Released - August, 1953 

Directed By - Byron Haskin

Starring – Gene Barry (Dr. Clayton Forrester), Ann Robinson (Sylvia Van Buren), Les Tremayne (Major General Mann),

Description – Dr. Clayton Forrester is fishing just outside the small town of Linda Rosa, California when what seems to be a large meteorite impacts nearby. When he reaches the impact site he meets Sylvia Van Buren, her uncle Pastor Matthew Collins, and local residents who also heard the impact.

The site is on fire and after the blaze is extinguished a mysterious object is revealed that certainly is not a meteorite. The residents of the small town hope this unusual object will become a profitable tourist attraction. Dr. Forrester is not so sure as the object is much lighter than a meteorite and is radioactive.

Three men are left behind as Dr. Forrester waits for the object to cool down so that it will be safe enough to approach and examine. While the three wait, the object unscrews to reveal a probe that is approached by the men in a friendly manner. They are all killed by a Heat-Ray that reduces them to ashes.

Reports now begin to flood in about other landings around the world and the military is called in. Pastor Collins tries to approach the object with the hope of avoiding a confrontation and is also killed.

The military takes action, but has no effect as the object is protected by a force-field that nothing can penetrate. The Heat-Ray wipes out almost all of the troops, the tanks, and their artillery. The destruction is the same everywhere there have been landings all over the world.

It seems that our Earth has been watched and its water, clean air, and natural resources are now the object of a Martian invasion. With seemingly no other choice the use of the Atomic Bomb is necessary.

The bomb fails and it is estimated that Earth will be conquered in six days. Is there anything can stop The War of the Worlds?

NOTABLE: The War of the Worlds won the Academy Award for Best Effects, Special Effects, and was also nominated for Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Recording.

This film was the first screed depiction of the H. G. Wells classic novel.

Producer George Pal has wanted to film the final third of the film in 3-D, but that was considered to be too expensive.

Two days into filming production had to stop as it was realized that the rights to film the novel were for a silent version only. Fortunately, the estate of H. G. Wells quickly gave permission for the sound production.

The film had a production budget of $2 million using $600,000 for live action and $1,400,000 for special effects.

Animator Walter Lantz and Producer George Pal were good friends and Pal would always try to work Lantz’s character Woody Woodpecker into his films. Look carefully, and you will see Woody in the branches of the tree during the initial flyover of the Martian craft.

Personal Note: This was, and still is, one of my favorite Science Fiction films from the fifties, or for that matter, any other decade. There is sci-fi magic in many of the classics made during this time that no remake can ever capture.

Vivid color and excitement make this superior 1950′s sci-fi!

Buy Here The War of the Worlds (Special Collector’s Edition)

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Released - June, 1953 

Directed By - Eugene Lourie

Starring – Paul Hubschmid (Prof. Tom Nesbitt), Paula Raymond (Lee Hunter), Cecil Kellaway (Prof. Thurgood Elson), Kenneth Tobey (Col. Jack Evans).

Description – North of the Artic Circle an atomic bomb test has just conducted with unexpected results. The blast has awakened and thawed out a dinosaur that had been frozen for millions of years.

There were two witnesses to this event one of who was killed. The surviving witness, Prof. Tom Nesbitt, can find no one to believe his story of the monster with the exception of paleontologist Prof. Thurgood Elson’s assistant Lee Hunter.

The monster is making its way down the east coast of North America and distress calls start coming in regarding the sighting of possibly a “sea serpent.” These reports are ridiculed and dismissed until the destruction of shipping vessels and a lighthouse.

It is now too late to try and stop the creature from reaching highly populated areas as the monster has come ashore in Manhatten. An effort to kill the beast only makes thing worse as the blood from the monster contains deadly bacteria that begins to contaminate the population.

180 are now dead, 1500 wounded and over $300 million in damage. Can anything stop The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms?

NOTABLE:  This film was one of the first to link the detonation of nuclear devices with the creation or releasing of monsters. Many more would follow.

The location in the film for the Coney Island Amusement Park is actually the Long Beach Amusement Park in Long Beach, California.

The film was based on a short story by Ray Bradbury.

Personal Note: I believe this was the first stop-motion effort by the legendary special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen. His work was instrumental to the success of early 1950′s monster, science fiction films.

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Sci-Fi Adventures (Them! / The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms / World Without End / Satellite in the Sky)

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Released - April, 1953 

Directed By - William Cameron Menzies

Starring- Helena Carter (Dr. Pat Blake), Arthur Franz (Dr. Kelston), Jimmy Hunt (David MacLean), Leif Erickson (George MacLean), Hillary Brooke (Mary MacLean).

Description- Young David MacLean is awakened by something outside his bedroom window. When looking out the window he sees a flying saucer landing in a field near his home.

