The 40 most popular 1940s science fiction movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Radio Ranch
1940 · 1h 10m · US
Re-edited feature version of serial The Phantom Empire (1935). Singer Gene Autry discovers a race of advanced humans living beneath the earth.


Sideral Cruises
1942 · 1h 28m · FR
Robert and Françoise Monier make a hot air balloon to fly to the stratosphere. After a visit to Venus, they return home, but have only aged 15 days whereas 25 years have passed on Earth.


Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
1943 · 1h 14m · US
After being resurrected by grave robbers, Larry Talbot searches for Dr. Frankenstein in the hopes of being cured of his lycanthropy. The mad scientist may turn out to be dead, but his monster is just waiting to be found…


Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1941 · 1h 53m · US
Dr. Jekyll believes good and evil exist in everyone and creates a potion that allows his evil side, Mr. Hyde, to come to the fore. He faces horrible consequences when he lets his dark side run amok.


The Ghost of Frankenstein
1942 · 1h 8m · US
Frankenstein's unscrupulous colleague, Dr. Bohmer, plans to transplant Ygor's brain so he can rule the world using the monster's body, but the plan goes sour when he turns malevolent and goes on a rampage.


House of Dracula
1945 · 1h 4m · US
A scientist working on cures for rare afflictions, such as a bone softening agent made from molds to allow him to correct the spinal deformity of his nurse, finds the physical causes of lycanthropy in wolf-man Larry Talbot and of vampirism in Count Dracula, but himself becomes afflicted with homicidal madness while exchanging blood with Dracula.


The Invisible Man Returns
1940 · 1h 21m · US
The owner of a coal mining operation, falsely imprisoned for fratricide, takes a drug to make him invisible, despite its side effect: gradual madness.


Chemistry and Love
1948 · 1h 38m · DE
A chemist and his assistant make a groundbreaking discovery. They manage to make butter directly from pasture grass without having to deal with either the cow or the use of dairy products. An industrialist attempts to seize the invention.


Drums of Fu Manchu
1940 · 4h 29m · US
The nefarious Dr. Fu Manchu searches for the keys to the tomb of Genghis Khan, in order to fulfill a prophecy that will enable him to conquer the world. His nemesi, Dr. Nayland Smith and his associates fight to keep the evil doctor from getting his hands on the keys. In 1943 the serial was edited together into a feature movie also called Drums of Fu Manchu.


Japoteurs
1942 · 9m · US
Superman vs. Japanese spies hijacking a new super-bomber.


One Million B.C.
1940 · 1h 20m · US
One Million B.C. is a 1940 American fantasy film produced by Hal Roach Studios and released by United Artists. It is also known by the titles Cave Man, Man and His Mate, and Tumak. The film stars Victor Mature as protagonist Tumak, a young cave man who strives to unite the uncivilized Rock Tribe and the peaceful Shell Tribe, Carole Landis as Loana, daughter of the Shell Tribe chief and Tumak's love interest, and Lon Chaney, Jr. as Tumak's stern father and leader of the Rock Tribe.


The Invisible Man's Revenge
1944 · 1h 18m · US
A fugitive, dangerous madman reaches an English village where he confronts his former partner who left him for dead in the jungle after their discovery of a diamond mine. When the former partner also claims to have since lost the mine and all its wealth, which he took all for himself, and though the partner is still living in a state of luxury , the madman takes up an offer from a crazed scientist to make him invisible, something the scientist has already done with experimental animals, so that he can take revenge.


Before I Hang
1940 · 1h 2m · US
Dr. John Garth conducting an innovative medical experiment aimed at prolonging life and combating aging. The experiment takes an unexpected turn, placing the doctor in a confrontation with the ethics of his work and the consequences of his research.


House of Frankenstein
1944 · 1h 11m · US
Deranged scientist, Gustav Niemann, escapes from prison and overtakes the director of a traveling chamber of horrors, soon reviving the infamous Count Dracula, the frozen Frankenstein Monster, and the Wolf Man.


Adventures of Captain Marvel
1941 · 3h 36m · US
On a scientific expedition to Siam young Billy Batson is given the ability to change himself into the super-powered Captain Marvel by the wizard Shazam, who tells him his powers will last only as long as the Golden Scorpion idol is threatened. Finding the idol, the scientists realize it could be the most powerful weapon in the world and remove the lenses that energize it, distributing them among themselves so that no one would be able to use the idol by himself. Back in the US, Billy Batson, as Captain Marvel, wages a battle against an evil, hooded figure, the Scorpion, who hopes to accumulate all five lenses, thereby gaining control of the super-powerful weapon


The Missing Lady
1946 · 1h
While investigating the theft of a valuable jade statue known as "The Missing Lady" -- and the subsequent murder of an art dealer -- imperceptible sleuth Lamont Cranston aka the Shadow finds himself being blamed for the crime. It doesn't help the Shadow's claims of innocence when more bodies begin piling up. Good thing he knows exactly who's guilty among an increasingly smaller group of suspects.


Captain America
1944 · 4h 4m · US
Superhero Captain America battles the evil forces of the archvillain called The Scarab, who poisons his enemies and steals a secret device capable of destroying buildings by sound vibrations.


Batman and Robin
1949 · 4h 23m · US
This 15-chapter serial pits Batman and Robin against The Wizard, who uses a device that allows him to control machinery to hold the city hostage.


