potion which transforms Burr (apparently) into a "sukaras" -- a kind of were-ape which roams the village by night, savaging the locals and sparking a plodding investigation by the local constable (Lon Chaney, Jr.). Enjoyable if only for its relentless goofiness, with an ending that will have most viewers wondering if Siodmak forgot to include a reel or two in his final edit.
Starring: Barbara Payton, Lon Chaney, Jr., Raymond Burr, Tom Conway, Paul Cavanagh, Woody Strode | Directed by: Curt Siodmak

COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK, THE (1958)
(70 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
This low-budget, Frankenstein-flavored sci-fi flick involves the transplantation of a dead scientist's brain into the body of a hulking, glowing-eyed, caped robot by the man's lunatic brother. Though initially a success, the operation soon goes horribly wrong as the robot begins to display increasingly homicidal behavior, zapping people with its gamma-ray eyes. The climax comes when the robot begins a murderous rampage in the United Nations. The only hope for stopping the monster comes from the late scientist's young son, who manages to reach what little of the scientist's identity still remains and calms the robot down. This is actually a well-written film with a strong emotional core and a fairly sympathetic monster, but it loses some ground thanks to the rather silly rivet-headed robot costume.
Starring: Ross Martin, Mala Powers, Charles Herbert, Otto Kruger | Directed by: Eugène Lourié

COSMIC MONSTER, THE (1958)
(75 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
At a laboratory outside of a small village in the south of England, physicist Dr. Laird (Alec Mango), assisted by American scientist Gilbert Graham (Forrest Tucker), is performing a series of advanced experiments with magnetic fields -- dangerous experiments, using massive amounts of power in equipment which isn't designed to carry the load. An accident injures one of his assistants, and a request for a replacement to the Ministry of Defense brings Brigadier Cartwright (Windham Goldie) down to investigate, accompanied by a replacement for the injured man -- a woman computer expert, Michele Dupont (Gaby Andre), who helps to solve Laird's power problem, but not the larger risks inherent in his experiments. Cartwright is impressed when an interrupted experiment transforms several pieces of steel not in the test chamber into useless lumps of powder -- his report convinced the Deputy Defense Minister (Geoffrey Chater) to make Laird's project a top priority, and he sends a full security team, led by counter-espionage expert Jimmy Murray (Hugh Latimer), down to cover the laboratory. But it soon becomes clear that enemy agents are the least of the dangers manifesting themselves around Laird's project -- the hyper-magnetic fields that he has generated have been affecting the ionosphere, causing unnatural weather patterns, threatening ships at sea hundreds of miles away, and also weakening the magnetic layer that shields the surface of the earth from cosmic rays. The sudden burst of radiation from deep space causes brain damage in one man that turns him into into a homicidal maniac -- but it has also affected the insect life in the area, causing it to mutate. In the midst of this growing threat to the safety of the world, a mysterious Mr. Smith (Martin Benson) arrives in the village -- he's a well-spoken man with amazingly little knowledge of ordinary life, but a lot of awareness about magnetic fields and the work that Dr. Laird is doing. Murray is positive that he's a spy, but Gil and Michele decide that there's a lot less danger from him than from Dr. Laird, who has vowed to continue regardless of the risks. And even with Smith's warning, and Gil's and Michele's best efforts to alert the authorities and stop Laird, the forest adjacent to the town is soon swarming with gigantic beetles and other monsters.
Starring: Forrest Tucker, Martin Benson, Wyndham Goldie, Alec Mango | Directed by: Gilbert Gunn

CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, THE (1954)
(79 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Universal Pictures introduced audiences to yet another classic movie monster with this superbly crafted film, originally presented in 3-D. The story involves the members of a fossil-hunting expedition down a dark tributary of the mist-shrouded Amazon, where they enter the domain of a prehistoric, amphibious "Gill Man" — possibly the last of a species of fanged, clawed humanoids who may have evolved entirely underwater. Tranquilized, captured, and brought aboard, the creature still manages to revive and escape — slaughtering several members of the team — and abducts their sole female member (Julie Adams), spiriting her off to his mist-shrouded lair. This sparks the surviving crewmen to action — particularly those who fancy carrying the girl off themselves. Director Jack Arnold makes excellent use of the tropical location, employing heavy mists and eerie jungle noises to create an atmosphere of nearly constant menace. The film's most effective element is certainly the monster itself, with his pulsating gills and fearsome webbed talons. The creature was played on land by stuntman Ben Chapman and underwater by champion swimmer Ricou Browning — who was forced to hold his breath during long takes because the suit did not allow room for scuba gear. The end result was certainly worth the effort, proven in the famous scene where the Gill Man swims effortlessly beneath his female quarry in an eerie ballet — a scene echoed much later by Steven Spielberg in the opening of Jaws. — Cavett Binion
Starring: Richard Carlson, Julia Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno | Directed by: Jack Arnold

CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE (1957)
(83 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Curse of Frankenstein was the "breakthrough" picture for the fabled Hammer Studios. Told in flashback, the story centers around Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing), a dangerously arrogant scientist who takes it upon himself to play God. Using portions of dead bodies, Victor fashions a synthetic monster (Christopher Lee) with a bad attitude. In a radical departure from the Frankenstein canon, it is the imperious Victor who orchestrates the film's two murders by "borrowing" the brain of a learned professor, then leaving his next victim at the mercy of the monster. In 1958, the film spwaned the sequel Revenge of Frankenstein.
Starring: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Hazel Court, Robert Urquhart, Valerie Gaunt | Directed by: Terence Fisher

CURSE OF THE DEMON (1957)
(94 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Based on Montague R. James' classic shiver tale Casting the Runes, Curse of the Demon (aka Night of the Demon) is an exercise in psychological terror. American Professor Dana Andrews investigates a devil-worshipping cult active in England. The cult has apparently been responsible for more than one death in recent months, and it's all the handiwork of the group's leader, an Aleister Crowley type played by Niall MacGinnis. When Andrews comes too close to MacGinnis for comfort, the devil worshipper slips a ancient parchment into Andrews' research files. The document carries a curse that will mean death for whoever possesses it. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall Mac Ginnis, Athene Seyler | Directed by: Jacques Tourneur

DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE (1951)
(92 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
All of Washington DC is thrown into a panic when an extraterrestrial spacecraft lands near the White House. Out steps Klaatu (Michael Rennie, in a role intended for Claude Rains), a handsome and soft-spoken interplanetary traveller, whose "bodyguard" is Gort (Lock Martin), a huge robot who spews forth laser-like death rays when danger threatens. After being wounded by an over-zealous soldier, Klaatu announces that he has a message of the gravest importance for all Mankind, which he will deliver only when all the leaders of all nations will agree to meet with him. World politics being what they are in 1951, Klaatu's demands are turned down and he is ordered to remain in the hospital where his wounds are being tended. Klaatu escapes, taking refuge in a boarding house, where he poses as one "Mr. Carpenter" (one of the film's many parallels between Klaatu and Christ). Here the benign alien gains the confidence of a lovely widow (Patricia Neal) and her son (Billy Gray), neither of whom tumble to his other-worldly origins, and seeks out the gentleman whom Billy regards as "the smartest man in the world"—an Einstein-like scientist, Dr. Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe). The next day, at precisely 12 o'clock, Klaatu arranges for the world to "stand still"—he shuts down all electrical power in the world, with the exception of essentials like hospitals and planes in flight. Directed by Robert Wise, who edited Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) for director Orson Welles before going on to direct such major 1960s musicals as West Side Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965), The Day the Earth Stood Still was based on the story Farewell to the Master by Harry Bates. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Patricia Neal, Michael Rennie, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe | Directed by: Robert Wise

DAY THE WORLD ENDED, THE (1956)
(78 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
The Day the World Ended was filmmaker Roger Corman's modest entree into the realm of science fiction. The film begins at "The End"--or rather, the years following an all-out atomic war. A group of survivors find refuge in a well-protected valley owned by Maddison (Paul Birch) and his daughter Louise (Lori Nelson). Conflicts of a romantic nature erupt among Louise and her two erstwhile suitors, gun-wielding Tony (Touch--later Mike--Connors) and geologist Rick (Richard Denning), but these are shunted aside when it develops that the valley is infested with mutated, radioactive animals. Before long, a few similarly mutated human beings begin wandering into view (one of these is played by Jonathan Haze, the future star of Corman's Little Shop of Horrors). Carefully staying within its limited budget, The Day the World Ended is a well-crafted, thought-provoking apocalyptic fable. The film was inadequately remade in 1966 as Year 2889.
Starring: Richard Denning, Lori Nelson, Paul Dubov, Adele Jergens, Mike Connors | Directed by: Roger Corman

