1950s Science Fiction Hidden Gems Part One
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- Опубліковано 9 вер 2024
- 1950s science fiction was fun. Ray guns, monsters, technological innovations and killer robots. Science Fiction used to take itself a lot more lightly than it does now.
The movies are:
Gog (1954)
Kronos (1957)
The Man In The White Suit (1951)
The Rocket Man (1954)
The Trollenberg Terror a.k.a. The Crawling Eye (1956)
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That one with Forest Tucker was also called "The Crawling Eye." I remember seeing that as a kid back in the 60s. I love 1950s sci-fi movies. Sometimes I think I saw nearly all of them growing up.
Saw it. Frightened me to death.
@@Cap683 me to , i told my mom check the closet then check the roof and then check the back yard and check the garage and then the bathroom for scary life .
I love the early episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 with Joel and the Bots when they riffed this film. I'm not a big fan of Josh Weinstein's original voice of Tom Servo, but I loved this one. It's still one of my mother's favorite movies. =)
And you can watch them again now.
The American release was the one they called The Crawling Eye as the original UK one was The Trollenberg Terror but the only difference in both films was just the title. One fun as hell old Monster films we loved as kid & still do now that we are all old like the film but just as cool!!! Only 7 the first time i saw this back in 63 & it did scare the hell out of me especially when they drag ole Dewhurst's body out from under the bed with no head. RUN !!!!!
The Man in the White Suit is far more than a Sci-Fi flick. It's been held up as relevant commentary on many subjects and I absolutely agree that it's a true treasure on MANY levels. I saw a reference to it just last week in a major Social discussion venue. It hasn't been forgotten but it surely needs to be discovered by more people
"The Man in the White Suit" is also one of the very rare science-fiction comedies. Unlike bad sci-fi with unintentional humor, this movie deliberately tries to make you laugh--and in my case, it succeeded!
And Joan Greenwood had one of the sexiest voices ever. Ever.
One of my favorites is "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers". Great picture that makes it look like Washington D.C. is really attacked. Conquest of Space and Flight to Mars are also quite good. I also have in my video collection - Kronos & The Crawling Eye(The Trollenberg Terror) you mention. Which I watch each year.
This guy really knows his movies.
I do? 😉
One I liked was "The Blob" starring Steve McQueen. When I saw it, I recognized him from the western TV series "Wanted: Dead or Alive". It was McQueen's very first movie.
He was offered $2500.00 upfront or 10% of the gross. Naturally, he thought the movie would be released and promptly forgotten, so he took the cash. Cost him several million dollars. And,he had a three picture contract with the producers but he was such a pain to deal with they told him to take a hike after The Blob wrapped.
Kronos: I learned about the method to destroy Kronos in my high school physics class BEFORE I saw the movie so I knew it would work (no spoilers here). One of the few times real hard science was used in these movies.
DRAKE WHAT WAS THE METHOD INCASE I NEED IT??? 😮 PLEASE😢❤
I grew up in Canada, where Ealing movies were frequently shown on TV. The Man In The White Suit was one of them, it's a classic!
I never thought of "The Man in the White Suit" as a science fiction story, but I can understand that perspective.
Those Ealing Studio comedies with Alec Guinness are hilarious. My favorite is "The Promoter," based upon Arnold Bennett's very funny novel, "The Card."
Looks like those Ealing films are still being shown here. : )
The eyeball tentacled monsters in the mountain's frozen cloud is a GREAT movie!! There are scenes where you really believe that the actors are really, really upset by what they slowly figure out is going on. Creepy, too.
Except that scene where Forest Tucker was still wearing his F-troop hat, 🤡
The special effects budget was so low the cloud obscuring the mountain top within which "The Crawling Eye" (U.S. title) lurked was literally a wad of cotton pinned to a photograph of a mountain. The special effects technician was mortified when the "effect" was shown repeatedly.
"The Magnetic Monster" accurately portrays what scientists were actually doing at the time. They were bombarding everything with every ray they could. Cerium is a real element. And scientists certainly could bombard it with alpha particles.
I really respect The Magnetic Monster for being so grounded in plausible science.
I would add "The Man From Planet X" (1951).
