Ahead of their time

[AndyC]

Just thinking about all of the cheesy and dated 50s and 60s sci-fi movies that I enjoy, and a thought occurred to me. How many movies from that period can we name that were ahead of their time, or at least given a decent budget and treated with enough respect to raise them above other movies of the time?

I'd have to put Forbidden Planet on that list. It's still a very cool movie, the effects look good, the story is interesting, and it holds up in repeated viewings. We should also keep in mind that Gene Roddenberry largely ripped this movie off in creating Star Trek.

I'd also add Fantastic Voyage to the list, as well as 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Others?

[Gerry]

I just reviewed THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE (1961) for my site, and I think this would fall into that category.  Despite a very limited budget, Val Guest managed to make an excellent disaster movie 10 years before disaster movies became the rage in the 70s.

[Chadzilla]

I've read reviews in regards to Ed Wood that said his plots, with the military as conspirators/anti-arms race etc., was way ahead of his time.  Plan 9 has a very X-Files feel to it, and the UFO run-in with the commercial airliner bit was re-used in Close Enounters of the Third Kind (in the novelization Men in Black board the plane and take away everyone's cameras).

I think I stretched that farther than you could salt water taffy!

[Vermin Boy]

Hey, don't forget Glen or Glenda: Say what you will about Ed, it took guts to release something like that in 1950s America.

Personally, I think Dwain Esper's Maniac was ahead of its time. Look at your typical 1930s horror films, then look at Maniac; With the exception of Freaks, nothing even came CLOSE to that kind of all-out insanity (The scene where the orangutan rapist is injected with super-adrenalin is one of the most amazing scenes I've ever seen, and I say that with only a touch of irony).

And then there's Bunuel & Dali's Un Chien Andalou; there's something to be said about a 1928 silent film that opens with a graphic shot of a girl's eye sliced open with a straight-razor.

[Dano]

The Thing falls into this category I think.  

And if you want to go a generation earlier, King Kong may be the most ahead-of-its-time monster movie ever.

[Conrad]

All bow down and worship Forbidden Planet!  Definitely at least a decade ahead of it's time.  I've lost count of the number of times I've seen it and my video tape of FP is probably getting worn out now.

John Carpenter's "The Thing" would also get my nomination; I think it was eclipsed on release by that supposedly-cute walking genitalia "ET".  Another of my all-time favourites.

[Flangepart]

Remember when Leslie Neilson was a serious actor?
....Love Forbidden Planet. Love the music. Can watch it now with out quoteing from Airplane. Sad, realy.
....Wish i had my own Robby the Robot.

[John]

>Wish i had my own Robby the Robot.

I think they're going for about $10,000-20,000 now. Check this site;

The Robotman

[BoyScoutKevin]

To this list, let us add George Pal's "War of the Worlds" and "The Time Machine."
Even today, they rate as being two of the best science fiction films ever made. Enjoy!

[Andrew]

"The Day the Earth Caught Fire" is quite good, especially considering that the premise lends itself to a talky film.  Screw up a talky film and I start falling asleep.  "When Worlds Collide" (another Pal film, go figure) should fit in here too.

I have one word for modern anime.  That would be "Akira."  Of course, all of the films leading back from "Mononoke" team are in there.  "Nausicaa" especially.

"Student Bodies" beat out big budget films like "Scary Movie" to the punchline.

Max Schreck as "Nosferatu" is, to me, the most horrifying vampire ever to appear on film.

[Offthewall]

Jason and the Argonaunts as well as Citizen Kane

[Flangepart]

Ohhhhh!......Robby....so close, and yet so far. So far out of my price range!
....Still....it would be so neat to have Robby as a doorman.  Polite, but firm with those pesky D2D sales gerbils. (Sigh)...oh well, a man can dream.....

[John]

>Ohhhhh!......Robby....so close, and yet so far. So far out of my price range!

And of course you can't have Robby without having robot B9, since they were both designed by the same guy. Last I checked, B9 was cheaper at only around $7,500.

>Still....it would be so neat to have Robby as a doorman. Polite, but firm with those
>pesky D2D sales gerbils.

 Nah, for that you need a full-sized Endoskeleton replica. Sorry, don't have an URL for that one at the moment. I also have an old catalog around here someplace with a 9-15 foot alien queen replica.