The 40 most popular 1950s fantasy movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Sleeping Beauty
1959 · 1h 15m
country: United States
Cursed to die by the evil fairy Maleficent when she was a baby, Princess Aurora is sent into hiding under protection from three good fairies. As she grows up far away, Maleficent becomes increasingly determined to seal the princess's fate.


Cinderella
1950 · 1h 14m
country: United States
Cinderella has faith her dreams of a better life will come true. With help from her loyal mice friends and a wave of her Fairy Godmother's wand, Cinderella's rags are magically turned into a glorious gown and off she goes to the Royal Ball. But when the clock strikes midnight, the spell is broken, leaving a single glass slipper... the only key to the ultimate fairy-tale ending!


Peter Pan
1953 · 1h 17m
country: United States
Leaving the safety of their nursery behind, Wendy, Michael and John follow Peter Pan to a magical world where childhood lasts forever. But while in Neverland, the kids must face Captain Hook and foil his attempts to get rid of Peter for good.


Alice in Wonderland
1951 · 1h 15m
country: United States
On a golden afternoon, wildly curious young Alice tumbles into the burrow and enters the merry, madcap world of Wonderland full of whimsical escapades.


The Seventh Seal
1957 · 1h 36m
country: Sweden
When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.


Around the World in 80 Days
1956 · 3h 2m
country: United Kingdom
Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.


20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1954 · 2h 7m
country: United States
A ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings encounters the advanced submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by Captain Nemo.


Journey to the Center of the Earth
1959 · 2h 12m
country: United States
An Edinburgh professor and assorted colleagues follow an explorer's trail down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the earth's center.


Ulysses
1954 · 1h 40m
country: Italy
A retelling of Homer's The Odyssey, focusing on Ulysses's ten-year journey home to Ithaca following the Trojan War, where he faces various mythical challenges while his wife Penelope fends off suitors.


Scrooge
1951 · 1h 26m
country: United Kingdom
Ebenezer Scrooge malcontentedly shuffles through life as a cruel, miserly businessman, until he is visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve who show him how his unhappy childhood and adult behavior has left him a selfish, lonely old man.


Angels in the Outfield
1951 · 1h 39m
country: United States
The short-tempered manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates mends his ways in return for a little divine assistance.


The Creation of the World
1958 · 1h 27m
country: Czechoslovakia
La Création du Monde is among the first animated feature films made in France. But to be exact, the film was animated in Czechia and directed by Eduard Hofman. It is adapted from a series of five books by Jean Effel, a French caricaturist and illustrator. The visual style is adapted from his drawings. The film is a comedy about the creation of the universe in six days, with the devil messing around and contributing in his own way.


Harvey
1950 · 1h 44m
country: United States
The story of Elwood P. Dowd who makes friends with a spirit taking the form of a human-sized rabbit named Harvey that only he sees (and a few privileged others on occasion also.) After his sister tries to commit him to a mental institution, a comedy of errors ensues. Elwood and Harvey become the catalysts for a family mending its wounds and for romance blossoming in unexpected places.


Bell, Book and Candle
1958 · 1h 46m
country: United States
Gillian Holroyd, a modern-day witch, becomes smitten with her handsome upstairs neighbor, Shep Henderson. Using her magical powers, she casts a love spell on him, only to face unexpected complications when genuine feelings emerge, threatening her supernatural abilities.


Tom Thumb
1958 · 1h 25m
country: Mexico
A young boy born extraordinarily small must rescue his older brothers from a wicked ogre.


Der Froschkönig
1954
country: Germany
No overview available


The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
1958 · 1h 28m
country: United States
When the lovely Princess Parisa is shrunken by wicked Sokurah the Magician, Sinbad must embark on a quest to an island of monsters to cure her and prevent a war.


Ugetsu
1953 · 1h 36m
country: Japan
In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.


Brigadoon
1954 · 1h 48m
country: United States
Americans Jeff and Tommy, hunting in Scotland, stumble upon a village - Brigadoon. They soon learn that the town appears once every 100 years in order to preserve its peace and special beauty. The citizens go to bed at night and when they wake up, it's 100 years later. Tommy falls in love with a beautiful young woman, Fiona, and is torn between staying or going back to his hectic life in New York.


Orpheus
1950 · 1h 35m
country: France
A famous poet in postwar Paris, scorned by the Left Bank youth, is in love with both his wife Eurydice and a mysterious princess. Seeking inspiration, the poet becomes obsessed and follows the princess from the world of the living to the land of the dead.


Night of the Demon
1957 · 1h 36m
country: United Kingdom
American professor John Holden arrives in London for a conference on parapsychology only to discover that the colleague he was supposed to meet was killed in a freak accident the day before. It turns out that the deceased had been investigating a cult lead by Dr. Julian Karswell. Though a skeptic, Holden is suspicious of the devil-worshiping Karswell. Following a trail of mysterious manuscripts, Holden enters a world that makes him question his faith in science.


The Snow Queen
1957 · 1h 1m
country: Soviet Union
When the Snow Queen, a lonely and powerful fairy, kidnaps the human boy Kai, his best friend Gerda must overcome many obstacles on her journey to rescue him.


Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy
1955 · 1h 19m
country: United States
Bud and Lou, two stranded American archaeologists, run afoul of an Egyptian cult with big plans to resurrect the mummified corpse of Klaris, guardian of his Princess Ara's treasure-filled tomb. When Lou accidentally eats the cursed medallion needed to find the ancient treasure, the two become targets of the cult's leader, his goons, a mysterious femme fatale, and the mummy of Klaris himself!


