Syfy movies in the 1960s exploded. Yes, a pun. Beginning in the 1950s and continuing into the 60s the fear of atomic bombs and a nuclear war fed an expansion of this sub-genre of science fiction. Most of these films were cheap B movies. The best movie from this group actually slips back into 1959, “On the Beach”.
“On the Beach” was a more realistic look at the outcome of a World War III nuclear war. It was based on a best selling novel, had a big budget and a great cast including Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins and Ava Gardner. The storyline follows the crew of a nuclear submarine that docks in southern Australia after the northern hemisphere is decimated with radioactivity. The film ends with an overt message, “There is still time…Brother.” It was a bit of a soap opera, but relayed a great message in a serious film.
1960 did not see much in the way of outer space adventures excluding a couple of comedy vehicles, but it did have three films worth noting. “The Last Woman on Earth”, “The Lost World”, and “The Time Machine”.
“The Last Woman on Earth” is interesting mainly because so many recent films and even a television series seems to play off the story line of two men and a woman being the only people left on Earth. It is a Roger Corman film and needs little further discussion.
“The Lost World” to me is a classic. A scientist, Professor Challenger (I love the name) leads an expedition into the Amazon basic to study an isolated plateau. They get stuck on the plateau when a dinosaur destroys their helicopter. From there the adventure continues with dinosaurs, cannibals, killer plants and a great volcano to destroy all evidence of their find. Well, they did bring out a dinosaur egg that hatches into a baby tyrannosaurus rex. Okay, maybe this is a guilty pleasure.
“The Time Machine” with Rod Taylor is a great film. I like it much better than the remake, although we do have to deal with 1960 special effects.
1961 does take us off world with “The Phantom Planet”. It is not a great film, but does bring us an interesting storyline. A planet is approaching Earth. It turns out that the planet is a planet converted into a spaceship, but the humanoid creatures have all died. Could be end of the world except for out adventurous heroes.
One of my two favorite films from 1961 is a film loosely based on Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island. Other than the Captain Nemo (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) the film today reminds me of a bigger budget version of the 1960 “The Lost World”. It still stands up as a great fantasy adventure.
My other favorite film from 1961 science fiction is “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”. Rather than facing extinction from a nuclear war, the problem this time is the potential loss of the Van Allen Belt. It has a great cast, an interesting story, and was eventually turned into a popular TV series.
1962 left a lot to be desired. “Journey to the Seventh Planet” at least gets us back into space. It is a pretty weak entry though.
1963 brings us “The Day of the Triffids”. The best thing about this film is the title. It is based on a novel by John Wyndham, but the movie strays far from the book. Basically the world is being conquered by alien plant spores.
1964 gave us a couple of cult classics: “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” which I don’t care for, and “Robinson Crusoe on Mars” which I loved as a kid and still have fond memories of the film with Adam West (out of his Batman costume). “Robinson Crusoe on Mars” is a much more simplistic version of Matt Damon’s “The Martian”. Which is more entertaining? I’ll leave that to you. Which is more science-y? “The Martian”.
One other film I would like to mention is “The Last Man on Earth”. I thought it was Roger Corman as Vincent Price is the protagonist, but it is actually an Italian/US film. This is the first version that I am aware of, of Richard Matheson’s novel “I am Legend”. The film was remade as “The Omega Man” with Charleton Heston, and more recently as “I am Legend” with Will Smith. The book is often given credit as the source material for all zombie movies.
Of this five year period I’ll have to vote for “The Time Machine” as my favorite. So what do you think? Do you have a favorite science fiction movie from 1960-64 that I missed?