DEADLY MANTIS, THE (1957)
(78 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
This is the one in which the "villain" is a huge, carnivorous praying mantis. After the titular insect has attacked several people in a remote Arctic region, Col. Joe Parkham (Craig Stevens) swings into action. Parkham and his associates, Dr. Ned Jackson (William Hopper) and Ned's assistant Margie Blake (Alix Talton), track the predatory mantis as it heads southward to Washington DC (how did it get past customs?) The green monstrosity meets its Waterloo in "Manhattan Tunnel", where it is bombarded with poison gas (a little Raid or Black Flag might have come in handy). Some of the Arctic scenes in The Deadly Mantis were clumsily culled from the 1933 drama SOS Iceberg and a handful of Air Force training films. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Craig Stevens, William Hopper, Alix Talton, Don Randolph | Directed by: Nathan Juran

DONOVAN'S BRAIN (1953)
(83 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Felix E. Feist directed this second adaptation of the novel by Curt Siodmak (filmed previously in 1944 as The Lady and the Monster and later in 1963 as The Brain), which tells the story of a brilliant brain specialist (Lew Ayres) whose attempts to save the life of an accident victim result in the extraction of the dying patient's brain, kept alive via electrodes and a special solution. Before long, the disembodied gray-matter — which previously belonged to sinister, wealthy industrialist Donovan — begins to exert a supernatural influence over the doctor, until the once-kindly scientist begins taking on Donovan's aggressive, paranoid personality traits and is compelled to carry out the brain's nefarious commands. This is by far the most effective and intelligent treatment of its source material, building a creepy, suspenseful mood while avoiding lapses into pulp-novel camp. — Cavett Binion
Starring: Lew Ayres, Gene Evans, Nancy Davis, Steve Brodie | Directed by: Felix Feist

EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (1956)
(82 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
While Earth vs. the Flying Saucers has been called the archetypal 1950s sci-fi movie (and with good reason), it's also a lot better than most of its competition. The story is not that different from dozens of similar movies of the era (evil aliens attack earth after lily-livered scientists refuse to believe that they're up to no good), but the leading actors (Hugh Marlowe and Joan Taylor) play the material with just the right balance of seriousness and gung-ho energy, and Fred F. Sears's direction maintains a snappy pace throughout. Ray Harryhausen's special effects alone make this movie worth a look; his flying saucers generate both dramatic tension and a "gee whiz" sense of wonder, and the climactic destruction of Washington D.C. beat Independence Day to the punch by 40 years and is also a lot more fun to watch. Earth vs. the Flying Saucers isn't much more than a B-budget science fiction story, but it's done with enough spunk, good humor, and solid craft to remind you how much fun a B-picture can be.
Starring: Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor, Donald Curtis, Morris Ankrum | Directed by: Fred F. Sears

EARTH VS. THE SPIDER (1958)
(72 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Earth vs. the Spider is the most consistently entertaining, if not the best of Bert I. Gordon's various size-oriented fantasy-sci-fi films. Among his best-known movies, The Amazing Colossal Man has a more intelligent script and much better developed characters and Attack of the Puppet People is a more serious and better devised and designed movie (and both are referred to obliquely in this film), but Earth vs. the Spider is more fun than either of them. For starters, it has more comic relief than any of the other Gordon titles, mostly by virtue of the fact that much of the action in the first third of the movie involves teenagers. The vignette with the rock & roll band is, in fact, downright funny, though it also leads to the horror payoff for the picture. The film benefits from the presence of a surprisingly decent cast; June Kenney was an above-average player in low-budget films of this period (most memorably in Teenage Doll) and Gene Persson was a promising male lead (who later became a successful off-Broadway producer in New York). Among the actors representing authority figures, Gene Roth and Ed Kemmer hold that end of the picture together, with help from Hank Patterson in an all-too-brief vignette. The giant spider effects look primitive today, but in their time they were good enough to get picked up for use in other movies, including Have Rocket, Will Travel and Journey to the Seventh Planet. — Bruce Eder
Starring: Ed Kemmer, Gene Persson, Gene Roth [Stutenroth], Hal Torey | Directed by: Bert I. Gordon

FIEND WITHOUT A FACE (1958)
(77 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
This sci-fi horror cult classic is based in and around a U.S. long-range radar installation in the Canadian wilderness, where soldiers and civilians alike are being struck dead by an unseen force. At first, the base commander believes these murders may have been the work of spies operating out of the woods -- a theory supported by unexplained fluctuations in power output from the base's nuclear plant. Because of the proximity of this reactor, residents of the nearby town begin to suspect the deaths are due to a radiation leak. The real answer turns out to be far more insidious. Autopsies reveal that the victims' spinal fluids have been sucked dry through holes at the base of their skulls. The bizarre murders are eventually linked to the work of psychic researcher Professor Walgate (Kynaston Reeves), whose experiments materializing human thoughts have not only been causing the power fluctuations, but have resulted in the creation of invisible brain-monsters. When the creatures attack the plant operators, a massive surge of radiation is released, revealing the creatures in all their hideous glory -- depicted by marvelous stop-motion animation -- as leaping, tentacled brains with wriggling antennae. This leads to the film's notoriously gory final act, in which the brain-things surround our heroes in a mountain cabin, descending in droves as the dwindling band of survivors hack, chop, and blast away at the beasts. After a slightly sluggish start, this intelligent and well-crafted thriller kicks out all the jams for a horrific climax, distinguished by some of the goriest effects seen in any film from the 1950s.
Starring: Marshall Thompson, Kynaston Reeves, Terry Kilburn, Michael Balfour, Kim Parker | Directed by: Arthur Crabtree

FOUR SIDED TRIANGLE, THE (1953)
(81 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Though not readily apparent by its title, The Four-Sided Triangle belongs in the realm of science fiction/fantasy. Barbara Payton stars as Lena, a British girl raised in America who returns to her hometown on a sentimental journey. Here she is reunited with her childhood friend Bill (Stephen Murray), now a scientist. With the help of his pal Robin (John Van Eyssen), Bill has developed a duplicating machine (today it'd be called a cloning device). When Robin and Lena fall in love, the heartbroken Bill decides to create a duplicate Lena, whom he names Helen. Unfortunately, since Helen is an exact copy of Lena, the clone falls in love with Robin as well. A climactic fire claims the life of one of the two Lenas—but which one? Director Terence Fisher co-adapted the screenplay from a novel by William F. Temple. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Barbara Payton, John Van Eyssen, Percy Marmont, Stephen Murray | Directed by: Terence Fisher

FRANKENSTEIN 1970 (1958)
(83 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
This is one of the more off-beat entries into the Frankenstein sub-genre, in that it features the original Creature, Boris Karloff (who really hams it up) playing the disfigured grandson of the famed mad baron in a style that combines gothic horror with the awe and fear created by the newly dawned atomic age. The story begins in the title year and finds Victor the III living in the ancestral castle and strapped for the cash he needs to resurrect his grandfather's experiments. He needs a fortune because this time he wants to use atomic power to bring the monster to life. To scare up the needed cash, he lets a television crew come to his famous digs to shoot a show. He ends up getting a lot more than money from the cast and crew and eventually he succeeds in creating a brand-new Creature. Unfortunately, the monster proves to be as volatile as his predecessors, and tragedy for both master and creature ensues.
Starring: Boris Karloff, Tom Duggan, Don "Red" Barry, Jana Lund | Directed by: Howard W. Koch

FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON (1958)
(100 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
The resurgence of interest in Jules Verne following the release of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) led to a brief cycle of Verne-based films. Produced in Mexico by Benedict Bogeaus, From the Earth to the Moon stars Joseph Cotten as eccentric Civil War-era scientist Victor Barbicane. Claiming to have invented a source of "infinite energy" called Power X, Barbicane is able to secure financing for a rocket trip to the moon. Along for the ride is Barbicane's bitter enemy Stuyvesant Nicholls (George Sanders), who feels that Barbicane is violating the laws of God and nature with his extraterrestrial dreams. Thus, Nicholls sabotages the space vessel, setting the stage for a suspenseful finale. The requisite romantic interest is handled by Barbicane's daughter Virginia (a newly blonde Debra Paget) and his assistant Ben Sharpe (Don Dubbins). Wandering in and out of the proceedings is a mysterious bearded character known only as J. V. (Carl Esmond). Hampered by a small budget, From the Earth to the Moon doesn't deliver the special effects highlights that its ad campaign implicitly promised, but the actors are convincing and the story is logically presented. Originally slated for RKO release, the film was ultimately distributed by Warner Bros. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Joseph Cotton, George Sanders, Debra Paget, Don Dubbins | Directed by: Byron Haskin

GIANT BEHEMOTH, THE (1959)
(85 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
A perennial of the "Shock Theatre" TV circuit of the 1950s, The British The Giant Behemoth owes a great deal to the earlier American sci-fier The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. A Cornish fisherman is found covered with what looks like radiation burns. Before he dies, the fisherman utters the word "behemoth," citing a monster alluded to in the Bible. It isn't long before England is besieged by a dinosaur-like monstrosity, evidently the by-product of atomic fallout. Only a high-powered torpedo stands between the Giant Behemoth and the helpless British citizenry. The film's stop-motion animation is pretty good, considering the tight budget; all the title character lacks is the distinctive personality of a King Kong, Godzilla or Gorgo.
Starring: John Turner, Leigh Madison, Jack MacGowran, Gene Evans, Henry Vidon | Directed by: Douglas Hickox / Eugène Lourié