All of the cited are gems! The 50s saw a number of films which laid the groundwork for further projects. Consider, "The Blob": some complain of the "clichés," w/o realizing that this film invented what often became overused tropes! Yay for the 50s sci-fi!
Great choices. I had never considered The Man in the White Suit as science fiction, thanks for showing a new way to look at it. And I agree, it’s a better SF film than the other one!
Robinson Crusoe on Mars is my top pick for any decade. Kronos however is a great movie.
> Did not like that one. (R.Crusoe O.M.)
a rip-off of W.of the W scify Martian saucer ships. & HI tech society using slave labor for manual labor.
@@mydogbrian4814 Those were part of the draw for me. RC was a great book. I loved it as a child and RC OM was even better because it was a sci fi version.
I loved those saucers the way they moved was creepy.
Good choice-- I saw that one in the theater when it first came out, and a couple of times since.
@@johnpepin5373 The ships were right out of, War of the Worlds
@@IvorPresents copying is the most honest form of flattery.
I've always loved "The Trollenberg Terror". Released as "The Crawling Eye" in the states I thought it was a highly underrated film. The acting's great and the writing matches.
It's also a different alien invasion movie with an interesting concept.
As a kid, I looked forward to "The Crawling Eye" whenever it was play on Saturday mornings!
Thanks for sharing these gems, I remember watching The Man In The White Suit on late night tv as a kid, I remember feeling sad at the end as Sidney was shunned by everyone. Loved Forbidden Planet and The Day The Earth Stood Still. I also remember Michael Rennie appearing on Lost In Space as The Keeper, but I'm getting ahead of myself, that's from 1966.
Earth vs The Flying Saucers a treat! The saucers animation really spectacular! “People of Earth, attention!” People of Earth, attention!”
Yep. Sound design can really enhance a movie like that.
“The Crawling Eye” (Trollenberg Terror) had quite an effect on me when I first saw it. I was four when it came out. It’s still one of my favorites, along with “Attack of the Crab Monsters”.
You'd probably love "Night of the Shrew" then. 🙄
@@oriraykai3610
Ah, so you’ve met my ex then?
@@oriraykai3610
Would that be “The Killer Shrews (1959)”? I can’t find the other one.
At timestamp 6:28 in this video *the same helmet that Klaatu wore in 1951's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" is being held under the arm of the actor.*
I wonder what happened to it. Whether or not it was destroyed/lost/stolen, or if it's part of someone's collection somewhere...🤔
@@georgetaylor4719 You would think that would have ended up in Bob Burns collection since I believe he did have the head of Gort.
The Man In The White Suit has been one of my favorite Ealing comedies ever since I first saw it nearly 50 yrs ago and never until now had I thought of it as a sci fi film.
its not science fiction it can happen
I didn't see it as a comedy. I cried over the man in the white suit.
@@sophierobinson2738 When I first saw it at about 6 or 7 yrs old I thought it was a drama about a nice pleasant man being persecuted for being too intelligent.
Kronos has a particular quality that I've always found to be compelling: an alien that was faceless, without much explanation. A giant robotic box reveals almost nothing. We get a brief glimpse of the machinations within, but again, the viewer's left to wonder who made it and why.
My favorite 1950s sci fi is probably Earth Vs the Flying Saucers. The optimistic, can-do scientism of post-war humanity in the face of alien invasion evokes a period that's hard to imagine depicting in a movie today. With the real star of the movie being Ray Harryhausen's animated flying saucers, waging destruction on the US capitol. Rather than the bored right-wing cos player invasion we got in real life.
"Kronos" 1957, The giant robot was sent to Earth to drain us of all our electrical power. Then supposedly return to its home world to restore its power with what it stole from us.
That's the plot.
I loved (and was terrified by) Kronos as a kid. It was shot in Mexico to save money and reunited Jeff Morrow and Rex Reason from "This Island Earth."
>A giant robotic box reveals almost nothing
There was a 50s pop song by Phil Harris called, "The Thing."
The Helicopter used in Gog is worth the entire film. Very interesting machine
Also the enemy spy jet doing electronic surveillance is interesting given the time frame
Gog has a beautiful dieselpunk feel about it.
