The Best 1950s Sci-Fi Films
by jonmanchestersquirrel | created - 14 Jan 2018 | updated - 03 Apr 2019 | PublicEvery Sci-Fi film from the 1950s I've seen ranked from my most to least favourite
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1. The War of the Worlds (1953)
G | 85 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A small town in California is attacked by Martians, beginning a worldwide invasion.
Director: Byron Haskin | Stars: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, Robert Cornthwaite
Votes: 38,511 | Gross: $4.36M
2. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
G | 79 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A strange prehistoric beast lurks in the depths of the Amazonian jungle. A group of scientists try to capture the animal and bring it back to civilization for study.
Director: Jack Arnold | Stars: Richard Carlson, Julie Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno
Votes: 34,393 | Gross: $1.30M
3. When Worlds Collide (1951)
Approved | 83 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
As a new star and planet hurtle toward a doomed Earth, a small group of survivalists frantically work to complete the rocket which will take them to their new home.
Director: Rudolph Maté | Stars: Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, Peter Hansen, John Hoyt
Votes: 9,215
4. The Man in the White Suit (1951)
Approved | 85 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
An altruistic chemist invents a fabric which resists wear and stain as a boon to humanity, but big business and labor realize it must be suppressed for economic reasons.
Director: Alexander Mackendrick | Stars: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough
Votes: 10,802 | Gross: $0.01M
5. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
G | 92 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
An alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.
Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe
Votes: 85,738
6. Them! (1954)
Not Rated | 94 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The earliest atomic tests in New Mexico cause common ants to mutate into giant man-eating monsters that threaten civilization.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness
Votes: 24,167
7. The Thing from Another World (1951)
Approved | 87 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Scientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.
Directors: Christian Nyby, Howard Hawks | Stars: Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, James Arness, Robert Cornthwaite
Votes: 33,339
8. The Blob (1958)
Approved | 86 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
An alien lifeform consumes everything in its path as it grows and grows.
Directors: Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr., Russell S. Doughten Jr. | Stars: Steve McQueen, Aneta Corsaut, Earl Rowe, Olin Howland
Votes: 29,366
9. Forbidden Planet (1956)
G | 98 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
A starship crew in the 23rd century goes to investigate the silence of a distant planet's colony, only to find just two survivors, a powerful robot, and the deadly secret of a lost civilization.
Director: Fred M. Wilcox | Stars: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens
Votes: 53,162 | Gross: $3.00M
10. The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
Approved | 81 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
After Scott Carey begins to shrink because of exposure to a combination of radiation and insecticide, medical science is powerless to help him.
Director: Jack Arnold | Stars: Grant Williams, Randy Stuart, April Kent, Paul Langton
Votes: 19,965
11. Revenge of the Creature (1955)
Passed | 82 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Men capture the Creature from the Black Lagoon and make him an aquarium attraction, from which he escapes.
Director: Jack Arnold | Stars: John Agar, Lori Nelson, John Bromfield, Nestor Paiva
Votes: 7,019
12. The Creature Walks Among Us (1956)
Approved | 78 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A scientist captures the Creature and turns him into an air-breather, only for him to escape and start killing.
Director: John Sherwood | Stars: Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason, Leigh Snowden, Gregg Palmer
Votes: 4,015
13. The Fly (1958)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A scientist has a horrific accident when he tries to use his newly invented teleportation device.
Director: Kurt Neumann | Stars: David Hedison, Patricia Owens, Vincent Price, Herbert Marshall
Votes: 25,645 | Gross: $3.00M
14. Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)
Unrated | 83 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Extraterrestrials traveling in high-tech flying saucers contact a scientist as part of a plan to enslave the inhabitants of Earth.
Director: Fred F. Sears | Stars: Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor, Donald Curtis, Morris Ankrum
Votes: 9,102
15. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Approved | 80 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan
Votes: 54,723
16. Invaders from Mars (1953)
Approved | 78 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A young boy learns that space aliens are taking over the minds of earthlings.
Director: William Cameron Menzies | Stars: Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Jimmy Hunt, Leif Erickson
Votes: 8,830
17. This Island Earth (1955)
Passed | 86 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Aliens come to Earth seeking scientists to help them in their war.