GOG (1954)
(82 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
When two scientists at a top-secret government installation devoted to space research are killed — in their own test chamber, seemingly by an experiment gone awry — Dr. David Sheppard (Richard Egan) is sent out from Washington to investigate. Sheppard mixes easily enough with the somewhat eccentric team of scientists, though he always seems in danger of being distracted by the presence of Joanne Merritt (Constance Dowling), who serves as the aide to the project director Dr. Van Ness (Herbert Marshall) but is, in reality, another security agent. Sheppard is as puzzled as anyone else by the seemingly inexplicable series of events overtaking the installation — properly operating equipment suddenly undergoing lethal malfunctions, and the radar tracking aircraft that aren't there — until he puts it together with the operations of NOVAC (Nuclear Operated Variable Automatic Computer), the central brain of the complex. But the mystery deepens when he discovers that NOVAC was shut down during one of the "accidents" — and even the computer's operators can't account fully for the whereabouts of GOG and MAGOG, the two robots under the computer's control.
Starring: Richard Egan, Constance Dowling, Herbert Marshall, John Wengraf | Directed by: Herbert L. Strock

HORROR OF DRACULA, THE (1958)
(82 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
This Hammer Studios classic is far closer to the letter (and spirit) of the Bram Stoker novel than the Bela Lugosi version of Dracula. The premise finds the infamous count journeying from his native Transylvania to England, where he takes a headfirst plunge into the London nightlife, and begins to rack up victim after victim. In the process, Dracula also runs into his arch-nemesis, Van Helsing (Peter Cushing), which ignites a battle of wills between the two. Heavily censored in Britain when released (with the goriest moments truncated), this outing was restored by the BFI in the mid-late 2000s. It put Lee and Cushing on the map and paved the way for many sequels starring the two, and for many non-Dracula follow-ups with these actors as well.
Starring: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Melissa Stribling, Michael Gough, Carol Marsh | Directed by: Terence Fisher

HOUSE OF WAX (1953)
(88 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
This simplified (but lavish) remake of the 1933 melodrama Mystery of the Wax Museum was the most financially successful 3D production of the 1950s. In his first full-fledged "horror" role, Vincent Price plays Prof. Henry Jarrod, the owner of a wax museum, whose partner Matthew Burke (Roy Roberts) intends to burn the place down for the insurance money. When Jarrod tries to prevent Burke from torching the museum, he himself is trapped in the conflagration. Years pass: Though now confined to a wheelchair, Jarrod manages to open up a new museum in New York, boasting the most incredibly lifelike wax statues ever seen. At the same time, a masked prowler has been stalking the city, murdering people and then stealing their bodies from the mortuary. One of the victims is Jarrod's old nemesis Burke: another is Cathy Gray (Carolyn Jones), the roommate of art student Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk). On a visit to the wax museum, Sue can't help but notice that the wax likeness of Joan of Arc is a dead ringer for her deceased friend Cathy—while the courtly Jarrod declares joyously that Sue is the living image of Marie Antoinette. Guess where this is going to wind up? Frank Lovejoy and Paul Picerni co-star as the nominal heroes, while Charles Bronson—still billed as Charles Buchinsky—is a menacing presence as Price's deaf-mute chief sculptor (appropriately named "Igor"). No opportunity to show off the 3D process is wasted during House of Wax: the most memorable stereoscopic moments are provided by garrulous "paddle-ball man" Reggie Rymal. Ironically, Andre de Toth, the film's director, had only one good eye, and had to constantly ask his cast and crew if the various 3D effects had come off properly. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Vincent Price, Frank Lovejoy, Phyllis Kirk, Carolyn Jones | Directed by: Andre De Toth

I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE (1958)
(78 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
It has now become a film-review clich to preface a write-up for I Married a Monster From Outer Space with the cautionary "Don't be misled by the title." The fact remains, however, that this one of the better and more intelligent horror outings of the late 1950s. The "I" of the title is Marge Farrell (Gloria Talbott), who can't help noticing that her husband Bill (Tom Tryon) has been acting very strangely since their dark-and-stormy wedding night. For one thing, the formerly demonstrative Bill behaves listlessly, as though possessing no emotions whatsoever; for another, though he spends much of his free time at Grady's Bar, Bill never takes a drink (now that is weird!) It isn't long before Marge discovers that Bill, along with several of his male friends, have been taken over by aliens from the Andromeda Nebula, who have arrived on earth to replenish their species. There's only one flaw to this plan: the aliens are unable to procreate! Once the authorities are alerted, a posse of non-possessed men attack the alien spaceship, paving the way for the not-altogether-predictable finale.
Starring: Tom Tryon, Gloria Talbott, Ken Lynch, John Eldredge, Valerie Allen | Directed by: Gene Fowler, Jr.

INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, THE (1957)
(81 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
The screen's great existential science fiction film, The Incredible Shrinking Man stars Grant Williams in the title role. While catching some rays on his brother's yacht, Williams is enveloped by a mysterious dark cloud. Soon after, he discovers that he's getting thinner-and smaller. Despite the assuring attitude of his family doctor (the inevitable William Schallert), Williams is losing an inch's worth of height with each passing day. It is finally determined that he has developed an "anti-cancer," a byproduct of a new strain of insecticide. By the time he's reached the size of a small boy, Williams has become world-famous. But the phenomenon has adversely affected his personality, turning him into a tyrant, lashing out at the world in general and his faithful wife in particular. An anti-toxin briefly halts the shrinking process, whereupon Williams joins a midget troupe, where he is briefly "accepted" for what he has become. But before long he's shrinking again, becoming so tiny that he is forced to live in a dollhouse. When Williams is attacked and by his pet cat, his wife assumes that he's been killed: in fact, Williams, by now so minuscule that even a garden-variety spider poses a deadly threat to him, is hiding in his cellar. By film's end, Williams is no larger than an atom. Uncertain of what is in store for him, he steps out into the mists, summing up his new-found philosophy: "Smaller than smallest, I meant something too. To God there is no zero. I still exist!" Adapted by Richard Matheson from his own novel, The Incredible Shrinking Man is enhanced by its superb special effects. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Grant Williams, Randy Stuart, April Kent, Paul Langton | Directed by: Jack Arnold

INDESTRUCTABLE MAN, THE (1956)
(70 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Lt. Dick Chasen (Casey Adams) narrates the strange story of Charles "Butcher" Benton (Lon Chaney, Jr.), a condemned man who came back for revenge. In prison, Butcher refuses to reveal to his crooked lawyer Lowe (Ross Elliott) where he hid $600,000 from a bank robbery. Even though he's due to be executed, Butcher vows revenge on Lowe and his partners, Squeamy (Marvin Ellis) and Joe (Ken Terrell). Lowe visits stripper Eva (Marion Carr), to whom Butcher has sent a map of the spot in the Los Angeles sewer system where he hid the loot, but Lowe opens the letter first, and secretly takes the map. After the execution, Butcher's body is taken to San Francisco scientist Prof. Bradshaw (Robert Shayne) who's trying for a cure for cancer, but instead his experiments bring Butcher back to life. His cellular structure has been increased to the point where he's nearly indestructible, and he is incredibly strong. He kills the scientist and his assistant, and heads for Los Angeles. When stripper Eva turns out to be very different from the person he was expecting, Dick becomes attracted to her. Butcher, who can no longer speak, arrives and learns she doesn't have the map. Aware of Butcher's vow, he tries to inform Squeamy, but Butcher kills both Squeamy and Joe. The panic-stricken Lowe punches a cop and gets tossed in jail as a way of hiding from Butcher; when the cops threaten to release him, he talks and reveals the map. Butcher overhears Dick and the others planning to take care of him with flamethrowers, but just as he finds the loot, he's hit with a bazooka and blasted with the flamethrowers. Hideously burned, he leaves the sewers and climbs to the top of a big crane, which runs into high tension wires, and Butcher is disintegrated. And in the end, Dick and Eva get together.
Starring: Lon Chaney, Jr., Marian Carr, Ross Elliott, Marvin Ellis, Joe Flynn, Robert Shayne | Directed by: Jack Pollexfen

INVADERS FROM MARS (1953)
(78 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Originating during the science-fiction/Red-Scare boom of the 1950s, Invaders from Mars is an entertaining little picture that holds up reasonably well. David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) is a twelve-year-old astronomy buff who is stunned to see a flying saucer landing in the sand pit beyond his backyard. His father George (Leif Erickson) ventures out to look the next morning and mysteriously disappears. David's mother Mary (Hillary Brooke) worriedly calls police, but they are quickly swallowed up by the sand in the backyard. Later, George and the two cops return, but their personalities are markedly different having been taken over by the Martians. As David tries to find help, everyone around him comes under the frightening zombie-like spell. He finally encounters two believers in Dr. Blake (Helena Carter) and Dr. Kelston (Arthur Franz). Discovering David's shocking story to be true, the doctors call in the military setting up a confrontation that escalates when David and Dr. Blake are taken captive within the Martian craft. The soldiers race to save the pair from the green menace leading to an explosive finale that involves bullets, grenades, TNT and a spectacular alien ray gun that can melt stone. — Patrick Legare
Starring: Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Jimmy Hunt, Leif Erickson | Directed by: William Cameron Menzies

