

Monday, November 2, 2009


The decade of the 1960s started off rather slow, compared to the pace set by the 50s. Some of 1960's sci-fi films had been produced in '59, so might be considered 50s films in a way. The themes and quality did not change very much at first, but would become quite different by the end of the decade. That's why the image of the car -- The Chevrolet Corvair is a sort of poster child for America in the 60s.

Here are the sci-fi films of 1960 in roughly chronological order:

Angry Red Planet -- Yet another first manned mission to Mars in the mode of Rocketship X-M. The crew encounter troubles and are told they're not welcome on Mars.

Visit To A Small Planet -- Jerry Lewis plays a mischievous alien who comes to study earth, but finds he cannot control himself.

Leech Woman -- An unscrupulous and abusive scientist learns of a fountain of youth drug guarded by a jungle tribe. His wife takes it, but must kill men to stay young. Her husband was the first to die.

Battle In Outer Space -- A grand epic from Toho Studios, set as a loose sequel to The Mysterians. Dubbed into English, earth scientists must defeat the Natalians who wish to make earth a colony.

12 To The Moon -- A cosmopolitan crew make the first manned moon mission, only to discover that advanced lunar beings don't want earthlings there. Earth is almost doomed until human love softens the lunar rage.

The Lost World -- Irwin Allen's remake of the 1925 version of Doyle's novel -- the prototype for Jurassic Park. Budget constraints kept the movie from greatness.

The Amazing Transparent Man -- A mix Invisible Man and a film-noir crime drama. A shady spy forces a German doctor to make a criminal invisible in order to steal funds and isotopes to create an invisible army.

Beyond the Time Barrier -- A test pilot flies through a time displacement to arrive in 2069. Mankind is doomed to mutation from a nuclear-induced plague. He must return to 1960 to warn everyone.

The Time Machine -- H.G. Wells' novel is given A-level rendition in this classic film.

Dinosaurus -- A construction crew on a caribbean island unearth two "frozen" dinosaurs and a cave man. A lightning storm awakens them to mayhem and adventures and a duel between T-Rex and a steam shovel.

The Cape Canaveral Monsters -- Alien life forms (dots of light) inhabit two earth scientists who then set about sabotaging America's space race efforts. A clever hero outwits them, or does he?

Nebo Zovyot -- This high-budget Russian space adventure rivals Conquest of Space ('55) in tone and effects. Never released as a simple English dubbed film, footage was used in later American B films.


Mike Scott said...

Get ready to say "D'Oh!" when I say 'Village of the Damned".

Nightowl said...

Hi Mike,

You know, I wasn't sure about "Village" as a sci-fi. I'd always thought of it as horror/thriller. Doing a bit of reading on it, I guess some do consider it sci-fi.

I gather you do too?

Mike Scott said...

Wyndham is always refered to as a science-fiction writer, so I guess that makes what he writes science-fiction.

Nightowl said...

Actually, I was just doing a bit of background reading on Village of the Damned. The novel upon which it was based was more apparently sci-fi, with a mysterious silvery object spotted in the village before the unconscious-bubble is gone. When the bubble is gone, so is the object.

Bob said...

I am trying to find a sci-fi movie I saw at the drive-in in the early 60's. It was like cat women, amazon women missle to the moon fire maidens queen of space movies only the women had to eat continously or die, the visitors destroy the food so all the women die yet there is food on the table as the visitors escape to their ship, in the final scene a hand reaches up from below a table toward a bowl of what looks like fried chicken then falls away. I think it was in b/w and the women wore black leotards/cat suits and were bee or wasp or bugs of some kind.

I am also trying to locate a made for tv show where the people are at an island resort, conditions deterorate, they learn they are dead and in hell. This was like a 90 minute made for tv not outer limits or twilight zone.


Nightowl said...

Bob, both of those sound great, but I've not seen them yet and I'm almost done with 1965. The former sounds like a great addition to the space-women subgenre. The later sounds good too, though.

Anyone reading the comments have an idea for Bob and I? Anyone?

Bob said...

Anyone know where to find a copy of The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space?

luckeylaredo said...

I am looking for a movie I saw when I was between 7 or 9. It was about the spirits or ghost of Jefferson, Benjarman Franklin, Washington and maybe Andrew Jackson, helping a human in a court room trial.

Unknown said...

I'm looking for a sci-fi that sent maned rockets to catch meteors in space.

Nightowl said...

I think you're looking for "Riders to the Stars" 1954. Check out this link to see if sounds like the movie you remember.


Ribcage said...

luckeylaredo, that movie sounds like the Powell and Pressburger's 'A Matter of Life and Death' (1946)

Anonymous said...

Looking for the name of a movie where a future historian specializing in the 1960s is brought back to life and given new memories to think he's actually in a small 1960s recreation

thingmaker said...

On that " future historian specializing in the 1960s is brought back to life and given new memories to think he's actually in a small 1960s recreation" movie... I know it sounds significantly different but you might have a look at "Project X" (1968), with Christopher George...
It's more about future spies, but the recreated past ('60s) and false memories seem like this movie.