Invisible Agent
1942 · 1h 21m · US
Frank Raymond, grandson of the original Invisible Man, uses his family's secret chemical formula to become invisible and volunteer as an Allied spy following the attack on Pearl Harbor. He infiltrates Nazi Germany to outwit Axis agents, recover a stolen spy list, and thwart a planned aerial attack on New York City.


King of the Rocket Men
1949 · 2h 47m · US
Prof. Millard pretends to be dead and helps Jeff King ferret out Vulcan, the evil traitor at the science academy. Donning his Rocket Man costume King goes from one hair raising rescue to the next in order to keep the newly invented Decimator out of the clutches of Vulcan and his minions.


Man-Made Monster
1941 · 1h · US
Mad scientist turns a man into an electrically-controlled monster to do his bidding.


The Man with Nine Lives
1940 · 1h 14m · US
Dr. Leon Kravaal develops a potential cure for cancer, which involves freezing the patient. But an experiment goes awry when authorities believe Kravaal has killed a patient. Kravaal freezes the officials, along with himself. Years later, they are discovered and revived in hopes that Kravaal can indeed complete his cure. But human greed and weakness compound to disrupt the project.


Superman
1948 · 4h 4m · US
Superman comes to Earth as a child and grows up to be his home's first superhero with his first major challenge being to oppose The Spider Lady.


The Launching of Spaceship-1
1940 · 24m · DE
In front of television crews and thousands of spectators, Spaceship-1—commanded by Commodore Hardt, inventor of the powerful rocket fuel "Neotan-X"—blasts off on the first flight to the Moon.


Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
1940 · 3h 15m · US
A mysterious plague, the Purple Death, ravages the earth. Dr. Zarkov, investigating in his spaceship, finds a ship from planet Mongo seeding the atmosphere with dust. Sure enough, Ming the Merciless is up to his old tricks. So it's back to Mongo for Flash, Dale, and Zarkov.


Black Friday
1940 · 1h 10m · US
University professor George Kingsley is struck by gangsters while crossing the street, leaving him with brain damage and one of the gangsters, Cannon, paralyzed. Kingsley's friend Dr. Sovac attends to both men, and when Cannon offers him a reward for aiding his recovery, Kovac transplants part of Cannon's brain into the dying Kingsley's skull, creating a dual personality.


Mysterious Island
1941 · 1h 15m · SU
Based on Verne's book The Mysterious Island, five POWs escape from a camp in a balloon during the Civil War and crash-land on an uninhabited island in the Pacific. Trying to settle with their lives they find someone is helping them.


The Invisible Woman
1940 · 1h 12m · US
Kitty Carroll, an attractive store model, volunteers to become a test subject for a machine that will make her invisible so that she can use her invisibility to exact revenge on her ex-boss.


Superman
1941 · 10m · US
After The Daily Planet receives a letter from a mad scientist threatening to wreak destruction with his Electrothanasia Ray, Lois Lane heads out in the hopes of getting more information for a news story.


Dr. Cyclops
1940 · 1h 3m · US
Four explorers are summoned to Peru by the brilliant physicist Dr Thorkel. They discover a rich source of radium and a half-mad Thorkel who shrinks them down to one-fifth their normal size when they threaten to stop his unorthodox experimentation.


The Mechanical Monsters
1941 · 10m · US
Superman battles a criminal mastermind and his robot army.


Terror on the Midway
1942 · 8m · US
When things go wrong at the circus, it's up to Superman to stop the escaped animals.


Son of Ingagi
1940 · 1h 10m · US
After inheriting a manor from a reclusive wealthy doctor, a newlywed couple is surprised to discover a tempestuous ape-man lurking in the cellar.


The Monster and the Girl
1941 · 1h 5m · US
After a young woman is coerced into prostitution and her brother framed for murder by an organized crime syndicate, retribution in the form of an ape visits the mobsters.


Dr. Renault's Secret
1942 · 58m · US
A remake of the 1927 horror film "The Wizard". Dr. Larry Forbes arrives in a remote French village to visit his fiancée who lives with her scientist father Dr. Renault and his Ape-like manservant Noel. Several Murders coincide with Dr. Forbes arrival, with clues pointing in multiple directions.


The Arctic Giant
1942 · 9m · US
A frozen Tyrannosaurus rex is found and put on display in a museum, but when he thaws out and revives, Superman has to stop his rampage!


The Green Hornet
1940 · 4h 18m · US
A newspaper publisher and his Korean servant fight crime as vigilantes who pose as a notorious masked gangster and his aide.


The Devil Bat
1940 · 1h 8m · US
Dr. Paul Carruthers is frustrated because he thinks his employers, Mary Heath and Henry Morton, have cheated him out of the company's profits. He decides to get revenge by altering bats to grow twice their normal size and training them to attack when they smell a perfume of his own making. He mixes the perfume into a lotion, which he offers as a gift to Mary and Henry. When they turn up dead, a newspaper reporter decides to investigate.


The Jungle Captive
1945 · 1h 3m · US
Once again Paula the ape woman is brought back to life, this time by a mad doctor and his disfigured assistant, who also kidnaps a nurse in order to have a female blood donor.


The Lady and the Monster
1944 · 1h 26m · US
A millionaire's brain is preserved after his death by a scientist and his two assistants, only to create a telepathic monster.
1940s cinema is split by the war: propaganda and home-front melodrama, then the darker, more cynical film noir that followed. Italian neorealism emerged from the rubble at the decade's end.
Science fiction uses the future — or a plausible alternative present — to think through the current moment. It's produced some of cinema's most influential images, and the genre's biggest leaps have usually followed leaps in effects technology.