Directors: Joseph M. Newman, Jack Arnold | Stars: Jeff Morrow, Faith Domergue, Rex Reason, Lance Fuller
Votes: 10,672
18. The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)
Not Rated | 78 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Professor Bernard Quatermass' manned rocket ship returns to Earth, but two of the astronauts are missing and the survivor seems ill and unable to communicate.
Director: Val Guest | Stars: Brian Donlevy, Jack Warner, Richard Wordsworth, Margia Dean
Votes: 7,180
19. The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
Approved | 95 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
A miner trapped in a cave-in resurfaces, and upon discovering mankind has been wiped out in a nuclear holocaust, sets out to find other survivors.
Director: Ranald MacDougall | Stars: Harry Belafonte, Inger Stevens, Mel Ferrer
Votes: 3,537
20. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
Approved | 80 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A ferocious dinosaur awakened by an Arctic atomic test terrorizes the North Atlantic and, ultimately, New York City.
Director: Eugène Lourié | Stars: Paul Hubschmid, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey
Votes: 8,723 | Gross: $5.00M
21. Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
Passed | 66 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
When an abused socialite grows to giant size because of an alien encounter and an aborted murder attempt, she goes after her cheating husband with revenge on her mind.
Director: Nathan Juran | Stars: Allison Hayes, William Hudson, Yvette Vickers, Roy Gordon
Votes: 6,260 | Gross: $0.48M
22. The Space Children (1958)
Approved | 69 min | Sci-Fi
An alien intelligence aborts the launching of a rocket with the help of a bunch of children.
Director: Jack Arnold | Stars: Michel Ray, Adam Williams, Peggy Webber, Johnny Washbrook
Votes: 1,412
23. Target Earth (1954)
Approved | 75 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Giant robots from Venus invade Chicago. Stranded in the deserted city are strangers Frank and Nora.
Director: Sherman A. Rose | Stars: Richard Denning, Kathleen Crowley, Virginia Grey, Richard Reeves
Votes: 1,503
24. It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Approved | 81 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A spaceship from another world crashes in the Arizona desert and only an amateur stargazer and a schoolteacher suspect alien influence when the local townsfolk begin to act strangely.
Director: Jack Arnold | Stars: Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, Charles Drake, Joe Sawyer
Votes: 11,037
25. Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)
Not Rated | 79 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Evil aliens attack Earth and set their terrible "Plan 9" into action. As the aliens resurrect the dead of the Earth, the lives of the living are in danger.
Director: Edward D. Wood Jr. | Stars: Gregory Walcott, Tom Keene, Mona McKinnon, Duke Moore
Votes: 40,393
26. Kronos (1957)
Approved | 78 min | Action, Drama, Horror
Aliens from another world send a huge robotic accumulator to invade the Earth and absorb all energy it comes in contact with.
Director: Kurt Neumann | Stars: Jeff Morrow, Barbara Lawrence, John Emery, George O'Hanlon
Votes: 2,054
27. On the Beach (1959)
Approved | 134 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
After a global nuclear war, the residents of Australia must come to terms with the fact that all life will be destroyed in a matter of months.
Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins
Votes: 14,404 | Gross: $11.00M
28. It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)
Not Rated | 79 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
A giant, radioactive octopus rises from the Philippine Trench to terrorize the North American Pacific Coast.
Director: Robert Gordon | Stars: Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue, Donald Curtis, Ian Keith
Votes: 6,349
29. Destination Moon (1950)
Not Rated | 92 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
"Destination Moon", tells the tale of when Doctor Charles Cargraves and retired General Thayer approach Jim Barnes, the head of his own aviation construction firms to help build a rocket that will take them to the moon.
Director: Irving Pichel | Stars: John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers, Dick Wesson
Votes: 4,691 | Gross: $5.00M
30. Monster on the Campus (1958)
Approved | 77 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The blood of a primitive fish exposed to gamma rays causes a benign research professor to regress to an ape-like, bloodthirsty prehistoric hominid.
Director: Jack Arnold | Stars: Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore, Judson Pratt, Nancy Walters
Votes: 2,073
31. The Giant Claw (1957)
Approved | 75 min | Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Global panic ensues when it is revealed that a mysterious UFO is actually a giant bird that flies at supersonic speed and has no regard for life or architecture.
Director: Fred F. Sears | Stars: Jeff Morrow, Mara Corday, Morris Ankrum, Louis Merrill
Votes: 4,417
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