Monsters, mutants, and mayhem, sure to make a Merry Halloween! From the Warner Archive Collection comes four creature features from the 1950s on Blu-ray, two of which are so bad they’re scary.
Buy 50s Sci-Fi Collection Blu-rayOk, so, let’s be honest with each other. These films are 70 years old and come from an era where inexpensive science-fiction movies were being made based on space travel and radiation from nuclear explosions. The fromage factor is going to be high. Can you appreciate that? I usually can, but wow, some of these just plain stink. Let’s plug our noses and cannonball into the pool.
Attack of the 50 ft. Woman from 1958 is the biggest bomb of the bunch. At 66 minutes, it’s way too long. A jilted woman (Allison Hayes) drives off into the country where she encounters a giant alien floating around in what is called a “satellite.” Radiation from the alien causes her to grow. Though we don’t see the full-sized woman till the end of the film, we’ve already seen too much and are just glad it’s over. Alison Hayes whines her way through this short film about a tall woman written by Mark Hanna and directed by Nathan Juran. We spend more time in the local diner with co-stars William Hudson and Yvette Vickers playing the husband of the angry giant and his mistress, then we do with the 50-foot woman. Best to turn this one off and move on.
World Without End from 1956 is slightly better, but primarily due to the novelty of it. A crew of astronauts returning from Mars travel through time and return to earth in the 26th century where mutants inhabit the surface of earth and humans live underground. The aforementioned novelty is found in the casting of Rod Taylor as one of the astronauts. Taylor would later star in The Time Machine (1960) in which he travels into a future where mutants live underground, and humans live on the surface of the Earth. Whereas The Time Machine is an excellent film with Academy Award-winning special effects, World Without End, written and directed by Edward Bernds, has laughable special effects. The performances are acceptable, but the story is predictable, and World Without End at only 80 minutes seems like the movie that can’t end soon enough.
Things take a turn for the better with Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953). Based on a story by Ray Bradbury and featuring the first special effects by the legendary Ray Harryhausen, the film has historical significance. Luckily, it’s only 80 minutes long, which is more than enough time to appreciate what Harryhausen has accomplished. Eugène Lourié directs the story of a dinosaur that is defrosted by an atomic test and eventually makes its way to New York. Unfortunately, Professor Tom Nesbitt (Paul Christian) is the only one who has seen the creature, and as unbelievable as it may seem, no one believes him. Yes, there is a dinosaur running around, and it manages to evade people until it gets to New York. When The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms finally takes a bite out of some of the inhabitants of the Big Apple, it gets entertaining but too little too late. The draw here is the bonus material. Interviews with Bradbury and Harryhausen make this well worth the time.
Finally, we get to the true gem of the collection, and if you watch the movies in the order I’ve chosen, you will see why Them! (1954) sets itself apart. It’s the performances, character development, and storytelling that makes Them! a classic. Yes, it’s another story of creatures affected by atomic testing, but under the direction of Gordon Douglas, actors James Whitmore, Edmund Gwen, Joan Weldon, and James Arness give us characters that we truly care about. The story by Ted Sherdemanm, Russell S. Hughes, and George Worthing Yates takes the time to develop the characters and thus we are invested when the creatures attack. Yes, I purposely did not go into detail about the creatures in Them!. For those who have not seen Them!, I want you to appreciate what was accomplished in 1954. I think you’ll not only appreciate Them! but thoroughly enjoy it. Perfect for a rainy Saturday afternoon with some popcorn.
These films are not all great, but there is enough entertainment here to justify adding this collection to yours. The collection as a whole earns Ron’s Recommendation. Take the opportunity to introduce the kids to some Saturday-afternoon science fiction. They may laugh at Them!, and you may laugh at them.
