71 Best Sci-Fi Movies of the 1950s
Discover the best science-fiction movies of the 1950s, the golden age when the movies mind-melded with the public consciousness. Through sci-fi, all the things poking and prodding at everyday American life launched themselves upon the sliver screen. (Also they were super cheap to make; can’t be blowing all your post-war prosperity bucks on rubber masks and strings for flying saucers.)
Things looking up thanks to Space Age optimism? That was reflected in the two movies that kicked off the sci-fi craze of the decade: Destination Moon and Rocketship X-M, dueling 1950 productions racing for title of first serious outer-space feature.
Threat of Cold War nuclear annihilation and the fatal chase of the arms race? See! The War of the Worlds, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Invaders From Mars, On the Beach, and even Plan 9 From Outer Space.
The Hollywood Blacklist and McCarthyism got you eyeballing your neighbors with suspicion? Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Got bugs and pests invading your curated suburban home and sullying the white picket fence out front? Creature features forever: Them!, The Fly, Tarantula, The Blob, The Black Scorpion, and Creature From the Black Lagoon.
Beyond our borders, Japan launched the longest-running sci-fi series with Godzilla, with quick follow-up rides Godzilla Raids Again and Rodan. In England, the cross sci-fi experiments with horror were lead with The Quatermass Xperiment and The Curse of Frankenstein.
We’ve collected every science-fiction movie from the ’50s and ranked them by Tomatometer score, with Certified Fresh movies first, including The Thing From Another World (based on the same source material of John Carpenter‘s The Thing), Forbidden Planet (in color and shot ultra-wide), and The Incredible Shrinking Man.
#1
Critics Consensus: One of the best political allegories of the 1950s, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an efficient, chilling blend of sci-fi and horror.
Synopsis: In Santa Mira, California, Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) is baffled when all his patients come to him with the
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#2
Critics Consensus: Socially minded yet entertaining, The Day the Earth Stood Still imparts its moral of peace and understanding without didacticism.
Synopsis: When a UFO lands in Washington, D.C., bearing a message for Earth's leaders, all of humanity stands still. Klaatu (Michael
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#3
Critics Consensus: Deliciouly funny to some and eerily presicient to others, The Fly walks a fine line between shlocky fun and unnerving nature parable.
Synopsis: When scientist Andre Delambre (Al Hedison) tests his matter transporter on himself, an errant housefly makes its way into the
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#4
Critics Consensus: More than straight monster-movie fare, Gojira offers potent, sobering postwar commentary.
Synopsis: A fire-breathing behemoth terrorizes Japan after an atomic bomb awakens it from its centuries-old sleep.
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#5
Critics Consensus: One of the best creature features of the early atomic age, Them! features effectively menacing special effects and avoids the self-parody that would taint later monster movies.
Synopsis: While investigating a series of mysterious deaths, Sergeant Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) finds a young girl (Sandy Descher) who is
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#6
Critics Consensus: Shakespeare gets the deluxe space treatment in Forbidden Planet, an adaptation of The Tempest with impressive sets and seamless special effects.
Synopsis: In this sci-fi classic, a spacecraft travels to the distant planet Altair IV to discover the fate of a group
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#7
Critics Consensus: As flying saucer movies go, The Thing From Another World is better than most, thanks to well-drawn characters and concise, tense plotting.
Synopsis: When scientist Dr. Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite) reports a UFO near his North Pole research base, the Air Force sends in
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#8
Critics Consensus: A curiously sensitive and spiritual addition to the Universal Monsters line-up, tacking on deep questions about a story who is shrinking to death.
Synopsis: While on a boating trip, Scott Carey (Grant Williams) is exposed to a radioactive cloud. Nothing seems amiss at first,
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#9
Critics Consensus: A solid, atmospheric creature feature that entertains without attempting to be deeper than it needs.
Synopsis: Remnants of a mysterious animal have come to light in a remote jungle, and a group of scientists intends to
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#10
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Chemist Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) is at a crossroads in his career. He's been trying to invent a long-lasting clothing
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#11
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: From his observatory, Scottish professor Elliot (Raymond Bond) keeps close watch on Planet X, whose orbit is coming close to
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#12
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Desert scientists (John Agar, Mara Corday, Leo G. Carroll) try to stop a fortified spider the size of a building.