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)
(80 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
A science-fiction classic. A beautifully controlled work of hysteria, it's the story of invading pod-parasites who take over human beings; the population of a town is replaced by a group of emotionless, soulless alliens. The film can be seen as a hyped-up, outrageous contemplation of McCarthyism, and it has aged extraordinarily well.
Starring: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan | Directed by: Don Siegel

INVISIBLE BOY, THE (1957)
(85 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Though Richard Eyer and Philip Abbott get top billing, the real star of The Invisible Boy is Robby the Robot of Forbidden Planet fame. Based on a short story by Edmund Cooper (which, incidentally, contained no robots!), the film finds electronics genius Dr. Merrinoe (Abbott) developing a huge talking computer. While Merrinoe is the master of his laboratory, he has trouble controlling his rambunctious son Timmie (Eyer). When the doctor takes Timmie to the lab with him, hoping to impress his son with the importance of his work, Timmie is interested only in reassembling a robot left behind by Merrinoe's predecessor. Though the robot has been programmed not to bring harm to human beings, the poor clunking creature falls under the spell of Merrinoe's "super computer," which has developed a demonic mind of its own. The computer arranges to launch a rocket, with the robot at the controls, that will enable it to control the earth's orbit. But Timmie, who has stowed away on board the rocket, is able to bring the robot to its "senses" and save the day. Impressive on a technical level, The Invisible Boy is relentlessly silly storywise, which of course adds to the enjoyment. Best line: "Timmie, if you don't bring that rocketship back this instant, you'll get the spanking of your life!" — Hal Erickson
Starring: Richard Eyer, Diane Brewster, Philip Abbott, Harold J. Stone | Directed by: Herman Hoffman

INVISIBLE INVADERS (1959)
(67 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
The Earth is attacked by mysterious invaders from outer space, who plan on destroying humankind. The invaders are invisible in our atmosphere, but are able to inhabit and reanimate the bodies of the dead. The armies of rotting corpses march on the cities, and it seems as though there is no defense. Major Bruce Jay (John Agar) is put in charge of a small, secret research center with a group of scientists, who must find a way of combating the invaders. Personality conflicts develop as Jay's hard-nosed, by-the-book approach to his job -- which requires him to kill anyone who might jeopardize the mission -- put him in opposition to the scientists (played by Jean Byron, Philip Tonge, and Robert Hutton). They develop an ultra-sonic gun that has the combined effect of rendering the aliens visible and killing them, but first they must test it, by capturing an alien, an action that forces them to run the risk of being discovered.
Starring: Jean Byron, John Agar, Robert Hutton, John Carradine | Directed by: Edward L. Cahn

IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955)
(78 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
It Came From Beneath the Sea was the first of several fruitful collaborations between producer Charles H. Schneer and special-effects wizard Ray Harryhausen. "It" is a giant, six-tentacled octopus, which is galvanized into action by an H-bomb test. Worse still, the monster is highly radioactive, rendering useless the normal means of defense against it. Scientists Donald Curtis and Faith Domergue team with atomic-submarine commander Kenneth Tobey to halt the creature's progress before it begins to attack major coastal cities. Alas, the monster manages to reach San Francisco, wreaking havoc on the Golden Gate Bridge, the Ferry Building, and Market Street before Tobey figures out a way to destroy it. The stop-motion animation utilized by Harryhausen in It Came From Beneath Sea is convincingly frightening, but before long he'd top this achievement with such superb projects as Earth vs. Flying Saucers and Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue, Donald Curtis, Ian Keith | Directed by: Robert Gordon

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953)
(81 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
It Came From Outer Space is one of a handful of science fiction films from the 1950s that plays as well today as it did on its original release, this despite the fact that its original 3-D elements seem to be lost. It was also the first science fiction effort of director Jack Arnold, and one of three excellent 3-D features that he made (the others were Creature From the Black Lagoon and Revenge of the Creature) during that format's short-lived history. It was also, along with The Incredible Shrinking Man, one of the two most sophisticated films he ever made in that genre. Additionally, it was Arnold's first opportunity to use the desert setting that seemed to inspire him in some of his best subsequent movies. Based on a story by Ray Bradbury, the movie starts off in a gentle, lyrical mode, almost reminiscent of Our Town, as the narrator introduces the tiny Arizona town where the action will take place. Writer John Putnam (Richard Carlson), a new arrival to the town and an amateur astronomer, is looking at the skies with his fiancée, schoolteacher Ellen Fields (Barbara Rush), when they see what looks like a huge meteor crash into the desert. Putnam and Ellen go to the site of the crash and find a huge crater. When he goes down inside, Putnam sees what is very obviously some kind of vehicle or device embedded in the ground, but before he can show it to anyone, a rock slide buries what he saw. He reports that a spacecraft of some kind is buried there and is duly ridiculed by the local press and some of his own colleagues in the astronomical community, and even Ellen has her doubts. The local sheriff, Matt Warren (Charles Drake), is downright hostile because he believes that Putnam is not only an interloper, but has also taken Ellen away from him. Putnam is at a loss as to what to do, and doing something — or, perhaps, not doing anything — becomes a critical matter when various townspeople start to disappear, including Ellen, to be replaced by alien "duplicates." A small but significant part of this action is told from the standpoint of the aliens, who are only glimpsed in brief flashes as they move through the desert and the underground caves where they are hiding. Putnam ultimately comes to understand that the aliens are actually benign and only need time to repair their ship and leave; but by then, the sheriff and the rest of the town have started taking his original warning seriously and their intervention threatens the lives of everyone. Reason and a peaceful approach prevail, but only just barely, and the space travelers are allowed to go on their way — in return, they restore the real townspeople. The movie ends on a hopeful note as Putnam predicts that someday, when we're ready here on Earth, the visitors will be back to make formal, peaceful introductions. — Bruce Eder
Starring: Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, Charles Drake, Russell Johnson | Directed by: Jack Arnold

IT CONQUERED THE WORLD (1956)
(68 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
Though Roger Corman was still new to sci-fi in 1956, he made up for lost time with the above-average quickie It Conquered the World. Peter Graves heads the cast as Paul Nelson, who suspects that his best friend, eccentric genius Tom Anderson (Lee Van Cleef), is up to no good. Sure enough, Tom has contacted the denizens of the planet Venus, who hope to exploit Tom's weak nature in order to take over the world. Before long, the Venusians have taken over the minds and bodies of virtually all of Tom's friends and loved ones. It is up to Paul and a handful of un-brainwashed earthlings to halt this subversive alien invasion. Scripted by Charles Griffith (of Little Shop of Horrors fame), It Conquered the World is a thinly disguised attack on totalitarianism, from both the Left and Right. Corman regulars Beverly Garland, Dick Miller and Jonathan Haze make brief but significant appearances. The film represented first "monster" creation of Paul Blaisdel, whose Venusian leader looks like a surly carrot. It Conquered the World was remade--badly--as Zontar, the Thing from Venus (1968).
Starring: Peter Graves, Beverly Garland, Lee Van Cleef, Sally Fraser, Charles B. Griffith | Directed by: Roger Corman

IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958)
(69 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
One of the best of the medium-budgeted science fiction flicks of the 1950s, It! The Terror from Beyond Space is set in "the future" (1964, to be exact). An earth spaceship returns from a Mars expedition carrying a cargo of dead crew members. The sole survivor, Col Ed Carruthers (Marshall Thompson) is accused of murdering his fellow crewmen. But Ed claims that the killer was a Martian monster, and hopes to prove his assertions by signing up for a second journey to the Red Planet. Before long, the crew members of this second expedition are being systematically killed off, and it looks as though Ed is up to his old tricks. As it turns out, however, Ed was telling the truth: there is a monster on board, the savage descendant of the once-mighty Martian civilization. The monster stays alive by absorbing the vital body fluids of its victims-and there seems to be no way to stop this parasitic creature! If the plot of It! The Terror from Beyond Space seems vaguely familiar, it is because it was one of the primary inspirations for the 1979 sci-fi classic Alien. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Marshall Thompson, Shawn Smith, Kim Spalding, | Directed by: Edward L. Cahn

KRONOS (1957)
(90 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
As sci-fi/fantasy film historian Bill Warren has noted, there is no middle ground so far as Kronos is concerned: the viewer either loves it or loathes it. Named for the Greek god Kronos, the title character is an all-metal "accumulator," newly arrived on earth to suck up energy for its own purposes. Entering the atmosphere through a huge transmitting tower, Kronos takes over the mind of American scientist John Emery, who is forced to help the metallic monster find power sources. Emery's colleague Jeff Morrow catches on to Kronos' intentions, and as the film rushes to a close Morrow sets the wheels in motion for the parasitic alien's destruction. Though 20th Century-Fox head Spyros Skouros personally insisted that Kronos go into production, he hedged his bets by releasing the picture through the company's B-flick subsidiary, Regal Films. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Jeff Morrow, Barbara Lawrence, John Emery, George O'Hanlon | Directed by: Kurt Neumann