I call the 1950's-60's the golden age of Sci-Fi!
I agree there was no better time.
That isnt going to far out on a limb, with Twilight ZONE, Star Trek QUATREMASS 2 aka Enemy from Space, The Time Machine & Invasion of the BODY SNATCHERS !!!
I actually disagree. However, they are great fun and often philosophically interesting, like my favorite 50’s sci-fi, It Came From Outer Space.
I remember four 50s/60s movies that I was lucky enough to see on one of those old late-night horror specials. A dark-haired barbarella style woman hosted the show. Anyway, the movies were, in no particular order, 'Creature from The Black Lagoon', 'Mantis', 'The Incredible Shrinking Man' and 'The Fly'. All four hooked me into sci-fi horror-type movies.
Gog and Ridders to the Stars were faves of mine but I have never seen the Comic Moster as of yet. Some very good choices here as well and one movie I never even heard of until now. The one with the boy and his raygun.
Almost none of these movies are forgotten but classics!
Hidden gems because not as many people know them.
I barely remember Gog.
@@sophierobinson2738 It's worth a rewatch.
I remember first seeing Kronos in the late 1960s on UHF TV -- kind of an MST3K experience! I fell in love with this delightfully quirky movie. I still watch it on DVD from time to time. Thanks for including it!
My pleasure.
I have 3 of them already. Never heard of Lenny Bruce one,getting it now. The incredible shrinking man, The day the earth caught fire and The last man on earth are three of my favorites. Love me some Vincent Price.
Last Man on Earth was 1964 I think. The Day the Earth Caught Fire was 1961 and also had lovely Janet Munro in it. And yeah, Shrinking Man was good . . I've only seen it maybe once and don't remember too much.
I didn't like the end of "Shrinking Man". A bit too fatalistic for the period (and for me), and a sci-fi should not fall back on religion once the writers paint themselves into a corner.
The Day The Earth Caught Fire is a really good movie. 1961 I believe but a good flick.
Kronos is a brilliant movie for it's time.
I am old enough to have seen "Gog" in a movie theater! Those 2 robots remain in my memory even today. I believe the second one's name was "Magog." My Dad took Mom and me to sci-fi films all the time. "Rodan" is another one that remains in my increasingly porous memory. My dad and I were both into the genre but there was never a more un-scifi person than my Mom. I think she just liked getting out of the house and eating popcorn. 😆
Gog Magog is from the Bible.
3D Film Archive did an amazing restoration of the 3D version of "Gog". It looks like it was shot yesterday.
Honestly, I don't "think about 1950's science fiction movies" *at all* -so on that basis, they are all hidden gems. Thanks for the list! 👍
Tollenberg remember watching it as midnight movie double bill with the abominable snowman ( forest tucked Peter Cushing ) great movies
Keep it up terry 👌
Thanks, Paul.
I remember this double bill., the coming attractions for it, scared the bejebers out of me.
Rocketship XM; The Lost Continent; Attack Of The Crab Monsters; Enemy From Space; The Crawling Eye; It, The Terror From Beyond Space; Earth vs. The Spider; KRONOS; GOG; Fiend Without A Face; Journey To The Center Of The Earth. Just to name a few.
The Crawling Eye IS The Trollenberg Terror. 😉 😀
I know. And Enemy From Space is Quatermass 2.
I remember the Forest Tucker movie being called The Crawling Eye. I love "This Island Earth" starring Jeff Morrow.
This Island Earth is a great classic!
The Crawling Eye is the US (edited) version.This Island Earth was finished by Jack Arnold because Joseph M.Newman had no idea how to shoot the Metaluna scenes.
Same, I knew it as "The Crawling Eye". I remember as a little kid, it scared the crap out of me, not so much the monster as the decapitated body falling past them on the climb. And the MST3K episode was a hoot.
I think The Crawling Eye was given the full treatment by the MST3K gang back in the 90's.
"The Eye " came on Saturday night me t.v. When I was a lad,it scared the s--- out of me.I ran into mom,dad room.Amazing how things look when you are older. They are still fun to look at.
Snoozles In My Room.