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#13
Critics Consensus: One of Disney's finest live-action adventures, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea brings Jules Verne's classic sci-fi tale to vivid life, and features an awesome giant squid.
Synopsis: In 1866, Professor Pierre M. Aronnax (Paul Lukas) and his assistant Conseil (Peter Lorre), stranded in San Francisco by reports
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#14
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Near the Arctic Circle researchers detonate a nuclear device and unwittingly thaw a prehistoric beast frozen for millions of years.
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#15
Critics Consensus: Though it's dated in spots, The War of the Worlds retains an unnerving power, updating H.G. Wells' classic sci-fi tale to the Cold War era and featuring some of the best special effects of any 1950s film.
Synopsis: Scientist Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) and Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) are the first to arrive at the site of
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#16
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A British rocket scientist (Brian Donlevy) hunts an astronaut monstrously enveloped by an alien fungus.
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#17
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Curious adolescent boy David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) confronts aliens who have set up base in his backyard. The extraterrestrials intend
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#18
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Marge (Gloria Talbott) is worried about her husband, Bill (Tom Tryon). Ever since they got married, he has acted oddly,
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#19
Critics Consensus: A silly but fun movie with everything you'd want from a sci-fi blockbuster -- heroic characters, menacing villains, monsters, big sets and special effects.
Synopsis: A geologist (James Mason) and his assistant (Pat Boone) set off on an expedition to the center of the earth.
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#20
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) is a brilliant scientist willing to stop at nothing in his quest to reanimate a deceased
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#21
Critics Consensus: It Came From Outer Space is a pulpy-but-effective psychological sci-fi picture, with a provocative message about xenophobia.
Synopsis: While looking through his telescope one night, John Putnam (Richard Carlson) sees what at first appears to be a meteor
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#22
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: After Dr. Bronson (Hayden Rorke) discovers Zyra, a new planet, fellow astronomer Dr. Hendron (Larry Keating) checks Bronson's data and
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#23
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Two detective-school graduates (Bud Abbott, Lou Costello) help a framed boxer who can make himself disappear.
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#24
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Professor Bernard Quatermass (Brian Donlevy), in his attempts to convince the British government to colonize the moon, learns that thousands
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#25
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Every time a scientist (Robert Lansing) penetrates matter he drains his life-force, which must be replaced.
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#26
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A scientist falls prey to the clever schemings of an obnoxious extraterrestrial in this cult classic from Roger Corman.
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#27
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: After World War III, Australia is the only remaining haven for mankind. However, wind currents carrying lingering radiation all but
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#28
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Dr. Warren Chapin (Vincent Price) has made a surprising discovery -- the spine-chilling sensation that people get when scared is
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#29
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: It's the future -- 1973 -- and a rescue team is sent to fetch Col. Edward Carruthers (Marshall Thompson), the
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#30
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A bug-eating pterodactyl flies out of a coal mine and wrecks Japan with sonic booms.
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#31
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A manned space flight from Venus crash lands in the Mediterranean, losing its most precious cargo: reptilian eggs from the
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#32
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A space scientist (Hugh Marlowe) figures out how to down a fleet of alien spacecraft looming over Washington, D.C.
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#33
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Scientist Cal Meacham (Rex Reason) solves a mysterious puzzle that allows him access to a highly secretive program -- led
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#34
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Turned into a giantess by an alien, a woman (Allison Hayes) finds her husband (William Hudson) in a bar with
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#35
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A team of scientists land on a tropical island to study the effects of radiation fallout. When the island begins
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#36
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A bartender sends his wife (Yvette Vickers) and her lover (Michael Emmet) into a swamp where large smart leeches lurk.
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#37
Critics Consensus: In spite of its chortle-worthy premise and dated special effects, The Blob remains a prime example of how satisfying cheesy B-movie monster thrills can be.
Synopsis: A drive-in favorite, this sci-fi classic follows teenagers Steve (Steven McQueen) and his best girl, Jane (Aneta Corseaut), as they
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#38
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A team composed of an aerospace scientist (Warner Anderson), an ex-Air Force general (Tom Powers) and an industrialist (John Archer)
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#39
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A scientist's (Marshall Thompson) atomic-powered thoughts materialize as deadly flying brains with trailing spinal cords.