LOST MISSLE, THE (1958)
(70 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
The final film of director William Berke (his son, Lester William Burke, took over shooting following his father's death during filming) , The Lost Missile is a very cleverly constructed low-budget sci-fi thriller with some fascinating twists. A rogue missile, apparently from outside our solar system, ends up plunging into the Earth's atmosphere -- driven by atomic power, it cruises at an altitude of five miles and a speed of 4,000 miles per hour, generating a temperature of one million degrees in its wake, in a field five miles across, destroying anything and anyone it passes over; most of the planes that try to shoot it down miss and are destroyed, and no missile within range can get near enough to damage it with conventional explosives. Starting from the Bering Strait, the rogue missile lays waste to ever more populated real estate as it heads in an arc that will carry it over Ottawa and then New York, 63 minutes away; what's more, if it isn't stopped, the missile will lay waste to the entire surface of the Earth in the weeks that ensue as it arcs across the skies. Only one missile, the Jove (obviously a stand-in for the real-life army ballistic missile the Jupiter-C), still in the experimental stage, may be able to intercept it, and it doesn't have a warhead. The only answer is a "baby warhead," using the plutonium trigger projected by the American booster fast enough and exploded close enough to destroy the rogue -- but can the hero (Robert Loggia) assemble and launch it in time?
Starring: Robert Loggia, Ellen Parker, Larry Kerr, Phillip Pine | Directed by: William A. Berke

MAD MAGICIAN, THE (1954)
(72 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
Vincent Price turns on his usual terrifying charm in the role of a homicidal magician in The Mad Magician, a satisfying thriller that was originally shown in 3-D. The actor best known for the luster he brought to many horror films stars as Gallico the Great, an inventor of magic acts who yearns to be the star of his own show. On the night of his first performance, he is shut down by his cruel manager Ormond (Donald Randolph) — who wants to use Gallico's ingenious buzzsaw act for the famed magician Rinaldi (John Emery). Added to the knowledge that the wealthy Ormond had already stolen his wife Claire (Eva Gabor), Gallico goes mad and decapitates his tormentor with the buzzsaw. After a great sequence in which Ormond's head takes a mistaken trip with Gallico's assistant Karen (Mary Murphy) and her detective boyfriend Bruce (Patrick O'Neal), Gallico disguises himself as Ormond and rents an apartment with a mystery author (Lenita Lane). He manages to dispose of the body in another amusing scene, but he must kill again when Claire confronts him in his Ormond disguise. The author identifies Ormond as her killer and Gallico appears to be off the hook — until Rinaldi appears with designs on stealing Gallico's latest trick: a crematorium illusion. Naturally, the illusion becomes reality and Rinaldi is burned to a crisp. Disguising himself as Rinaldi and taking over the magician's successful show, Gallico continues to fool the law until Bruce matches fingerprints from Rinaldi (who is really Gallico) to those of Ormond. Meanwhile, the author, realizing that the Ormond who stayed in her house was really Gallico, gathers Karen and the detective for a fiery confrontation.
Starring: Vincent Price, Mary Murphy, Eva Gabor, John Emery | Directed by: John Brahm

MAGNETIC MONSTER, THE (1953)
(76 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
The Magnetic Monster is one of the most intellectually stimulating and suspenseful science fiction films of the 1950s -- high praise, indeed, for a release that was really the failed pilot for a proposed television series. Producer Ivan Tors and actor/co-producer Richard Carlson had originally conceived of The Magnetic Monster as the pilot for a series to have been called "The A-Men," which would have dealt with agents from the Office of Scientific Investigation, going out on different cases each week involving scientific mysteries. It didn't work as a series -- the idea was probably too cerebral for the television networks of the early '50s -- and first-run syndication was too new an idea and a field in which to pursue it. Instead, The Magnetic Monster became a feature film released by United Artists, and one of the best science fiction films of its decade. It's very much a hybrid work, resembling, on the one hand, Dragnet and other crime shows of the period, and also the kind of technology-based thrillers that Ivan Tors did manage to get on the air in 1954-1955 on "Science Fiction Theater," but with a bigger production budget and a longer running time in which to tell its story. Part of the secret behind the movie's success is the low-key approach to the suspense taken by screenwriter/director Curt Siodmak (in only his second directorial assignment). The main influence on the pacing of the first half of the movie is clearly Dragnet, with its emphasis on process and procedure over characterization, and the presence of a narrator (which recedes in importance as the film unfolds). The second half delivers the expected goods in terms of visual thrills, mostly in the scenes at the Canadian cyclotron -- this was where Tors and Siodmak's genius came into play. Instead of creating this section of the movie from scratch, which would have looked lousy or busted their budget, Tors licensed footage from Karl Hartl's 1934 German science fiction-thriller Gold, and integrated it into The Magnetic Monster. The scenes fit together beautifully and gave The Magnetic Monster a very expensive looking, visually striking finale for very little money. The overall film was (and still is) spellbinding, filling the needs of mystery, suspense, and science fiction audiences without leaving any of them feeling cheated. Tors and Carlson later collaborated on Riders to the Stars and were partners in the production company, A-Films, through which The Magnetic Monster was made.
Starring: Richard Carlson, King Donovan, Harry Ellerbe, Leo Britt | Directed by: Curt Siodmak

MAN FROM PLANET X, THE (1951)
(70 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
An inexpensive but atmospheric sci-fi film, Man from Planet X takes place on a lonely Scottish island. Science professor Raymond Bond is monitoring the orbit of the mysterious "Planet X," which has entered the solar system and is travelling close to Earth. A spaceship lands from this planet, out of which pops a strange little man who looks something like an Easter Island statue. He has come to make contact with friendly Earthlings, but evil scientist William Schallert wants to exploit the spaceman's highly developed intellect for his own selfish ends. Schallert's nastiness turns the alien against the other Earthlings; the creature enslaves their minds and transforms them into zombies. Both Schallert and the alien are eventually destroyed--as Planet X, failing to establish a bond with Earth, spirals off into deep space.
Starring: Robert Clarke, Margaret Field, Raymond Bond, William Schallert, Roy Engel | Directed by: Edgar G. Ulmer

MAN WHO TURNED TO STONE, THE (1957)
(71 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
The secret to immortality is thus: to rejuvenate tired bones and muscles and retain that youthful feeling forever, simply place nubile young women in a vat filled with chemicals, attach wires to their heads and suck out their life forces Warning: If after the first dosage subsequent treatments are not promptly administered, irreversible petrification will occur in all cases. These side-effects create the dilemma faced by the scientists who invented the process and this sci-fi horror movie tells how they solved their problem. Fortunately for the women involved, a hero shows up, saves them, and leaves the evil professors stoned for life.
Starring: Victor Jory, Ann Doran, Charlotte Austin, William Hudson | Directed by: Leslie Kardos

MUMMY, THE (1959)
(88 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
While on a dig in Egypt, British archaeologist John Banning (Peter Cushing) desecrates the tomb of Princess Ananka, awakening her mummified lover (Christopher Lee). With revenge on his mind, the mummy follows Banning and the rest of his group back to England, but becomes quite taken with Banning's wife (Yvonne Furneaux), who resembles the princess quite closely.
Starring: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Yvonne Furneaux, Eddie Byrne, Felix Aylmer | Directed by: Terence Fisher

NOT OF THIS EARTH (1957)
(67 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
One of Roger Corman's finest science-fiction endeavors of the 1950s, Not of This Earth is an excellent film by any standards. Paul Birch stars as Johnson, a taciturn gentleman in a dark business suit who hires nurse Nadine (Beverly Garland) to care for him. Curious that Johnson needs constant blood transfusions, Dr. Rochelle (William Roerick), Nadine's boss, discovers to his horror that Johnson has no blood of his own! Before he can make this information public, Rochelle is telepathically enslaved by the emotionless Johnson. It soon develops that Johnson is a space alien, sent from his home planet to see if the blood of earthlings can be used by his dying race -- the first step in their ultimate takeover of the world. The scenes involving hyperkinetic vacuum salesman Piper (Dick Miller) are the film's highlights, simultaneously hilarious and horrifying. Originally released on a double bill with Attack of the Crab Monsters, Not of This Earth was indifferently remade twice, in 1988 and 1996.
Starring: Paul Birch, Beverly Garland, William Roerick, Jonathan Haze, Roy Engel, Dick Miller | Directed by: Roger Corman