The Trollenberg Terror (1958) is one of the most underrated sci fi/ horror movies of the 50s.Kronos is original and suspensefull.The Man in the White Suit is a classic.My top 5 underrated sci fi movies : Creature With the Atom Brain,Invisible Invaders,The Man from Planet X,The Creature Walks Among Us, Fiend Without a Face
Apparently, The Trollenberg Terror is called The Crawling Eye in the U.S.
Invisible Invaders was a stupid movie, just like Plan 9, or Robot Monster
Invisible Invaders, although kind of dumb, was really the first shambling zombie movie of it's kind. And I mean George Romero type zombies, not island voodoo zombies.
How about The Killer Shrews?
"Kronos" was a really cool little movie - all it needed was another $20-$30 million in special effects - lol
Nah it was fine the way it was.
Thank you. I've been trying to remember the name of the film Kronos for over 20 years now. I saw it on TV as a teenager but have never been able to find the name. Found it on UA-cam now and will be watching it again tomorrow.
Enjoy! It's really solid for 1950s science fiction.
"it's a single breasted paradigm shift that radiates anarchy and fear" bravo that man, loving the channel ; )
Great choices, all. I saw "Kronos" at a drive-in theater with my family, when I was 9. I thought it was pretty cool, especially the rhythmic sound effects of the metal monsters' legs crunching along.
And even the animation works.
Although the nineteen-fifties occured before my birthtime I started developping a strong fancy for science -fiction when I was a teenager and have always enjoyed vintage S.F movies ever since . Among my favorite ones are "The day the earth stood still" directed by Robert Wise with Michael Rennie playing the male leading part. The films which would come second and third on my list of unforgettable great S.F classics of that period are "Forbidden Planet and "Invasion of the body snatchers"respectively shot in 1956 by F.L Mac Wilcox and D.Siegel
Both great choices!
The moral of Gog is: *Don't put all your eggheads in one bunker.*
"The Man In The White Suit" simply hasn't dated.
No it hasn't. A lovely piece of SF comedy.
It looks as if I could actually enjoy that one
Replying as an update. I saw the film yesterday through the wonders of the www....an enjoayble movie quite quirky - good recommendation
@@terrytalksmovies I never saw it as a comedy. To me it was a warning that Scientists were constantly in danger of being identified with evil no matter how pure their motives were.
The Trollenberg Terror, aka The Crawling Eye, may have had silly looking monsters to an adult, but this film scared the living daylights out of me as a 10 year old. And I can tell you that the monsters most certainly didn't look silly to anyone that age. They were terrifying. Still one of my favorite sci-fi's from the 50's.
At the opposite end of the scale, as kids we thought that Dr. Who was hilarious. The Daleks having toilet plungers for one arm, and the absolutely ridiculous Cybermen when they first appeared on the series, with a ray gun for a belly button that sounded like a car horn, and their sing song manner of speaking, had my brother and I rolling on the floor laughing.
I can see how Dr Who was silly. It still is. It takes itself so seriously.
The Trollenberg Terror is one of my faves along with 'The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'
I used to have a Beast from 20,000 Fathoms poster on my wall when I was a kid.
Other good movies are Destination Moon (1950), Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956), Flight to Mars (1951), Forbidden Planet (1956), It Came from Outer Space (1953), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), The Thing from Another World (1951), The War of the Worlds (1953), This Island Earth (1955), When Worlds Collide (1951) and World Without End (1956). They are not hidden, but by golly they are good.
Yep, I agree. All honest flicks.
Dude . . you missed the point. Most of those are very well known.
"Devil girl from Mars" "Day Mars invaded the Earth"
I can watch Kronos and The Crawling Eye (aka Trollenberg Terror) over and over; great films. GOG was very good and I have not seen it in decades. The others I never saw. One of my favorites from the 1950s is Fiend Without A Face. It scared the beegeevers out of me back then.
I'll have to rewatch Fiend Without A Face.
Even as a kid, I could never buy the way Kronos propelled itself. On the other hand, the twin robots in G.O.G. terrified me.
Yeah you wouldn't want to bend over
Kronos and Trollenberg are two of my favorites. The theatre where I was a kid played them on Saturday afternoon, usually two or three years after their first run. Cartoons, a Three Stooges, and a sci-fi or Tarzan. Thirty-five cents.
