Must See Bad Movies of the 1950s

[JaseSF]

So what do you feel personally are the most "must-see" bad movies of the 1950s era? It was an era filled with goofy monsters, cheap costumes, cheap FX work but it also produced some marvellously fun drive-in fare. Sure there were so damned good films too, the likes of The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet and The Thing From Another World - films as great as they are often still get paired up in people's memories with all the cheesy stuff from the era too because a lot of these films tried to copy these and the elements are often the same or similar - monsters, robots, ray guns, spaceships, meteor showers, gals in short skirts on a planet seemingly devoid of men aside from perhaps a father figure of some sort. So which are the most existential, hopes I meant essential (or did I?) for the bad movie fan? Here I'm thinking more in terms of bad movies that are actually fun and enjoyable to watch instead of stuff that's rather tough slugging but feel free to discuss that as well if you'd like.  Anyways I consider the following to be must - see myself. I'll limit it to just five to give others a chance to add more.

The Angry Red Planet (1959): this is cheesy as heck and actually drags a bit for quite a bit of its running time but the outrageous monsters eventually put on display here truly take the cake - from the bat-rat-spider-lobster critter to its giant amoeba - this is your space opera exploration film turned on its head with truly the craziest, most whacked out Mars, palm trees and all, imaginable. You just have to love how they turn everything red on Mars to hide the cheapness of the FX work.

The Amazing Colossal Man (1957): the giant radioactive genre has to have an entry here and this one is more entertaining that most as it features a man becoming gigantic and pretty much wandering around most of the film in what for the world looks like a giant diaper. That said, the film actually has some depth as we see a man struggling with something he personally cannot control, a change in one own body reminiscent on some levels to a degenerative disease I suppose.  But keep a look out for that hypodermic needle - it's a killer.

The Brain From Planet Arous (1958): It would be most remiss to leave off the evil brain subgenre that spawned so many terrific B-movies. This, one of the very best, features an evil, twisted and perhaps somewhat perverted, certainly for the 1950s era, alien brain named Gor that takes possession of John Agar's mind and set outs on a mission to take over the world. However a rival good brain also from the planet Arous arrives and takes over a dog's brain hoping to stop Gor's demented plans. Actually this is surprisingly involving and just so much fun to watch, cheap FX (so what if you can sometimes see the strings on the brain?) and all. Gor is about as opposite of benevolent visiting alien as one can get.

Fire Maidens From Outer Space (1956): If you had zero budget and wanted to make something of a remake of Forbidden Planet crossed with Cat Women of the Moon, this is probably what's you'd get. Here we have all the elements of space opera - meteor showers, lonely men arriving on mysterious moon only to encounter various beautiful maidens who inhabit said world and the only male around is a fatherly figure. All would be well except for an evil presence that lurks on the outskirts just waiting to strike - said monster here is played by a very tall guy in an unconvincing mask, slightly reminiscence of the aliens from the Outer Limits episode "Nightmare" but nowhere near as well achieved as that, who just basically shouts and snarls a lot.

The Giant Claw (1957): An hideous unstoppable giant monster is what's described in this film, what we get instead is the laughable Giant Claw- an anti-matter flying buzzard described to be the size of a battleship and soon becomes an apparent threat to the whole world. It's hilarious to see the actors reacting with such seriousness to the critter presented here who just plan looks so constantly goofy and ridiculous. Yet considering it's a giant anti-matter space buzzard..well the fact they dreamed that up and presented it in such a serious fashion deserves serious bad movie kudos all the way around.

[bob]

Robot Monster (1953)

Glen or Glenda (1953)

Birde of the Monster (1955)

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)

[JaseSF]

Ah yes, how could I have forgotten Ed Wood?   Tremendous oversight on my part and you mentioned what are agruably his three best, or is that worst, films. Actually I do consider them his best because they are by far the most entertaining with the most outrageous scenes - of the three Wood films you mentioned, I like Bride of the Monster best as it feels somewhat closer to the classic Horror of yesteryear and even features the one and only Bela Lugosi for a large part of its running time but the final battle with the octopus has got to be seen to be believed. Plan 9 From Outer Space is frequently mentioned as one of the worst films of all time, many claim it is the worst - obviously there's a lot of bad choices made in terms of the film and it all feels very amateurish yet on some bizarre level, it kind of works - it's so bad it's good. "Your stupid minds. Stupid! Stupid!" - so outrageous it proves unintentionally hilarious many times over.  Glen or Glenda may be the most outrageous of them all mixing surreal bizarre imagery with Bela Lugosi saying "Pull the string!" while the main story focuses on the struggle of a man who tries to find acceptance in a world that frowns on his cross-dressing.