PHANTOM FROM 20,000 LEAGUES, THE (1955)
(80 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
A series of mysterious deaths of fishermen and swimmers along a stretch of beach attract the attention of scientist Dr. Ted Stevens (Kent Taylor) and government investigator William Grant (Rodney Bell) -- they both want to know why the victims and their boats all show signs of exposure to atomic radiation, and if there's a connection between the deaths and the nearby Pacific College of Oceanography, run by Professor King (Michael Whalen); and they're also interested in why King's assistant, George Thomas (Phillip Pine), is always lurking around the beach, often armed with a spear gun. Stevens establishes a friendship with King's daughter Lois (Cathy Downs) that turns to romance, but he's principally concerned with finding out about an apparent source of radiation on the ocean floor, and what its connection might be with the unearthly sea creature rumored to be stalking that section of the beach. Helene Stanton hangs around in a fairly revealing (for the time) bathing suit, waiting on the beach for some top-secret information, and Vivi Janiss overacts nicely as a woman with too much on her mind for her own good.
Starring: Kent Taylor, Cathy Downs, Cathy Downs, Helene Stanton, Phillip Pine | Directed by: Dan Milner

QUARTERMASS XPERIMENT, THE (1955)
(82 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
A rocket crash-lands in England after a flight of more than 57 hours into deep space. The design of Professor Bernard Quatermass (Brian Donlevy), a forceful, misanthropic American scientist, the Q-1 had three astronauts aboard when it left Earth, but only one of them, engineer Victor Caroon (Richard Wordsworth), is on board upon landing, and he is in a near-comatose state. Even more baffling, the spacesuits of the other two men are still aboard the wrecked ship and are still interlocked, as though they were in them when whatever transpired. Quatermass's investigation is complicated by the presence of Inspector Lomax (Jack Warner) of Scotland Yard, who is treating the disappearance of the two men as a potential murder case, and by Caroon's wife Judith (Margia Dean), who blames the scientist for what has happened to her husband. An on-board camera, although damaged, shows an encounter with some form of energy that invaded the ship and attacked the crew, seemingly killing the other two astronauts and rendering Caroon unconscious. Caroon's condition keeps worsening — Quatermass's medical expert, Dr. Gordon Briscoe (David King-Wood), is alarmed by the man's impossible heart- and pulse-rate, his degenerating skin and apparent changes in his bone and facial structure. Judith Caroon tries to spirit her husband out of the hospital where he's being cared for, not knowing that something horrific is happening to him. Quatermass and Briscoe soon realize that Caroon is little more than the shell of a man, masking an invading alien life form that can literally draw the life out of any living thing that it touches. The manhunt turns into a fight for survival as the creature continues to kill and mutate, threatening to release spores into the air and spread itself by the millions throughout the Earth. — Bruce Eder
Starring: Brian Donlevy, Jack Warner, Margia Dean, Richard Wordsworth | Directed by: Val Guest

RED PLANET MARS (1952)
(87 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
A husband-and-wife scientist team (Peter Graves, Andrea King) are experimenting with a "hydrogen tube" invention (which he got from a missing German scientist, lost in the collapse of the Reich), when they get signals back from what appears to be Mars. The culture-shock of that event is serious enough, and the couple and their family are suddenly thrust into the spotlight. But then they begin to translate the increasingly complex messages (which started out as mathematical equations) that they receive back, and find that Mars is a perfect world, a true Utopia, and that the messages are quoting Scripture — and the inevitable conclusion is that God is speaking from Mars. Soon a religious revival starts to spread across the globe. What they don't realize is that the messages are a very calculated fraud, being engineered by a Communist operative (Marvin Miller) and carried out by the scientist (Herbert Berghof) who invented the hydogen tube, and who now has an even more sinister agenda of his own.
Starring: Peter Graves, Andrea King, Orley Lindgren, Walter Sande | Directed by: Harry Horner

RETURN OF DRACULA, THE (1958)
(77 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Originally released as The Return of Dracula (and also known by the irrelevant title The Fantastic Disappearing Man), this interesting vampire variant on Shadow of a Doubt finds the infamous Count (Francis Lederer) leaving his castle digs in Transylvania and departing for the United States after killing an artist and assuming his identity. Passing himself off as a distant relative, he settles in with the Mayberry family in California, where he begins seeking fresh victims. The suspicions of young Rachel Mayberry (Norma Eberhardt) regarding her pale visitor's eerie nocturnal habits prove well-founded after the mysterious death of her best friend, and she soon discovers her own ghastly role in the Count's master plan; her only hope lies with an expatriate police inspector, who may be familiar with the ways of the undead. Played refreshingly straight, this modest Universal production benefits from Lederer's compelling performance as the seductive Count and several unique plot twists (including a blind girl who becomes sighted on turning into a vampire).
Starring: Francis Lederer, Norma Eberhardt, Ray Stricklyn, Jimmie Baird, Greta Granstedt | Directed by: Paul Landres

RETURN OF THE FLY (1959)
(80 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
This sequel to Kurt Neumann's The Fly (1958) is peculiar, to say the least. Producer/director Neumann had passed away during the summer of 1958, and the studio needed a sequel. The resulting film, Return of the Fly, was directed by Edward L. Bernds, a filmmaker (and former sound man at Columbia Pictures) most closely associated with the Three Stooges, but who had lately moved successfully into popular science fiction, with movies such as World Without End, Space Master X-7, and Queen of Outer Space to his credit -- not that this last, in particular, seemed to qualify him for anything but tongue-in-cheek satire. Curse of the Fly was shot in CinemaScope but in black-and-white, an unusual combination that is usually associated with artier movies, as a compromise for discriminating directors who can't avoid the widescreen format but want to present something serious; in this particular case, however, it was purely a budgetary decision. Vincent Price is the nominal star as Francois Delambre, the brother of Andre Delambre, who died as a result of his experiments with a matter transmitting device in The Fly. It is now a dozen years later, and Andre's son, Philippe (Brett Halsey), has just laid his mother to rest, having witnessed the final years of her life blighted by the memory of the horror of Andre's death. He convinces Francois to tell him what happened and of the device that destroyed his parents' happy life together. Philippe vows to perfect the matter transmitter, so that all of the heartache and sacrifice by his parents will not have been in vain. He employs as his assistant a scientist friend, Alan Hinds (David Frankham), who, unbeknownst to him, has shady business connections and a dark secret in his own past. Alan conspires to steal the secret of the matter transmitter, but first he must dispose of a detective who has come to arrest him for an earlier crime, and then eliminate Philippe, who doesn't know what Alan has done, only that he's hiding something. Thus, the same disaster that befell Philippe's father now occurs again, to him -- his body parts are transposed with those of a house-fly. The human-sized fly, even nastier looking than the monster in the original film, goes on a rampage, trying to catch Alan and get revenge for what has happened to him, using what faculties he has. Meanwhile, Francois gets help from the surviving detective on his brother's case, who knows the truth, and the two try to trap the monster alive and also find the fly-sized creature with Philippe's head and features, so they can try and unscramble the atoms of both.
Starring: Vincent Price, Brett Halsey, David Frankham, Dan Seymour, Danielle de Metz | Directed by: Edward Bernds

REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (1955)
(82 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Revenge of the Creature is, of course, the sequel to Universal's fabulously successful The Creature from the Black Lagoon—and like its predecessor, the film was lensed in 3-D (though released "flat" in most theatres). Though the audience had seen the Gill-Man shot full of holes in the first picture, he still resides in the Black Lagoon in the sequel, apparently none the worse for wear. Two oceanographers (John Bromfield and Robert B. Williams) capture the creature and put him on display at Florida's Ocean Harbor Park (actually Marineland of the Atlantic). Here the hapless Gill-Man is taught a few words of English by compassionate icthyologists John Agar and Lori Nelson. Eventually, however, the creature reverts to type, kills one of his captors and goes on a rampage. And once again, he manages to briefly abduct the heroine and carry her off. Not nearly as good as the first Creature, this followup is saved by the underwater photography of Charles S. Welbourne—and by the effective performance by Ricou Browning as the Gill-Man.
Starring: John Agar, Lori Nelson, John Bromfield, Robert B. Williams | Directed by: Jack Arnold

RIDERS TO THE STARS (1954)
(80 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
In this vintage sci-fi adventure, a team of scientists is studying meteors and is baffled by how and why they are often destroyed when they enter the Earth's atmosphere. In a desire to better understand this process, three astronauts with a background in research -- Richard Stanton (William Lundigan), Jerry Lockwood (Richard Carlson), and Walter Gordon (Robert Karnes) -- are sent into space in a specially designed spaceship to capture a meteor and bring it back safe and sound. Richard Carlson, who played Lockwood, also directed Riders to the Stars; noted sci-fi scribe Curt Siodmak wrote the screenplay.
Starring: William Lundigan, Herbert Marshall, Richard Carlson, Martha Hyer | Directed by: Richard Carlson