Great value!
I am 61. When I was a kid, I lived for the sci fi films that would show on tv on the weekends (usually late at night or during the day on Saturday or Sunday on the local independent tv station). The ones I fondly remeber were Kronos, Them!, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Invaders From Mars (that one gave me nightmares... especially with the people disappearing over the hill), Man with the X-Ray Eyes, Crack in the World, From Hell it Came (really cheesy, but another one that gave 9 year old me nightmares! Trees coming to life? )..
Trees are alive. 😉 But yes, it's random which horror movies messed us up as kids.
One of my guilty pleasures from that era is Zotz! (exclamation is part of the title). The movie (directed by William Castle) came out in 1962, but is based on a 1947 novel, so that averages out to around 1955 😁 More of a quirky comedy, but has some SF elements.
Zotz! is weird fun.
A fond dream of mine was to book a double bill of 'Zotz!' and 'The Twonkey', just see a marquee reading
ZOTZ
TWONKY
Nice selection, pleased to see GOG there as it is so underrated, even if it just quite not live up to its opening scenes.
My choices? Spacemaster X7, as bit of a Quatermass Experiment rip off, but as another part of thay Bureau of Scientific Investigation films stands up well. Plus it stars Moe Howard (3 Stooges) in a support role.
Another has to be X the Unknown, which really should have been the third Hammer Quatermass film, solid throughout and Dean Jagger shows how much more he could have made of the Quatermass role instead of Brian Donlevy
My final choice is the Monolith Monsters, simply because of the totally bonkers idea of mankind meeting its end at the hands of "crystals"
The 3 stooges made a couple of full length Science Fiction comedies: "The 3 Stooges in Orbit" (1962) & "Have Rocket Will Travel" (1959).
Neat vid! I thought I had seen every low budget sci fi movie of the 50's, but you came up with five I've never even heard of! I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for these...
Go for it. I hope you like them.
My favourite lesser talked about sci-fi movies of the decade are probably "X - The Unknown", "Target Earth" and "The Twonky". "Fiend Without A Face" is probably too well known to qualify, but is also amazing.
I saw "X~" here on UA-cam and am surprised to hear that it has been forgotten. Damn was it ahead of its time. Melting face[s] and scary as hell.
A good list of the early 50's greats. No scripts today, have as much drama, action, and family friendly entertainment have been made to films since the mid 70's
Thank you. 😀To be honest, gatekeepers who produce only 'family friendly entertainment' bore the hell out of me. I like my movies and series to have a bit of edge to them.
Ohh Kronos was written by Irving Block (who also penned the original story Forbidden Planet was based on). I'll have to check that one out first!
Check it out.
Hate to split hairs, here, but the story 'Forbidden Planet' is based on, is 'The Tempest', by William Shakespeare, with Morbius being Prospero, and the Id Monster being Caliban, Robby The Robot is Ariel, and Altaira is Miranda, Prospero's daughter. I'll never look at that play the same again.
I’m not sure where The Man In The White suit was hiding. You don’t get more classic than this film.
True. 😀
I've been looking for that tentacled eyeball monster movie for a long time. I didn't know the name. Thank you for finding it for me.
I'm very glad I could help out. 😀
Thank you so much for your guide to some of the better little Sci-Fi's of the 1950s. I have seen some very good ones, some terrible ones, but it is not always easy from their descriptions to figure out which ones are worth seeing. You have done a good job of sorting the wheat from the chaff.
There's a lot of chaff but the wheat is worth it. 😀
Kronos and The Crawling Eye are 2 of my favorites.
Groovy!
Would love to see them get blu ray remastered along with “Target Earth “.
Kronos is an absolute favorite.
I love the Tollenberg Terror, really want to get it now.
I love The Man in the White Suit. I have the Kino-Lorber blu-ray version. The theme of disruptive new technology threatening vast industries and financial interests has never been more relevant. This idea explains a lot of the hate in the media and on Wall Street for a company like Tesla in the past few years.
Absolutely.