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#40
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: In a small Swiss resort town, sisters Anne (Janet Munro) and Sarah Pilgrim (Jennifer Jayne) are worried by Anne's telepathic
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#41
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: An atomic researcher (Dean Jagger) in Scotland links radiation burns to throbbing mud from the center of the Earth.
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#42
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: After a volcano erupts south of the border, people and animals begin inexplicably dying. Earth scientists Hank (Richard Denning) and
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#43
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A gold thief and his crew hole up in a skier's lodge and come across a scary monster covered in
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#44
Critics Consensus: The epitome of so-bad-it's-good cinema, Plan 9 From Outer Space is an unintentionally hilarious sci-fi "thriller" from anti-genius Ed Wood that is justly celebrated for its staggering ineptitude.
Synopsis: Residents of California's San Fernando Valley are under attack by flying saucers from outer space. The aliens, led by Eros
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#45
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
#46
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Policemen Slim (Bud Abbott) and Tubby (Lou Costello) go to London and meet a doctor (Boris Karloff) and his evil
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#47
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Mankind faces its greatest challenge when an alien robot ravages the countryside intent on absorbing Earth's energy.
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#48
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: While on a routine mission, Cmdr. Pete Mathews (Kenneth Tobey) runs into trouble when his submarine is nearly sunk by
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#49
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Turn-of-the-century authorities search for a killer who surgically removes his victims' thyroid glands.
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#50
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: An earthquake doesn't just shake up Southern California -- it awakens a nest of monsters lurking in the Salton Sea.
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#51
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Dr. Eric Vornoff is a scientist trying to use nuclear energy to transform people into superhuman beings. Despite his efforts,
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#52
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A captain (Walter Brooke), his son (Eric Fleming), a sergeant (Mickey Shaughnessy) and crew take off from a space station
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#53
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A cosmetics queen is transformed into a murderous monster after she uses an insect chemical to preserve her beauty.
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#54
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Scientists (Jeff Morrow, Rex Reason) capture the creature from the black lagoon and turn him into an air breather.
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#55
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A meat-eating teenager (Michael Landon) sees a psychiatrist (Whit Bissell), who only makes things worse.
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#56
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Capt. Thorne Sherman lands his ship on an isolated island to make a delivery, only to find that mad doctor
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#57
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: An astronaut (Hugh Marlowe) and his buddies land on 26th-century Earth and find men meek and women friendly.
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#58
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: They wear black tights and lure astronauts (Sonny Tufts, Victor Jory, Marie Windsor) lunar.
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#59
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Air Force pilots (Cesar Romero, Chick Chandler) lead a search for a lost rocket and crash-land on an island of
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#60
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Philippe Delambre (Brett Halsey) has been wrestling with his family legacy for years, knowing that his father perished as a
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#61
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Earthlings (George Nader, Claudia Barrett, Selena Royle) flee from the Ro-Man, a martian in a gorilla suit with a diving
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#62
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A spaceship takes two buddies (Bud Abbott, Lou Costello) to Mardi Gras and then Venus, where men are not allowed.
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#63
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Husband-and-wife scientists (Peter Graves, Andrea King) pick up a pie-in-the-sky TV message supposedly from Mars.
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#64
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Professor Frankenstein (Whit Bissell) creates a teenager from an accident victim, who gets angry when he learns he is going
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#65
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Bad alien Gor takes over scientist Steve's (John Agar) brain; good alien Vol takes over Steve's dog's brain.
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#66
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: After a couple of teenagers go missing in a small Texas town, everyone assumes they've run off to the big
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#67
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: An alien from a dying planet brings five average people from England, Germany, China, the Soviet Union and the United
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#68
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Astronauts attempt to thwart a plot to destroy Earth when they land on Venus and are captured by angry Amazons.
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#69
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Special effects by Willis O'Brien ("King Kong") highlight this tale of a radioactive sea monster's assault on Britain.
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#70
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Florida aquarium workers (John Agar, Lori Nelson, John Bromfield) communicate by cattle prod with a captured gill-man.
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#71
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Chief Warrant Officer Sam Jacobs (Jack Kruschen), Dr. Iris Ryan (Nora Hayden), Professor Theodore Gettell (Les Tremayne) and Col. Tom
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