ROCKETSHIP X-M (1950)
(77 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
Together with The Steel Helmet and Baron of Arizona, Rocketship X M is one of the best films ever turned out by the usually unimpressive Lippert Studios. Set sometime in the future, the film details the first manned space flight to the moon. John Emery plays the head of the expedition, with Lloyd Bridges, Osa Massen, Hugh O'Brian and Noah Beery Jr. in the crew. Blown off its course by a meteor shower, Rocketship X-M misses the moon and lands on Mars instead (the Mars scenes were originally tinted pink). During an exploratory expedition, the crew finds evidence of a once-mighty civilization, evidently destroyed by atomic warfare. A savage band of surviving Martians attack the earthlings, killing two and wounding a third. The survivors head back to the ship, but run out of fuel before reaching Earth. Out of this failure springs the hope that future space flights will prove successful. Generally avoiding cliches (except for the stereotypical comedy relief by Noah Beery Jr.), Rocketship X M is a reasonably intelligent outer-space yarn. While it's true that the film falters in the scientific-accuracy department, it is best to assess the film within the context of its times. Produced for $94,000, Rocketship X M reportedly grossed over a million dollars. A "restored" video version with new special effects was released in 1976 by entrepreneur Wade Williams. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Lloyd Bridges, Osa Massen, John Emery, Noah Beery, Jr | Directed by: Kurt Neumann

SHE DEVIL (1957)
(77 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: C
Hot on the heels of his successful sci-fier Kronos, Kurt Neumann directed the lesser genre entry She Devil. Jack Kelly stars as a doctor who invents a miracle cure for several horrible diseases. Suffering from tuberculosis, Mari Blanchard agrees to test out Kelly's wonder serum. Almost instantly, Mari's health and strength are restored. Unfortunately, there is one teeny-tiny side effect: Mari's benign personality transforms into that of a scheming predator with a pronounced homicidal streak. As Kelly and his superior Albert Dekker stand by helplessly, Mari murders the wife (Fay Baker) of wealthy John Archer, then draws up plans to knock him off and claim his millions. Even back in 1957, no one took this one seriously.
Starring: Mari Blanchard, Albert Dekker, Jack Kelly, Fay Baker, Paul Cavanagh | Directed by: Kurt Neumann

SPACE MASTER X-7 (1958)
(70 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
This confusingly-titled science-fiction thriller is both an artifact of its time and a surprisingly forward-looking film, in terms of plot. On the one hand, its plot makes it a kind of 1950's B-movie antecedent to The Andromeda Strain -- on the other, it owes a lot to the popular police procedural films and television shows of the decade or so leading up to its production. The title refers to an advanced US satellite sent into orbit, in part to gather and return samples of material from space. The latter includes a microscopic organism believed to be the same existing on the planet Mars which, so one scientist, Dr. Charles Pommer (Paul Frees), believes, is responsible for that world's red coloration. Pommer, who is permitted to take the sample to his home laboratory, is brilliant and single-minded in his work; but his intellect and ambition, coupled with his unstable personality and chaotic personal life, leads to disaster. He discovers that the organism, which he christens "Blood Rust," can multiply incredibly fast in Earth's environment, and attach itself to (and ultimately consume any living host creature, including human beings. The alien organism proves his undoing, and he lives just long enough to warn project security chief John Hand (Bill Williams) of the danger -- but the warning comes too late to prevent Pommer's ex-wife (Lyn Thomas) from becoming an unwitting carrier of the organism. It's up to Hand and his assistant, Radigan (Robert Ellis), to find this woman -- whose identity they don't even know at first -- even as she tries (for purely personal reasons) to elude the authorities, not knowing of the danger she presents to herself and the world.
Starring: Bill Williams, Lyn Thomas, Robert Ellis, Moe Howard | Directed by: Edward Bernds

TARANTULA (1955)
(80 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
An excellent example of early 50s horror. This is a black & white thriller that lets your imagination fill in the gory details. The aftermath is there to fuel the fear of the over grown tarantula. Leo G. Carroll plays a professor experimenting with a synthetic food stuff with intent to feed the crowded earth in 2000. His experiments on animals cause them to mature in three to six days. A rat can grow to the size of a dog in about 12 days. Two assistants die after injecting themselves with the secret supplement. The professor is injected while fighting off one of his dying helpers that is setting fire to the lab. An oversized tarantula escapes the fire to terrorize the area.
Starring: John Agar, Mara Corday, Leo G. Carroll, Nestor Paiva | Directed by: Jack Arnold

THEM! (1954)
(94 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
A little girl is found wandering in the desert, in a state of complete shock. When she finally revives, she can scream out only one word: "Them!" Any aficionado of 1950s horror films can readily tell you that "Them" are giant ants, a byproduct of the radiation attending the atomic bomb tests of the era. Extremely well organized, these deadly eight-to-twenty-foot mutations converge on the storm drains of Los Angeles in the finale. Forming a united front against the oncoming ant battalions are New Mexico police sergeant James Whitmore, FBI representative James Arness, and father-and-daughter entomologists Edmund Gwenn and Joan Weldon. Since the details of Them are fairly common knowledge today, the mystery-thriller structure of the film's first half tends to drag a bit. Things liven up considerably during the search-and-destroy final reels, as the audience is barraged with convincing special effects and miniature work-not to mention that eerie ant-induced sound effect, so often imitated by subsequent lesser films. Fess Parker appears in a starmaking cameo as a pilot driven to the booby hatch after witnessing the ants in action, while an uncredited Leonard Nimoy is seen pulling info out of IBM machine. Definitely the high point in the careers of director Gordon Douglas and scenarists Ted Sherdeman and George Worthing Yates, Them is also one of the handful of vintage science-fiction thrillers that holds up as well today as it did when first released. (Sidebar: Though filmed in black-and-white, Them is alleged to have been released with a Technicolor opening title, the word THEM! hurtling towards the audience in a vibrant red). — Hal Erickson
Starring: James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness | Directed by: Gordon Douglas

THING, THE (1951)
(87 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
The scene is a distant Arctic research station, where a UFO has crashed. The investigating scientists discover that the circular craft has melted its way into the ice, which has frozen up again. While attempting to recover the ship, Captain Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) accidently explodes the vessel, but the pilot—at least, what seems to be the pilot—remains frozen in a block of ice. The body is taken to base headquarters, where it is inadvertently thawed out by an electric blanket. The alien attacks the soldier guarding him and escapes into the snowy wastes. An attack dog rips off the alien's arm, whereupon Dr. Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite) discerns that "The Thing" is not animal but vegetable, subsisting on blood. While the misguided Carrington attempts to spawn baby "Things" with the severed arm, the parent creature wreaks murderous havoc all over the base. Female scientist Nikki (Margaret Sheridan) suggests that the best way to destroy a vegetable is to cook it. Over the protests of Carrington, who wants to reason with the "visitor" (a very foolhardy notion, as it turns out), the soldiers devise a devious method for stopping The Thing once and for all. This oversimplification of The Thing does not do full justice to the overall mood and tension of the piece, nor does it convey the lifelike "business as usual" approach taken by the residents of the military base in dealing with something beyond their understanding. A superior lend of science-fiction, horror, naturalistic dialogue and flesh-and-blood characterizations, The Thing is a model of its kind. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Kenneth Tobey, James Arness, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite | Directed by: Howard Hawks

THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955)
(86 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
For reasons that defy logic, the excellent This Island Earth was held up for ridicule as an allegedly bad movie in the film version of TV's Mystery Science Theater. If not the best science-fiction film of the 1950s, Earth is certainly one of the most intelligent and elaborate. The story begins when the image of Exeter (Jeff Morrow), a huge-domed scientific genius from the planet Metaluna, appears on an experimental 3D television screen. Exeter invites several noted scientists from around the world to work on a top-secret project at Exeter's earthly mansion. Among those accepting the invitation are Cal Meacham (Rex Reason) and his ex-fiancee Ruth Adams (Faith Domergue). Soon, Cal and Ruth learn Exeter's true motives; to use the Earth's atomic knowhow in building a defense shield to protect Metaluna against the enemy planet Zahgon. Eventually, Exeter boards his high-tech flying saucer and whisks Cal and Ruth off to his dying planet, where, among other perils, they are menaced by a hideous mutant. Based on a novel by Raymond F. Jones, This Island Earth is one of those rare 1950s speculative films that holds up as well today as it did when first released, despite the comparative quaintness of the special effects and high-tech paraphernalia. Incidentally, the climactic Metalunan scenes were directed by Universal's resident sci-fi specialist, Jack Arnold.
Starring: Jeff Morrow, Faith Domergue, Rex Reason, Lance Fuller | Directed by: Jack Arnold, Joseph Newman

TINGLER, THE (1959)
(81 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
As famous for the gimmick with which the film was shown as for its genuinely spine-tingling story, The Tingler follows a pathologist (Vincent Price) as he searches for the cause of a series of deaths and discovers that the victims have a large insect-like creature growing on their spinal chords. The creature attacks when the people are frightened and is only killed when the host emits a blood-curdling primal scream. This is coupled with a subplot to scare the deaf-mute owner of a silent movie house to death. Along the way, a couple of characters are injected with LSD and begin hallucinating like mad. When one of the nasty monsters "escaped" into a movie theater, the film's gimmick would begin. In order to further frighten audiences, director William Castle had certain theater seats rigged with small Army surplus devices that would deliver a mild electric shock to the spine in hopes of inducing terrified screams. Castle also planted audience members who would scream and faint. The house lights would go up, the film would stop and ushers would carry the unconscious person out of the theater. — Perry Seibert
Starring: Vincent Price, Judith Evelyn, Darryl Hickman, Philip Coolidge | Directed by: William Castle