What they missed was the incredible industrial potential for the material. In later novels this type of thread would be known as "Stonecyper Cable" (The Descent of Anansi), and Sinclair Monofilament (Gil "The ARM "Hamilton; A Gift From Earth; the Ringworld Novels; Crashlander). Incredibly strong as a single thread, almost unbreakable when braided into rope-sized cables, capable of towing huge masses at relativistic speeds, Its original use in Descent was to build a suspension bridge between Japan and Korea. Entire new industries could have been built around the White Suit thread, if only someone with vision had been included in the cast.
The Crawling Eye was one of the very first old school black and white monster movies I watched as a kid in the early 2000’s when I rented the vhs from the local library. I love it to this day. They also had Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, pretty good selection of movies at that library now that I think about it
Diving into the science fiction and horror sections in video stores is something I miss.
What a great Era 👍 Drive in movie's, soda shops,and the beginning of rock 🪨 and roll music, some of the best syfy movies, FIRST MAN IN SPACE, THEM,TARANTULA, INVASION OF SAUCER MAN,AND MANY, MANY MORE, (LIFE WAS LESS STRESSFUL) AND PEOPLE HAD RESPECT FOR (ELDERS,TEACHERS,POLICE,NEIGHBORS AND FAMILY) IT WAS A GREAT TIME AND I WAS THERE, LIKE MANY OF YOU. WOULDN'T TRADE IT AWAY FOR ANYTHING!!!!!!
Your experience is different to mine. Respect for elders, particularly some family members is more difficult for some of us. The Australian of the Year 2021 is a woman who was raped by her teacher, police aren't always to be trusted and neighbours are nosy bastards. Stick to the movies, which is something with which we can all agree,
@@terrytalksmovies SORRY you had such a difficult time in a time you should have been allowed to enjoy, there always seems to be exceptions to everything, I guess I'm one of the exceptions because life then was much simpler then 😊 I saw things slowly 🐌 at first starting to get more complicated around the late 1990s and now nobody trusts anybody any more, so I seem to be very lucky to have had great parents,grandparents and family!We were poor 😊 people from West Virginia, but we had love and kindness to see us through some rough times ⏲ I'm really sorry you never got to experience some of my youthful happy days! Terry keep your head up,be strong, good things don't just happen in movies, which I totally enjoy but they happen in real life ,I'm living proof 😉 Terry Talks Movies is a GREAT TITLE 👍 BUILD on that title and tell your story about your life! God Bless you 🙏 BE safe and enjoy your life 🙏 😊
@@americatolliver3294 You too. I'm a big fan of respecting people who show me respect. Social roles don't get automatic respect from me. There are a lot of people I trust because I've built the resilience to bounce back if people hurt me. I'm in a good life place now, the channel is doing increasingly well and I love making videos for it. Take care and stay safe.
In the U.S. "The Trollemberg Terror" was titled "The Crawling Eye". I'm surprised it isn't shown more on U.S. television. Thanks for posting.
My pleasure. It's a kooky movie.
While hardly obscure, I've always thought "IT! The Terror From Beyond Space" is a bit underrated. Everyone just remembers it as the bad old movie that inspired Alien, but I think it holds up as a watchable B-movie, by the standards of the time. The script from Jerome Bixby is smarter than your typical 50s monster flick, and it has an interesting psychological angle because the main character was the lone survivor of a previous monster attack and quite traumatized.
Also, while a fantasy film rather than sci-fi, I genuinely don't understand why "The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T" is practically forgotten. Doctor Seuss wrote and art-directed a movie! And hardly anyone has even heard of it! WHY? It's maybe the most visually creative film of the decade, plus it's got the great Hans Conreid (Disney's Captain Hook) as the campy villain.
I did 5000 Fingers in a video about children's movies. It's wonderful.
@@terrytalksmovies At least somebody's heard of it! I just find it baffling that Doctor Seuss continues to be a pop culture staple, yet so many people don't know he made a movie.
Ah but there is the missing floor of deadly accouterments to explain! And they drank pickle juice in public. For shame
"IT..." and Forbidden Planet are some of the few movies from that era that did not portray aliens as evil. I always thought it was very smart. Also, just a call-out to Rocketship X-M, also not bad for something completely forgotten.