Robot Monster is another classic all the way. How can you get a cheaper monster that a guy in a gorilla suit with a diving helmet on his head. It's ridiculous many times over yet on some level again, this one works in that so bad it's good fashion especially as we see Robot Monster Ro-Man struggling with philiosophical choices and the nature of its existence. "I cannot - yet I must. How do you calculate that? At what point on the graph do "must" and "cannot" meet? Yet I must - but I cannot!"

[joejoe]

the blob (1958)

them! (1954)

invasion of the body snatchers (1956)

my favorite, the killer shrews (1959)

[crackers]

Teenagers From Outer Space - 1959

This film is great.

[RCMerchant]

them! (1954)

invasion of the body snatchers (1956)

Woah! WHOAH!  

You consider these BAD movies?
I always catagorized those 2 in with the classics,meself....

Some personal favorite BAD movies of the 50's....
.the ASTOUNDING SHE-MONSTER (1957)-2 Numbskull crooks and a drunken moll kidnap an heiress and hide out in a geoligists shack in the hills are terrorized by a Glow-In-the-Dark chick in a one piece body suit. She kills dogs and rubber snakes by touch-and numbskull gangters. Grade z shlock. Amazingly-this was remade by Fred Olen Ray in 1990 as the ALIENATOR!

.the BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE (1959)-A looney tunes doctor gets in a car wreck with his pretty fiance-who turns into a yappy,nagging b***h when she gets her decapitated head  brought back to life in a lasagna pan full of strange fluids. Can't blame her,I guess. Keeping her company while her beau is out scouting strip joints for a new body is a creepy cone-head monster locked in a closet. A very gory movie for it's time. This wasn't released to the public because of various legal reasons untill 1962. Producer Rex Carlton killed himself in 1968 when he couldn't pay back the mob money he borrowed. Some say it was murder. I dunno-After seeing his BLOOD OF DRACULA'S CASTLE (1969)-I think I would have killed myself too.

.EARTH VS.THE SPIDER (1958)-the same genuis who gave us WAR OF THE COLASSAL BEAST and VILLAGE of the GIANTS gave us this treasure too. Stupid teenagers wake up a supposedly dead giant spider with loud rock music at a high school dance. Havok ensues. Look for an uncredited Lee J. Cobb (Lt.Kinderman in the EXORCIST ) as a cop. One scene has a kid reading an issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland #1-the reading of choice for all hep teens back in the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEUvhqGjubg

[The Burgomaster]

the blob (1958)

them! (1954)

invasion of the body snatchers (1956)

my favorite, the killer shrews (1959)

Yikes! I think the only one of these that's really a bad movie is KILLER SHREWS.  INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is a classic. THE BLOB is a classic or at least a near classic.  THEM! is pretty decent, too.

[Rev. Powell]

A few that weren't named:

ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN (1958) - I love Allison Hayes!
ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (1959) - Roger Corman directs Yvette Vickers.
GIRLS TOWN (1959) - What a cast - Mamie van Doren, Mel Torme and Paul Anka!
HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL! (1958) - More Mamie and great hepcat dialogue 
SANTA CLAUS (1959) - The el bizarro Mexican version
THE TINGLER (1959) - Vincent Price takes the first acid trip in exploitation film history

[ulthar]

I was going to post THEM! as well, along with several Harryhausen masterpieces like IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955), EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS (1956) and 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1956).

I read "bad" as "B" in this context...we run into this problem with "bad" all the time.

How about:

THE BEGINNING OF THE END (1957)
KILLERS FROM SPACE (1954)
THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS (1953)

and one of my favorites, TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE (1959) has already been mentioned.

[ChaosTheory]

BLOODLUST (1959) - this one isn't that bad, considering it's just a remake of MOST DANGEROUS GAME.
THE GIANT GILA MONSTER (1959) - aka A cute lizard walks through some scale models while teenagers act stupid.  With original songs by Don Sullivan!
THE SCREAMING SKULL (1958) - featuring Mickey!
THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959) - I know it's considered a horror classic; I thought it was cheesy and ridiculous.

