When I think of the 1950s and science fiction movies I’m a beat embarrassed. Most of the Syfy movies of the 50s were cheap “B” movies. One of the biggest hits in the Syfy category would be the Japanese movie Godzilla. It is now a cult favorite, but the zipper suits are a bit off-putting, and the plot? No comment. Perhaps I’m confusing the original with the dozens of subsequent films that included Godzilla in the title.
Next, you could look at horror and Syfy. “The Thing” (1951) brought us James Arness or Marshall Dillon in a costume. Like most monster movies its the fear factor rather than the costume that grabs us. In 1956 we had Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which I always thing of as a version of Robert Heinlein’s “The Puppet Masters”. Two other films worth mentioning in this sub-genre are “The Fly” (1958) and “The Blob” (also 1958) that stared Steve McQueen.
When it comes to adventure and science fiction (my personal favorite) one of the best science fiction movies of all time, and especially the 1950s was “Forbidden Planet”. For the period it did a fair job with special effects, had a great cast, was well-written with a very good story line. This one is worth watching if you haven’t seen it. Three others that came out in the 1950s that I will rewatch almost any time include “20,000 Leagues under the Sea” with Kirk Douglas (1954), “Journey to the Center of the Earth” with James Mason in 1959) and “The War of the Worlds” in 1953.
For dystopian fans, I’d recommend “On the Beach” (1959) with Gregory Peck, Ava Gardener, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins.
Okay, the 1950s wasn’t really embarrassing for Syfy, but if you pull out these and a few other exceptions it wasn’t a high point in Syfy movie making.