I agree with your assessment of "It." I think that "It" is scarier than "Alien." Moreover, the premise of a rescue ship going to Mars to bring back to Earth an accused mass murderer to stand trial for his crimes on the Red planet is intriguing.
I also get a kick out the mid-20th century's sensibility of the futuristic space age. One of my favorite scenes has a crewman pilfering cigarettes from the supply room before It kills him.
I love that grittiness of midcentury science fiction. The work of Philp K. Dick and William Tenn show it especially well.
The crawling eye is a true classic
It does so much with so little.
Great stuff! I grew up watching sci-fi movies on late night tv. Haven't seen a few of these, must locate. Thanks!
My pleasure. 😀
I look at Gog as a proto Michael Crichton story: The basic elements are there. An underground lab, a super Computer hacked by aliens, And a fellow sent to inveestigate. Those robots coming at you with their blowtorch in 3-D was nightmare stuff for a eight year old. as I was.
Nah. Michael Crichton copied Ivan Tors. 😉😀
Crawling Eye had me sleeping under my bed at 6 years old in b+w.Kronos,The Lost Missle,She Demons,Chiller Theater was the goat in the late 50's/early 60's.
I felt the same about The Crawling Eye. 😀
Glad that you mentioned The Rocket Man; its not that well-known, but is a fun little item. Actress Spring Byington was a real-life science fiction fan. She knew Fottest J. Ackerman of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine fame for many years.
Thanks for the cool info! 😀
Now we know where Paul Verhoeven got his design idea for the thinking bugs in Starship Troopers. The "Crawling Eye". lol
Or he just looked at a beetle. 😀😉
Growing up in the 60s, these films were common bookings, sometimes with the support of a TV Horror Host. 'Kronos' was full of uncanny images for a 6-year old mind to process, leaving genuinely nightmarish echos in memory. That damn box-robot still gives me a creepy feeling. Ditto 'Tollenberg/Crawling Eye' - what film that opens with a guy's head getting ripped off doesn't leave an impression on the poor dumb kid who stumbled across it?
We had regular kiddie matinees for a number of years at our local theater, giving me the opportunity to see a number of these (including 'Kronos', on the big screen. Lots of classic 50s stuff on the kiddie calendar in those days - 'Creature with the Atom Brain', 'Day the Earth Stood Still', 'Zombies of Mara Tau', 'Bowery Boys meet the Monsters', and loads of Ray Harryhausen. A much appreciated education.
Thanks for the great memory trip. During that decade I mostly watched science-fiction films in the theaters. While I liked some more then others, it was a great time for imagination and creativity all round :)
There are movies with imagination and creativity now but there are so many genre films that the cool ones get lost in the flood.
The Man in the White Suit was very good.
Thanks, watching Gog😘
Enjoy.
Gog scared me as a child but Them! (The Big Ants), War of the Worlds, This Island Earth, and Thing From Another World gave me nightmares.
A lot of kids got that, I didn't get nightmares about things I saw on TV or in cinemas very much. Real life was the stuff that messed me up, which is why I have great memories of these movies.
I remember seeing Khonos, I loved SciFy as a kid. I didn't get to go to the movies much, but never missed Science Fiction Theater on the TV. The movie that gave me nightmares was "X the Unknown". I can still see the skin melting off the hand reaching for the warning alarm button.
That was a really effective effects shot. It's those moments that really sell the premise.
Watching this channel dredged up these classics" The Monolith Monsters, Them , Invaders from Mars," and a few others . Whose titles I can't quite recall 🤔😅; hey, I'm almost 70 years old now !
Congratulations. 😀
I saw Kronos as a kid.. It impressed me then, and still does. Not really sure just why.. Perhaps the mysterious nature of it. Not knowing who(or when) sent it...
It's a very impersonal invasion, which makes it cooler.
As a kid of the 50s I am surprised that I have not seen some of these. Will certainly look them up. Thanks!!!
My pleasure.
I remember seeing the crawling eye on a Sunday afternoon movie TV broadcast as a kid and having nightmares. That's some creepy shit.
