Items25The creator’s order
  1. 1Destination Moon (1950)Destination Moon (1950) 6.3/10 on IMDbReleased Jun 27, 1950Where the decade's boom took off, and a rare one that takes the engineering seriously. Robert A. Heinlein worked on the script, Chesley Bonestell's matte paintings supply the lunar landscapes, and a Woody Woodpecker cartoon pops up to explain rocketry to the backers. It won the Oscar for its…0
  2. 2The Thing from Another World (1951)The Thing from Another World (1951) 7.0/10 on IMDbReleased Apr 5, 1951A genuine classic, and the snappiest-talking monster movie of the decade. Made by Howard Hawks's company, with Christian Nyby credited as director, it lets its Arctic crew talk over one another, which gives the base a lived-in, wisecracking warmth before the dread sets in. James Arness plays the…0
  3. 3When Worlds Collide (1951)When Worlds Collide (1951) 6.6/10 on IMDbReleased Sep 14, 1951The original disaster blockbuster: a runaway star heads for Earth, and a team races to build a space ark that can carry a chosen few off the planet. George Pal produced it in Technicolor from the 1933 novel by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie, with Chesley Bonestell advising on the ark's design, and…0
  4. 4The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) 7.7/10 on IMDbReleased Sep 18, 1951The serious one to start with. An alien visitor and his robot, Gort, arrive with a warning about humanity's weapons, and Robert Wise wanted it to look as realistic and believable as possible, which makes the message land harder. Bernard Herrmann's score uses two theremins, and that eerie wail…0
  5. 5The War of the Worlds (1953)The War of the Worlds (1953) 7.0/10 on IMDbReleased Apr 3, 1953The big-screen spectacle of the decade. Producer George Pal and director Byron Haskin move H. G. Wells from Victorian England to 1950s Southern California and shoot the destruction in saturated Technicolor that still looks gorgeous. Its effects won an Oscar, and the Martian attacks hold up far…0
  6. 6Invaders from Mars (1953)Invaders from Mars (1953) 6.3/10 on IMDbReleased Apr 9, 1953A paranoid fever dream told from a child's height. A boy sees a saucer land behind his house, then watches his father, and soon his mother, turn cold and wrong. Director William Cameron Menzies builds sets with bare walls that stretch far too high, which makes the grown-up world feel like a…0
  7. 7It Came from Outer Space (1953)It Came from Outer Space (1953) 6.5/10 on IMDbReleased Jun 5, 1953The thoughtful saucer movie. Built from a film treatment by Ray Bradbury, it imagines visitors stranded in the desert who mean no harm, which turns the usual invasion story into a plea for patience with strangers. Jack Arnold directed it as Universal's first film in 3D, so the meteor crash was…0
  8. 8The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) 6.6/10 on IMDbReleased Jun 13, 1953The American film that started the atomic-monster craze: an Arctic bomb test thaws a dinosaur, which heads for New York. It is considered the first live-action film to feature a giant monster unleashed by an atomic bomb, and its lighthouse attack comes straight from Ray Bradbury's story "The Fog…0
  9. 9Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) 6.9/10 on IMDbReleased Mar 5, 1954The best monster suit of the decade, and the underwater photography makes it. Ricou Browning plays the Gill-man in the swimming scenes, gliding beneath the cast in shots that are beautiful and creepy at once. Milicent Patrick designed the creature's head and face, a credit that went mostly to Bud…0
  10. 10Them! (1954)Them! (1954) 7.2/10 on IMDbReleased Jun 16, 1954Giant ants, played completely straight, and that is why it works. Gordon Douglas directs like a police procedural, so the strange discoveries in the New Mexico desert and the slow piecing-together of clues build real tension before the first ant appears. It was the first of the decade's big-bug…0