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


Godzilla
1954 · 1h 36m · JP
Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by Dr. Kyohei Yamane soon discover something far more devastating than imagined in the form of a 50 meter tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well.


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


The War of the Worlds
1953 · 1h 25m · US
The residents of a small town are excited when a flaming meteor lands in the hills, until they discover it is the first of many transport devices from Mars bringing an army of invaders invincible to any man-made weapon, even the atomic bomb.


The Fly
1958 · 1h 34m · US
Industrialist François Delambre is called late at night by his sister-in-law, Helene, who tells him that she has just killed her husband. Reluctant at first, she eventually explains to the police that he invented a matter transportation apparatus and, while experimenting on himself, a fly entered the chamber.


Them!
1954 · 1h 34m · US
As a result of nuclear testing, gigantic, ferocious mutant ants appear in the American desert southwest, and a father-daughter team of entomologists join forces with the state police officer who first discovers their existence, an FBI agent and, eventually, the US Army to eradicate the menace, before it spreads across the continent — and the world.


Creature from the Black Lagoon
1954 · 1h 19m · US
When scientists exploring the Amazon River stumble on a “missing link” connecting humans and fish, they plan to capture it for later study. But the Creature has plans of his own, and has set his sights on the lead scientist's beautiful fiancée, Kay.


The Blob
1958 · 1h 22m · US
A drive-in favorite, this sci-fi classic follows teenagers Steve and his best girl, Jane, as they try to protect their hometown from a gelatinous alien life form that engulfs everything it touches. The first to discover the substance and live to tell about it, Steve and Jane witness the blob destroying an elderly man, then it growing to a terrifying size. But no one else has seen the goo, and policeman Dave refuses to believe the kids without proof.


Forbidden Planet
1956 · 1h 38m · US
Starship C57D travels to planet Altair 4 in search of the crew of spaceship "Bellerophon," a scientific expedition that has been missing for twenty years. They find themselves unwelcome by the expedition's lone survivor and warned of destruction by an invisible force if they don't turn back immediately.


The Day the Earth Stood Still
1951 · 1h 32m · US
An alien and a robot land on Earth after World War II and tell mankind to be peaceful or face destruction.


Invasion of the Body Snatchers
1956 · 1h 20m · US
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.


Godzilla Raids Again
1955 · 1h 22m · JP
Two fishing scout pilots make a horrifying discovery when they encounter a second Godzilla alongside a new monster named Anguirus. Without the weapon that killed the original, authorities attempt to lure Godzilla away from the mainland. But Anguirus soon arrives and the two monsters make their way towards Osaka as Japan braces for tragedy.


Godzilla, King of the Monsters!
1956 · 1h 21m · JP
During an assignment, foreign correspondent Steve Martin spends a layover in Tokyo and is caught amid the rampage of an unstoppable prehistoric monster the Japanese call 'Godzilla'. The only hope for both Japan and the world lies on a secret weapon, which may prove more destructive than the monster itself.


Red Snow
1952 · 1h 15m · US
An Eskimo Army Sergeant is sent to his Arctic tribal village to gather information about a mysterious unmarked black airplane which shadows military planes in northern Alaska and equally-mysterious flashings lighting up the sky from Siberia across the Bering Strait. He soon discovers Soviet espionage at work. Along the way he must also deal with an ice-floe evacuation, an air-ice rescue, a fight with a polar bear and marriage to his fiancee.


The Thing from Another World
1951 · 1h 27m · US
Scientists and US Air Force officials fend off a blood-thirsty alien organism while investigating at a remote arctic outpost.


Teenage Monster
1957 · 1h 5m · US
In a little Western town, a boy is subjected to rays from a meteor. As a result, he grows into a teenaged, hairy, psychopathic killer. His mother hides him in her basement.


Moonwolf
1959 · 1h 14m · FI
Dr. Peter Holmes (Carl Moehner), zoologist and veterinarian, relectantly agrees to permit his dog, Wolf, to be used in a launch project commissioned by the International Conference of Science, at Geneva, to study body function and survival in outer space. Holmes had discovered Wolf as a pup in the forest, only to lose him again in a flood, and is fearful of risking the dog's life again.


The Curse of Frankenstein
1957 · 1h 23m · UK
Baron Victor Frankenstein has discovered life's secret and unleashed a blood-curdling chain of events resulting from his creation: a cursed creature with a horrid face — and a tendency to kill.


Três Vagabundos
1952 · 1h 22m · BR
A scientist swaps the mind of banker and an idiot by accident.


The Incredible Shrinking Man
1957 · 1h 21m · US
A dangerous combination of radiation and insecticide causes the unfortunate Scott Carey to shrink, slowly but surely, until he is only a few inches tall. His home becomes a wilderness where he must survive everything from spiders living in the cellar to his beloved cat.


Plan 9 from Outer Space
1957 · 1h 18m · US
In California, an old man grieves the loss of his wife, and dies the day after she is buried. However, the space soldier Eros and his mate Tanna use an electric device to resurrect them both, alongside the strong Inspector Clay, who was murdered by the alien-controlled dead couple. When the populations of Hollywood and Washington D.C. see flying saucers on the sky, a colonel, a police lieutenant, a commercial pilot, his wife, and a policeman try to stop the aliens.


On the Beach
1959 · 2h 14m · US
In 1964, atomic war wipes out humanity in the northern hemisphere; one American submarine finds temporary safe haven in Australia, where life-as-usual covers growing despair. In denial about the loss of his wife and children in the holocaust, American Captain Towers meets careworn but gorgeous Moira Davidson, who begins to fall for him. The sub returns after reconnaissance a month (or less) before the end; will Towers and Moira find comfort with each other?