My favorite 50s sci-fi: When world's collide, forbidden planet, invasion of the bodysnatchers, Day the Earth stood still
But yeah I really like atomic age/ Dan Dare/ Jetsons aesthetic
Always like your videos because there's always something new for me to see. Going to check out Gog now😊
When I saw The Mist the first thing I thought was the movie Trollenberg Terror. I'm convinced Stephen King got the idea for The Mist from that movie.
He probably did.
I have always found that much of what King writes is derivative of something else. I don't think it is necessarily intentional, but sometimes it makes me shake my head.
I didn't know that that was "The Crawling Eye" original title.
King admits to being a huge SF and horror nerd, so he probably absorbed a lot of this stuff and then thought it was original when it popped up in his brain. He says he just types out whatever images his subconscious throws at him.
Joan Greenwood had such lovely round (pron. "rind") vowels and velvety voice.
She did. Always seemed to be amused.
6:57 John Agar*** Shirley Temple's 1st husband, was in many John Wayne movies, he later shaved his head and became Mister Clean in a long running series of commercials.
Great review of some SF golden oldies. Thanks.
My pleasure.
Alf Garnett in The Trollenberg Terror... He just had to shout you Stupid Great Moo at those and those eyeballs !
Nope. Alf Garnett is a character. Warren Mitchell is the actor. 😉
These are great choices. Kronos is one of my all time favorite sci to films.
It's really interesting. It tried to do so much with so little and kinda succeeded.
Kronos is one of my favorites. Saw this on "Million Dollar Movie", TV channel WOR in NY.
It holds up well
A favorite sci fi flick from the '50's for me was Invaders From Mars. Scared the hell out of me when I was a kid!
There's a 4K of Invaders From Mars coming out soon. Might get it at some stage.
@@terrytalksmovies Thanks for the info!
What I like about “The Man in the White Suit” is the way the films attacks BOTH the factory management AND the workers by showing up their suspicion of each other and their inability to work together even though they both want the same thing, to destroy the new invention. British satire at this time attacked all classes.
Yep. Punching upward to the management of the mills and the unions.
If only that macromolecule could have been stabilized it would have industrial uses.
Suspension bridges, powerlines, *The Space Elevator.*
I haven't seen Man in the White Suite but I am familiar with the other four and Yes, For what they are they are worth watching
The 50’s, for all it’s expository writing, has some amazingly inventive sci-fi films.
1950s science fiction films benefit from thirty years of science fiction novels and magazines that preceded it.
KRONOS and THE TROLLENBERG TERROR are childhood favorites of mine - and they seriously need to get hi-def upgrades! The former has the voice of George Jetson himself, and the latter has the hot Janet Munro, who is one of my vintage crushes!
Another wonderful video, Terry! I can remember seeing Kronos, The Man In The White Suit and The Crawling Eye (as the copy showed on late night TV here in the USA during the 70s was called).
I still need to view the other two. I talked about The Man In The White Suit with my father, who was a staunch union man. That may have been our first lengthy conversation about serious adult matters. I had a bit of a crush on Janet Munro from Eye and Darby O'Gill And The Little People. Later I saw an uncut version of The Day The Earth Caught Fire, and was quite impressed. Ahem. I caught Bitter Harvest on TV in the 90s ( thinking it was the 1981 Ron Howard film about agricultural contamination). I watched it really just because of Janet Munro, and I wondered what became of her. That is when I learned of her fate. Truly tragic. And that is how you end a comment on a high note! Cheers Terry!
There is nothing better than a 1950's sci-fi movie.
Yeah there is. A double espresso shot or a Suntory Highball in a Japanese bar. 😀
"Forrest Tucker was known for two things, one of which was F Troop."-LOL
And the other....wink-wink
@@jwsmith53 The other was not being Milton Berle.
Great selection. I finally saw GOG last year and was surprised at the level of violence. I've seen all of the other films, although MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT falls for me primarily in the "social comedy" genre, with a touch of sci-fi.
Out of curiosity, are you familiar will Bill Warren's excellent guide, KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES? Everything you'd ever want to know (and more) about every sci-fi film of the 1950s. It's my go-to sourcebook whenever I come across one of the era's films I've never seen.
I don't have the Warren book but I do have a wall of others.