David tells his father who goes out to the field only to return home and tell David that he must have dreamed this vision. However, something seems disturbingly different about Dad and David notices a peculiar mark on the back of his father’s neck.

It seems none of the adults will believe his story and those that have gone into the field have all returned with the same mark on their necks and display the same unusual behavior as his father. After repeated attempts to get help, David finally finds two who are not yet affected by this strange behavior and he enlists the aid of astronomer Dr. Kelston, and physician Dr. Pat Blake.

Dr.’s Kelston and Blake believe David and it does appear that a flying saucer has embedded itself into a sandbar in the field. But why and what will happen next? Just who can be trusted as it seems as though everyone in town is falling under an alien spell.

Can the Army help, or will they prove to be powerless against what seems to be the beginning of an invasion from Mars.

NOTABLE: Invaders From Mars was shot with lower than normal camera angles projecting the point of view of a child.

The scene where the walls are melting in the underground tunnels was created using a tub of boiling oatmeal with red food coloring and red lights.

The bubble effect on the tunnels walls was originally created using balloons. However, the balloons looked to be stuck to the walls and were ineffective. To correct the look, 30,000 latex condoms were inflated and used.

Personal Note: While this film is certainly not as noteworthy as many on this site, it is a personal favorite. A guilty pleasure I remember enjoying as a child that I just had to include.

Vivid color, and surreal set designs added to the storyline of adults being taken over one by one and an impending attack by Martians. Great stuff for a young film fans early exposure to Science Fiction.

I have a handful of these early fifties Sci-Fi and can’t wait until my grandson’s are old enough to view them.

Invaders from Mars (Special Edition)

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Released - April, 1953 

Directed By - Andre De Toth

Starring – Vincent Price (Prof. Henry Jarrod), Frank Lovejoy (Lt. Tom Brennan), Phyllis Kirk (Sue Allen), Carolyn Jones (Cathy Gray).

Description – Prof. Henry Jarrod is a talented sculptor of wax figures for a New York museum. Matthew Burke is his financial partner and is more interested in profits than art.

Burke approaches Prof. Jarrod and insists that he sculpt more sensational exhibits in order to increase profits. Jarrod refuses to compromise his art and in an act of retaliation Burke sets the museum on fire dousing Prof. Jarrod with kerosene leaving him to die in the fire.

Although severely injured and grotesquely disfigured Jarrod survives and rebuilds a new House of Wax. This museum, however, has a different feel to it with the most popular exhibit being the Chamber of Horrors.

The Chamber showcases the most notorious crimes in history both past and present. One notable display brings to life the murder of Jarrod’s former business partner Matthew Burke and his fiancee Cathy Gray by an unknown cloaked killer.

The realism of the figures in these crime depictions hold a secret of their own – beneath the wax exterior are the bodies of the now deranged sculptor’s other victims.

Phyllis Kirk, a friend of victim Cathy Gray, visits the museum discovering the macabre secret and in doing so now becomes the ideal subject for a new exhibit of Marie Antoinette that Jarrod is planning.

NOTABLE: House of Wax along with Columbia Pictures Man In The Dark were the first 3-D motion pictures produced by major American film studios.

Director Andre De Toth was a strange choice to do a picture in 3-D as he was blind in one eye and could not see the effect.

House of Wax proved to be Warner Brothers biggest success in six years.

House of Wax

TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Horror (House of Wax 1953 / The Haunting 1963 / Freaks / Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1941)

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Released – September, 1951 

Directed By - Robert Wise

Starring – Michael Rennie (Mr. Carpenter/Klaatu), Patricia Neal (Helen Benson), Hugh Marlowe (Tom Stevens), Sam Jaffe (Prof. Jacob Barnhardt).

Description – Science Fiction with a message. A poignant script backed by fine acting make up for the lower level special effects. This classic 1050′s sci-fi tells the story of a visiting alien (Klaatu) in human form who has landed in Washington, D.C. in a flying saucer.

His intentions are to warn earth regarding the potential of any nuclear war and the consequences it would have on other planets in our solar system. His an anti-nuclear warning is misunderstood and he is wounded by a nervous soldier who mistakes the gift he is carrying for a weapon.

This mistake leads to a large robot exiting the flying saucer and disintegrating all the present weapons without harming the soldiers. Klaatu stops the robot from any further harm, and is treated in a hospital until his recovery.

Remaining on earth for a while in order to observe the people, Klaatu finds that while most of the earth’s inhabitents share the peaceful wishes of the interplanatery visitor – some other’s do not. Unable to bring his message of peace to all in the world, Klaatu now must consider the use of robot’s to insure the prevention of nuclear war on earth.

NOTABLE: In 1995 this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

This year, 2008, this motion picture was selected by the American Film Institute as the 5th best Science Fiction movie ever made.

Director Robert Wise was attracted to this film due to his personal anti-military beliefs as well as his belief in UFO’s.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Day the Earth Stood Still (Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

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