TOBOR THE GREAT (1954)
(77 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
This children's sci-fi adventure chronicles the friendship between an 11-year-old and his grandfather's robot Tobor, who was designed to explore deep space. Tobor, unlike other machines, was endowed with human emotions. Trouble erupts when the communists kidnap him and try to make him do their evil bidding. Fortunately, Tobor is mind-linked to his creator and cannot be easily reprogrammed. Adventure ensues as the boy and the scientists attempt to save the robot.
Starring: Charles Drake, Karin [Katharine] Booth, Billy Chapin, Taylor Holmes | Directed by: Lee Sholem

UNKNOWN WORLD (1951)
(73 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
Assembled by the same production team responsible for the minor sci-fi classic Rocketship X-M, Unknown World isn't quite in the same league as its predecessor. The plot is set in motion by Dr. Jeremiah Morley (Victor Kilian), who theorizes that mankind could save itself during a nuclear attack by resettling far beneath the earth's surface. To prove his theory, Morley builds the Cyclotram, a combination drill and exploratory vehicle, with the financial assistance of playboy Wright Thompson (Bruce Kellogg), who insists upon joining the expedition to the earth's core. After several hair-raising adventures, the Cyclotram and its surviving passengers reach a cavern nearly 2000 miles beneath the surface. The cavern contains all the necessities of survival save one: the atmosphere renders anyone living within its walls sterile. Deciding that it isn't worth hiding in the center of the earth if only one generation will survive, the explorers endeavor to get back to the surface -- but who will survive this journey? The obligatory female lead in Unknown World is played by Marilyn Nash, who'd been discovered by Charlie Chaplin for the 1947 film Monsieur Verdoux.
Starring: Victor Kilian, Bruce Kellogg, Jim Bannon, Otto Waldis | Directed by: Terrell O. Morse

VOODOO ISLAND (1957)
(76 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: B
Boris Karloff amiably walks through his undemanding starring role in Voodoo Island. Lensed in Hawaii, the film casts Karloff as Phillip Knight, a professional skeptic who enjoys skewering those who believe in the supernatural. Accompanied by his secretary, Sara (Beverly Adams), Knight arrives on a tiny Pacific island to disprove claims that a voodoo curse has invested itself in the community. After several horrible murders, however, it looks as though there really is voodoo activity in the region. Characters essential to the action are Elisha Cook Jr. as a zombie-fied petty thief, and a rather surly carnivorous plant! Some prints of Voodoo Island have eliminated a subplot involving lesbian interior decorator Claire Winter (Jean Engstrom).
Starring: Boris Karloff, Beverly Tyler, Murvyn Vye, Elisha Cook Jr. | Directed by: Reginald Le Borg

WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST (1958)
(68 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
War of the Colossal Beast picks up a year after the first movie ended — Joyce Manning (Sally Fraser), sister to the first film's 70-foot-tall Colossal Man, Lt. Col. Glenn Manning (Glenn Langan), believes that her brother is still alive, despite his fall off of Boulder Dam at the denouement of the first movie. Her hope is based on reports out of Mexico about a "very big man" attacking truckers and other passersby in a remote part of the country. As it turns out, Manning (played here by Dean Parkin, since Langan turned down the request to star in a sequel) is alive and hiding somewhere in the mountains, bigger than ever and suffering from serious brain damage, with a hideously deformed face that is covered in scar tissue and missing an eye. Every effort at communicating with the giant fails, and as things always transpire in movies of this sort (at least since the silent version of The Lost World), he breaks out of the place where he is being held and goes on a rampage.
Starring: Sally Fraser, Dean Parkin, Roger Pace, Charles Stewart | Directed by: Bert I. Gordon

WASP WOMAN, THE (1959)
(84 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
This goofy but entertaining horror cheapie from producer-director Roger Corman and company involves the efforts of a questionable scientist working for cosmetics magnate Susan Cabot, who is developing a new rejuvenating beauty cream derived from an enzyme secreted by wasps, intended to make women look eternally youthful. A vain woman obsessed with restoring her lost beauty, Cabot insists on being the first test subject. The solution proves remarkably effective at first, transforming her into a sultry raven-haired vixen...until she begins to take on the predatory traits of a giant female wasp, setting out on a nocturnal killing spree. Originally double-billed with The Beast from Haunted Cave, this cheesy monster mash inspired the less-amusing Leech Woman and was later remade for 1980s audiences (i.e., with a higher sex-and-gore quotient) as Evil Spawn.
Starring: Susan Cabot, Barboura Morris, William Roerick, Frank Gerstle, Bruno Ve Sota | Directed by: Roger Corman

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE (1951)
(81 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
First published in 1932, Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer's speculative novel When Worlds Collide was immediately purchased by Paramount as a possible project for director Cecil B. DeMille. But because none of Paramount's scriptwriters were able to come up with an adequate screen treatment, the property lay on the shelf until 1950, when producer George Pal was casting about for a follow-up to his successful sci-fier Destination Moon. Though the film was top-heavy with special effects, Pal was able to bring When Worlds Collide in for under a million dollars, thanks to an inexpensive cast and a heavy reliance upon stock footage. The story is set in motion when Dr. Cole Henderson (Larry Keating) announces that a extraterrestrial planet is on a collision course with the Earth. No one believes Henderson's story, save for crippled financier Stanton (John Hoyt), who finances the construction of a gigantic spaceship, built for the purpose of transporting selected survivors from the doomed Earth to another Earthlike planet. As it becomes obvious that Henderson's predictions will come true, a worldwide lottery is held to select those people who will be rescued from oblivion by Stanton's spaceship. In the climactic scenes, the worlds do indeed collide, with appropriately spectacular results. But will the spaceship, overloaded with humanity, be able to take off and seek out a Brave New World? Amidst the thrills, a romantic triangle emerges, involving Richard Derr, Barbara Rush and Peter Hanson. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, Peter Hanson, John Hoyt | Directed by: Rudolph Maté

WORLD WITHOUT END (1956)
(80 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
The first spaceship to Mars rounds the Red Planet and heads back toward Earth but runs into an unexplained phenomenon in space that accelerates the craft to such a high speed that all four men aboard black out. When they awake, they've crash-landed on a planet that they only gradually realize is Earth -- of the distant future: they have crashed through the time barrier. After they are chased by ugly "Mutates," they are taken in by the declining remnants of human civilization who live underground. It's now 2508 A.D, almost 400 years after an atomic war almost wiped out the human race. John Borden (Hugh Marlowe) falls in love with Garnet (Nancy Gates), daughter of Timmek (Everett Glass), leader of the underground people -- a fact that enrages Mories (Booth Colman), who's always assumed she would someday be his. The scheming Mories tries to turn his people against the space/time travelers, but falls victim to his own nefarious plans. Learning from Deena (Lisa Montell), a servant girl from the surface of Earth, that most people up there are normal though cruelly ruled by the deformed ones, Borden and his friends take on the mutates with modern weaponry and reclaim the Earth for normal humanity. Although this is (surprisingly) the first American feature film to deal with scientific time travel, World Without End is really just another lost-civilization plot, complete with princess, evil grand vizier, and lots of skulking in corridors. There are few imaginative touches -- the giant spiders in particular are pathetic -- and some of the cast isn't very good. But for the period, this is slightly above-average science fiction; the exteriors, shot at the famous Iverson Ranch, have an open, fresh feeling, but the interior sets are unimaginative and routine. The plotline owes more than a little to H.G. Wells' The Time Machine (a lawsuit was filed), which makes the presence of Rod Taylor in the cast (as the hunk from our time) a little ironic, as just a few years later, he starred in George Pal's much-loved movie version of the Wells novel.
Starring: Hugh Marlowe, Nancy Gates, Rod Taylor, Nelson Leigh, Shawn Smith | Directed by: Edward Bernds

X: THE UNKNOWN (1956)
(91 Min.) Genre: 1950 HORROR-SCIFI, Transfer Quality: A
X the Unknown is a well-crafted imitation of the Quartermass British sci-fi pictures of the 1950s. A group of soldiers on maneuvers in Scotland stumble across a gravel pit which emanates an unusual amount of radiation. Several deaths occur before the radioactive material is mysteriously stolen. Researched Dean Jagger speculates that the thief is some sort of inhuman monstrosity dwelling at the Earth's core. He points out that past radioactive disturbances have been occurring at fifty-year intervals, each followed by sudden deaths and the disappearance of the material. Jagger suggests that the unknown monster has been resuscitated by mankind's recent atomic experiments. Sure enough, the monster manifests itself as a huge slab of glowing radioactive mud (laugh now if you must—you won't laugh when you see it). X the Unknown works well within its limited budget; unfortunately, many TV prints have been truncated, robbing some of the best horrific moments of their full impact. — Hal Erickson
Starring: Dean Jagger, Edward Chapman, Leo McKern, Marianne Brauns | Directed by: Leslie Norman

HORROR-SCIFI FILMS OF THE 1950s

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