Classic Science Fiction Movies

Introduction

Appropriately, as this is being written, the year 2000 is only two days old and the true beginning of the new millenium and the 21st Century are only a year away. Therefore, what better time to put together a directory of some of the best science fiction movies of the 20th Century! It should be no surprise that this is my favorite genre of movies, and the task was rather daunting to select just a few of the literally hundreds of science fiction films that have been produced since 1900. Undoubtedly I've left out some that you might like better and included some that would not make your personal "best of" list. So, to explain my selections, here are a few ground rules I followed:

• With only one or two exceptions, these movies are ones that I either have in my personal video collection or have seen at least once.

• Again with a few notable exceptions, I've excluded movies that, in my opinion, are better classified as "horror," "fantasy," or "science fiction comedy." The movies I've excluded include some recent films that I personally consider to be little more than "horror movies in space." (I'll discuss this topic more in the intro to the 1990s page.)

• Where there have been sequels and remakes of prior films, those sequels and remakes are not given their own directory entries, but are instead listed within the original movies' listings. For example, "The Empire Strikes Back," "Return of the Jedi," and "The Phantom Menace" are included under the main listing for "Star Wars."

• I originally intended to include only my "Top 10" for each decade, but found that very hard to do, especially for the 1950s which, by any definition, has to be considered the "Golden Age" of science fiction. Therefore, in most cases I've presented more than ten movies for each decade.

As you may have guessed by know, the directory is arranged more or less chronologically by decade, with the decade of the 1950s consisting of several pages. Links to all decades are found at the bottom of each page. A final page will present my picks as the Top 10 Science Fiction Movies of All Time.

Pre-1950 Science Fiction

The science fiction movies of the first five decades of the 1900s include films that set the standard for just about the full range of sub-genres that we have grown accustomed to, including: space exploration (A Trip to the Moon - 1902), space war (Buck Rogers - 1939), aliens attack Earth (Flash Gordon - 1936, future life (Metropolis - 1926), time warp (The Lost World - 1925), mad scientist (Frankenstein - 1931), and mutant Earth creatures (King Kong - 1933). So, here's my "Top 11" science fiction movies of the 1900s to 1940s - including the 1902 short subject film (16 minutes) "A Trip to the Moon."

A Trip to the Moon
(1902 - 16 min - Silent) **

Plot: Perhaps the very first science fiction movie ever made, this short film combined elements from novels by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells to tell about a fantastic trip to the moon.

Directed by George Melies

The Lost World
(1925 - 69 min - Silent) ****

Plot: Silent film about an expedition into an unexplored jungle teeming with dinosaurs from the Jurassic era. In this version, one of the dinosaurs if brought back to London. (Based on the novel by Arthur Conan Doyle and undoubtedly had some influence on the "Jurassic Park" movies.)

Bessie Love
Wallace Beery
Lewis Stone
Directed by Harry Hoyt

Remake:

Lost World (1960 - 98 min) ****

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Metropolis
(1926 - 115 min - Silent) ****

Plot: Futuristic German tale of class conflict in a city where the wealthy leaders live in skyscrapers and the workers live underground toiling at huge machines.

Brigitte Helm
Alfred Abel
Gustav Froelich
Rudolf Klein-Rogge
Fritz Rasp
Directed by Fritz Lang

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Woman in the Moon
aka "Girl in the Moon" and "By Rocket to the Moon"
(1929 - 108 min - Silent) ****

Plot: Another futuristic tale by Fritz Lang, which featured the first multi-stage rocket and influenced an early generation of German rocketeers, including Werhner von Braun, who was a key figure in the U.S. space program and the success of the Apollo missions to the Moon.

Willy Fritsch
Klaus Pohl
Gustav von Wangernheim
Gerda Maurus
Fritz Rasp
Gustl Stark Gstettenbaur
Karl Platen
Directed by Fritz Lang

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Frankenstein
(1931 - 70 min) ***

Plot: Classic story of the mad scientist who creates a living being but inadvertently gives him a criminal mind. (Based on the novel by Mary Shelley.)

Coline Clive
Mae Clarke
Boris Karloff
John Boles
Edward Van Sloan
Dwight Frye
Frederick Kerr
Lionel Belmore
Directed by James Whale

Sequels

House of Dracula (1945 - 67 min) **

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The Invisible Man
(1933 - 71 min) ****

Plot: A scientist discovers the secret to invisibility, but he goes mad in the process. (Based on the novel by H.G. Wells.)

Claude Rains
Gloria Stuart
Una O'Connor
William Harrigan
Dudley Digges
Dwight Frye
Directed by James Whale

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King Kong
(1933 - 105 min) *****

Plot: Explorers find a gigantic ape who grows attached to a young maiden; but when the ape is brought to New York City, he goes wild and meets his fate at the top of the Empire State Building.

Fay Wray
Robert Armstrong
Bruce Cabot
Frank Reicher
Sam Hardy
Nobel Johnson
James Flavin
Directed by Merian Cooper, Ernest Schoedsack

Sequels:

King Kong (2006 Remake - ___ min)

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Flash Gordon: Spaceship to the Unknown
(1936 - 97 min) ***

Plot: With the planet Mongo headed toward a collision with Earth, Flash, Dale Arden, and Dr. Zarkov fly to the rescue against the evil Emperor Ming. (Feature version of the 13-part (416 min) serial "Flash Gordon.")

Buster Crabbe
Jean Rogers
Frank Shannon
Charles Middleton
Priscilla Lawson
Directed by Frederick Stephani

Sequels:

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940 - 87 min) **
(Based on the 12-part (384 min) serial. Also known as "Purple Death from Outer Space.")

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Things to Come
(1936 - 92 min) ****

Plot: Prophetic British look at mankind's future, which predicted World War II, followed by disease, revolution, and space travel. (Based on the novel by H.G. Wells.)

Raymond Massey
Cedric Hardwicke
Ralph Richardson
Ann Todd
Directed by William Cameron Menzies

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Buck Rogers: Destination Saturn
(1939 - 91 min) ***

Plot: Buck Rogers and Buddy Wade are revived from suspended animation and fight Killer Kane and his space gangsters. (Feature version of the 12-part (384 min) serial "Buck Rogers.")

Buster Crabbe
Saul Goodkind
Constance Moore
Jackie Moran
Jack Mulhall
Anthony Warde
Directed by Ford Beebe

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Dr. Cyclops
(1940 - 76 min) ***

Plot: A crazed scientist shrinks five visitors to a foot height, with the result that everything around them presents extreme danger. (The first science fiction movies to be filmed in color.)

Albert Dekker
Thomas Coley
Janice Logan
Directed by Ernest Schoedsack

For More Information

Many of the movies in this directory have been released on video and should be available through your local video stores or the many online video stores. Many of them also air occasionally on such cable TV networks as American Movie Classics, Turner Classic Movies, and TNT Network, among others.

| 1950s SciFi 1 > |

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