I must also show love for TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE.

[alandhopewell]

So what do you feel personally are the most "must-see" bad movies of the 1950s era? It was an era filled with goofy monsters, cheap costumes, cheap FX work but it also produced some marvellously fun drive-in fare. Sure there were so damned good films too, the likes of The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet and The Thing From Another World - films as great as they are often still get paired up in people's memories with all the cheesy stuff from the era too because a lot of these films tried to copy these and the elements are often the same or similar - monsters, robots, ray guns, spaceships, meteor showers, gals in short skirts on a planet seemingly devoid of men aside from perhaps a father figure of some sort. So which are the most existential, hopes I meant essential (or did I?) for the bad movie fan? Here I'm thinking more in terms of bad movies that are actually fun and enjoyable to watch instead of stuff that's rather tough slugging but feel free to discuss that as well if you'd like.  Anyways I consider the following to be must - see myself. I'll limit it to just five to give others a chance to add more.

The Angry Red Planet (1959): this is cheesy as heck and actually drags a bit for quite a bit of its running time but the outrageous monsters eventually put on display here truly take the cake - from the bat-rat-spider-lobster critter to its giant amoeba - this is your space opera exploration film turned on its head with truly the craziest, most whacked out Mars, palm trees and all, imaginable. You just have to love how they turn everything red on Mars to hide the cheapness of the FX work.

The Amazing Colossal Man (1957): the giant radioactive genre has to have an entry here and this one is more entertaining that most as it features a man becoming gigantic and pretty much wandering around most of the film in what for the world looks like a giant diaper. That said, the film actually has some depth as we see a man struggling with something he personally cannot control, a change in one own body reminiscent on some levels to a degenerative disease I suppose.  But keep a look out for that hypodermic needle - it's a killer.

The Brain From Planet Arous (1958): It would be most remiss to leave off the evil brain subgenre that spawned so many terrific B-movies. This, one of the very best, features an evil, twisted and perhaps somewhat perverted, certainly for the 1950s era, alien brain named Gor that takes possession of John Agar's mind and set outs on a mission to take over the world. However a rival good brain also from the planet Arous arrives and takes over a dog's brain hoping to stop Gor's demented plans. Actually this is surprisingly involving and just so much fun to watch, cheap FX (so what if you can sometimes see the strings on the brain?) and all. Gor is about as opposite of benevolent visiting alien as one can get.

Fire Maidens From Outer Space (1956): If you had zero budget and wanted to make something of a remake of Forbidden Planet crossed with Cat Women of the Moon, this is probably what's you'd get. Here we have all the elements of space opera - meteor showers, lonely men arriving on mysterious moon only to encounter various beautiful maidens who inhabit said world and the only male around is a fatherly figure. All would be well except for an evil presence that lurks on the outskirts just waiting to strike - said monster here is played by a very tall guy in an unconvincing mask, slightly reminiscence of the aliens from the Outer Limits episode "Nightmare" but nowhere near as well achieved as that, who just basically shouts and snarls a lot.

The Giant Claw (1957): An hideous unstoppable giant monster is what's described in this film, what we get instead is the laughable Giant Claw- an anti-matter flying buzzard described to be the size of a battleship and soon becomes an apparent threat to the whole world. It's hilarious to see the actors reacting with such seriousness to the critter presented here who just plan looks so constantly goofy and ridiculous. Yet considering it's a giant anti-matter space buzzard..well the fact they dreamed that up and presented it in such a serious fashion deserves serious bad movie kudos all the way around.

     ANGRY RED PLANET actually dates from '62....still, an excelllent slice of Scandanavian cheese.

[alandhopewell]

THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE
CURUCU, BEAST OF THE AMAZON
THE DEAD TALK BACK
MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL
TARGET: EARTH
ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE
FROM HELL IT CAME
OUEEN OF OUTER SPACE
WORLD WITHOUT END
INVISIBLE INVADERS
GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW
THE HEADLESS GHOST
SON OF DR. JECKYL
DAUGHTER OF DR. JECKYL
CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN
FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER
FOUR SKULLS OF JOHNATHAN DRAKE
BLOOD OF DRACULA

[The Burgomaster]

From the glorious year of 1957:

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

My personal favorite:
20 Million Miles to earth (1957)


Also:
Forbidden Planet (1956)

[major jay]