Chips Ahoy
1956 · 6m
country: United States
Chip and Dale are starving in their tree home when they notice a plentiful supply of acorns on an island in a lake. To get to the island, they borrow a miniature model ship of Donald's to sail on. The irate Donald, however, doesn't appreciate them stealing his ship and makes several attempts to get it back and thwart their scheme to get to their acorn paradise. Chip and Dale are, of course, always one step ahead of Donald.


Tom Thumb
1958 · 1h 38m
country: United Kingdom
A boy, no bigger than a thumb, manages to outwit two thieves determined to make a fortune from him.


Son of Ali Baba
1952 · 1h 15m
country: United States
In ancient Persia the son of Ali Baba (of forty thieves fame), Kashma Baba is a military cadet by day and a party goer by night. He falls for a girl who he later finds is an escaped slave girl belonging to the wicked Caliph. They flee to his father's palace. But alas, there's more to her than meets the eye. Will the evil schemers succeed? The sons of the Forty Thieves to the rescue!


The Tales of Hoffmann
1951 · 2h 7m
country: United Kingdom
A melancholy poet reflects on three women he loved and lost in the past: a mechanical performing doll, a Venetian courtesan, and the consumptive daughter of a celebrated composer.


The Tale of the White Serpent
1958 · 1h 19m
country: Japan
As a young boy, Xu-Xian is forced to free his pet, a small snake. Unbeknownst to him, the snake is actually a young snake goddess named Bai-Niang and she is in love with him. Many years later, when they are both adults, the princess is magically transformed into a human and sets out to find her love. But the local wizard believes her to be a vampire, and banishes Xu-Xian from the village in order to save him. Xu-Xian's pet pandas Panda and Mimi set out to save him and bring him, in the process becoming leaders of an animal gang.


Darby O'Gill and the Little People
1959 · 1h 31m
country: United States
A wily old codger matches wits with the King of the Leprechauns and helps play matchmaker for his daughter and the strapping lad who has replaced him as caretaker.


Amazon Symphony
1954 · 1h 4m
country: Brazil
Sinfonia Amazônica, or Amazon Symphony, was Brazil's first animated feature-length film, produced entirely by Anélio Lattini Filho over five years and finished in 1951. Like Disney's Fantasia, it tells several folk stories over orchestral music.


The Twelve Months
1956 · 55m
country: Soviet Union
A poor girl was given an impossible task by her stepmother: to gather snowdrops in a winter forest. Suddenly she stumbled across twelve brothers who happened to be the twelve months.


The White Reindeer
1952 · 1h 8m
country: Finland
A newly-married woman becomes frustrated as her husband, a reindeer herder for an Arctic village, spends much of his time away. Desperate for affection, she visits a shaman who offers a potion that makes her irresistibly desirable, with unexpected and deadly results.


The Story of Three Loves
1953 · 2h 2m
country: United States
Passengers on an ocean liner recall their greatest loves.


Hercules Unchained
1959 · 1h 38m
country: France
En route to Thebes for an important diplomatic mission, Hercules drinks from a magic spring and loses his memory. He spends most of the movie in the pleasure gardens of Queen Omphale of Lydia. While young Ulysses tries to help him regain his memory, political tensions escalate in Thebes, and Hercules' new wife Iole finds herself in mortal danger.


Jack and the Beanstalk
1952 · 1h 18m
country: United States
Two down-on-their-luck loafers take a job babysitting, with a bedtime story of the titular tale turning into a wacky Abbott and Costello-faced musical retelling involving stolen cows, terrible giants, and the heroic boy with an opportunistic butcher in a castle above the clouds.


The Shaggy Dog
1959 · 1h 44m
country: United States
Through an ancient spell, a boy changes into a sheepdog and back again. It seems to happen at inopportune times and the spell can only be broken by an act of bravery....


The Pied Piper of Hamelin
1957 · 1h 27m
country: Unknown
The singing, rhyming citizens of Hamelin hope to win a competition with rival towns for royal recognition. To this end, the mayor outlaws play (which is a bit hard on the children) and refuses to help a rival town when it's flooded. But rats (seen only as shadows), fleeing the flood, invade Hamelin in droves; a magical piper, whose music only children (and rats) can hear, strikes a bargain...which, once the rats are gone, the Mayor and council renege on, to their subsequent regret.


The Story of Mankind
1957 · 1h 40m
country: United States
The devil and the spirit of mankind argue as to whether or not humanity is ultimately good or evil.


Hercules
1958 · 1h 39m
country: Italy
In this melange of characters and events from separate mythological stories, Hercules, demigod and superman, arrives in the ancient Greek kingdom of Iolcus to tutor Iphitus, son of king Pelias; immediately on arrival, he falls in love with the king's delectable, briefly clad daughter Iole. Before he can win her, he must succeed in a series of quests, in the course of which he teams up with Jason, true heir of Iolcus, whom he accompanies on the famous voyage of the Argonauts.


Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
1951 · 2h 4m
country: United Kingdom
Pandora Reynolds is a woman who has never fallen in love – but one who men kill and die for. When she meets dashing and mysterious ship's captain Hendrik van der Zee, he pushes her to commit the ultimate act of love.
1950s cinema fought television with everything it had: widescreen formats, colour, and spectacle. Underneath the scale, it was also the decade of Japanese cinema's international breakthrough and the birth of the modern art film.
Fantasy builds worlds with their own rules — myth, magic, and invented history rendered with enough conviction to carry a story. The genre's modern shape owes much to Tolkien adaptations, but its roots run through folklore from every filmmaking tradition.