The Alligator People
1959 · 1h 14m · US
Under therapeutic hypnosis, a seemingly well-adjusted young woman tells a fantastic story, verified by lie detector, of her forgotten marriage to a man who disappeared on the day of their honeymoon, and of her search for him which takes her to a lonely mansion in a remote section of swampland tenanted by snakes, alligators, a drunken one-armed lout, a mysterious doctor, and a cold-hearted elderly woman who lives alone in a brooding manse.


It Came from Beneath the Sea
1955 · 1h 19m · US
A giant octopus, whose feeding habits have been affected by radiation from H-Bomb tests, rises from the Mindanao Deep to terrorize the California Coast.


The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
1953 · 1h 20m · US
The controlled explosion of an atomic bomb in the Arctic Circle awakens a frozen dinosaur that will wreak havoc in New York City.


Return of the Fly
1959 · 1h 20m · US
Fifteen years after his father's experiments with matter transmission fail, Philippe Delambre and his uncle François attempt to create a matter transmission device on their own. However, their experiments have disastrous results, turning Philippe into a horrible half-man, half-fly creature.


The Man in the White Suit
1951 · 1h 25m · UK
The unassuming, nebbishy inventor Sidney Stratton creates a miraculous fabric that will never be dirty or worn out. Clearly he can make a fortune selling clothes made of the material, but may cause a crisis in the process. After all, once someone buys one of his suits they won't ever have to fix them or buy another one, and the clothing industry will collapse overnight. Nevertheless, Sidney is determined to put his invention on the market, forcing the clothing factory bigwigs to resort to more desperate measures...


1984
1956 · 1h 30m · UK
In a totalitarian future society, a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.


It Came from Outer Space
1953 · 1h 20m · US
Author and amateur astronomer John Putnam and schoolteacher Ellen Fields witness an enormous meteorite come down near a small town in Arizona. Putnam becomes a local object of scorn when, after examining the object up close, he announces that it is a spacecraft, and that it is inhabited...


Revenge of the Creature
1955 · 1h 22m · US
In a tributary of the Amazon, a monster – half-man, half-fish – is captured and placed in a reservoir in a Florida national park to be observed by scientists.


Rodan
1956 · 1h 12m · JP
Mining engineer Shigeru investigates the disappearance and death of his fellow coworkers when prehistoric nymphs are discovered emerging from the mines. After an attack on the local village, Shigeru heads deeper into the mines only to make a more horrifying discovery in the form a prehistoric flying creature. Soon a second monster appears as the two converge in Fukuoka.


Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
1956 · 1h 23m · US
Test space rockets exploding at liftoff and increased reporting of UFO sightings culminate in a direct attempt by alien survivors of a dead, extra-galactic civilization to invade Earth from impervious flying saucers, using ray-weapons of mass destruction.


20 Million Miles to Earth
1957 · 1h 22m · US
When the first manned flight to Venus returns to Earth, the rocket crash-lands in the Mediterranean near a small Italian fishing village. The locals manage to save Colonel Robert Calder, the mission commander. A young boy also recovers what turns out to be a specimen of an alien creature. Growing at a fantastic rate, it manages to escape and eventually threatens the city of Rome.


Attack of the Crab Monsters
1957 · 1h 3m · US
A group of scientists travel to a remote island to study the effects of nuclear weapons tests, only to get stranded when their airplane mysteriously explodes. The team soon discovers that the tests have given rise to crabs mutated into intelligent, impervious, telepathic giants intent on increasing their numbers by breeding, then travelling to populated areas to feed, and which do not intend to be stopped by their discoverers.


Journey to the Beginning of Time
1955 · 1h 25m
Four schoolboys go on an awe-inspiring expedition back through time, where they behold landscapes and creatures that have long since vanished from the earth.


Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
1958 · 1h 6m · US
When an abused wife grows to giant size following an alien encounter and an aborted murder attempt, she goes after her philandering husband with revenge on her mind.


Tarantula
1955 · 1h 20m · US
A rogue scientist near a small desert town arouses the suspicion of the town's doctor when his lab assistant is found dead from a case of acromegaly, which took only four days to develop. As the doctor investigates, aided by the scientist's new female assistant, they discover that something is devouring local cattle and humans in increasingly large quantities.


When Worlds Collide
1951 · 1h 23m · US
When a group of astronomers calculate a star is on a course to slam into Earth, a few days before, it's accompanying planet will first pass close enough to the Earth to cause havoc on land and sea. They set about building a rocket so a few selected individuals can escape to the planet.


Quatermass 2
1957 · 1h 25m · UK
In England, a group of space scientists led by Bernard Quatermass, who have developed plans for the first Moon colony, learn that a secret, ostensibly government-run, complex of identical design has been built in a remote part of England and is the focus of periodic falls of small, hollow "meteorites" originating in outer space. Quatermass determines to investigate and uncovers a terrifying extraterrestrial life form which has already begun action to take over the Earth.


The 27th Day
1957 · 1h 15m · US
Five individuals from five nations, including the USA, USSR, and China, suddenly find themselves on an alien saucer, where an alien gives each a container holding three capsules. The alien explains that no power on earth can open a given container except a mental command from the person to whom it is given, then anyone may take a capsule and, by speaking a latitude and longitude at it, cause instant death to all within a given radius: thus each of the five has been provided with the power of life and death. Then, they are given 27 days to decide whether to use the capsules, and returned to the places from which each one came...


Monkey Business
1952 · 1h 37m · US
Research chemist Barnaby Fulton works on a fountain of youth pill for a chemical company. One of the labs chimps gets loose in the laboratory and mixes chemicals, but then pours the mix into the water cooler. When trying one of his own samples, washed down with water from the cooler, Fulton begins to act just like a twenty-year-old and believes his potion is working. Soon his wife and boss are also behaving like children.
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.
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.