Sci-Fi Cinema Before the 1950s
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- DirectorWilliam Cameron MenziesStarsRaymond MasseyEdward ChapmanRalph RichardsonThe story of a century: a decades-long second World War leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and attempts space travel.
- DirectorBernard KnowlesStarsPatricia RocStanley HollowayNigel PatrickUpper class young man has to resort to employment, together with his valet/butler in tow. He finds a job escourting a robot out for an evening, and they end up in a hotel and a farce ensues when roles are swapped.
- StarsBela LugosiRobert KentDorothy ArnoldNot a feature, but an edited version of the 1939 serial "The Phantom Creeps" which was released to TV in 1949.
- DirectorSpencer Gordon BennetFred C. BrannonStarsDennis MooreLinda StirlingRoy BarcroftA Martian spacecraft crash-lands near the observatory of Cyrus Layton, designer of Earth's first spaceship. The survivor, forerunner of an invasion, can assume the form of any earthman. Calling himself the "purple monster," the humanoid invader sets about gaining control of Layton's rocket project. Opposing him is former Secret Service man Craig Foster who, episode by episode, tries to thwart the monster's attempts to acquire rocket components. Will Craig ever suspect that his closest associate is really the monster?
- DirectorAndré ZwobadaStarsMadeleine SologneJean MarchatJulien CaretteIt may be the first time they have used the theory of relativity in a story.
- DirectorErnest B. SchoedsackStarsAlbert DekkerThomas ColeyJanice LoganA mad scientist working in the South American jungle miniaturizes his colleagues when he feels his megalomania is threatened.
- DirectorFord BeebeRay TaylorStarsBuster CrabbeCarol HughesCharles MiddletonA ravaging plague has struck the Earth threatening no less than global extinction. This alien disease is believed to be the evil spawn of Ming, the merciless Emperor of Planet Mongo. The world's only hope now rests with Flash Gordon.
- DirectorOtto BrowerB. Reeves EasonStarsGene AutryFrankie DarroBetsy King RossRe-edited feature version of serial The Phantom Empire (1935). Singer Gene Autry discovers a race of advanced humans living beneath the earth.
- DirectorFord BeebeSaul A. GoodkindStarsBuster CrabbeConstance MooreJackie MoranA 20th Century pilot named Buck Rogers and his young friend Buddy Wade awake from 500 years in suspended animation to find that the world has been taken over by the outlaw army of Killer Kane.
- DirectorFord BeebeSaul A. GoodkindStarsBela LugosiRobert KentDorothy ArnoldA military intelligence officer and a pretty reporter try to find a scientist whose inventions can destroy the world.
- DirectorFord BeebeRobert F. HillFrederick StephaniStarsBuster CrabbeJean RogersCharles MiddletonWhen a deadly Nitron ray strikes Earth, Flash Gordon and his friends travel to Mars to battle Ming the Merciless and his new ally Queen Azura.
- DirectorFord BeebeRobert F. HillStarsBuster CrabbeJean RogersCharles MiddletonWhen a deadly Nitron ray strikes Earth, Flash Gordon and his friends travel to Mars to battle Ming the Merciless and his new ally Queen Azura.
- DirectorFrederick StephaniRay TaylorStarsBuster CrabbeJean RogersCharles MiddletonFlash Gordon, Dale Arden and Dr. Alexis Zarkov visit the planet Mongo to thwart the evil schemes of Emperor Ming the Merciless, who has set his planet on a collision course with Earth.
- DirectorAleksandr AndriyevskyStarsSergei VecheslovVladimir GardinMariya VolginaIn an unnamed English-speaking capitalist land, a young engineer invents inexhaustible giant robots to replace the fragile human workers on high-volume assembly-lines, and soon finds his invention co-opted by the military-industrial complex.
- DirectorOtto BrowerB. Reeves EasonStarsGene AutryFrankie DarroBetsy King RossWhen the ancient continent of Mu sank beneath the ocean, some of its inhabitant survived in caverns beneath the sea. Cowboy singer Gene Autry stumbles upon the civilization, now buried beneath his own Radio Ranch. The Muranians have developed technology and weaponry such as television and ray guns. Their rich supply of radium draws unscrupulous speculators from the surface. The peaceful civilization of the Muranians is corrupted by the greed from above, and it becomes Autry's task to prevent all-out war, ideally without disrupting his regular radio show.
- DirectorMaurice ElveyStarsRichard DixLeslie BanksMadge EvansA team of international scientists and engineers attempts to build a tunnel under the ocean.
- DirectorKarl HartlStarsHans AlbersFriedrich KayßlerBrigitte HelmAfter his colleague and a mentor, Prof. Achenbach dies in a set-up accident, while trying to produce gold from the lead, Werner Holk seeks revenge. Meanwhile, a British millionaire suggests that Holk work on him on a similar project.
- DirectorAlfred L. WerkerStarsRaul RoulienGloria StuartEdna May OliverAn aviator who crash-landed on an island in the South Pacific returns home to find that he is the last fertile man left on Earth after an epidemic of masculitus.
- DirectorEdgar SelwynStarsDiana WynyardLewis StonePhillips HolmesLaura is a nurse at the Front in World War I. She meets and falls for a young flyer named Geoffrey. On his first mission, Geoffrey is shot down and taken to the hospital where Laura works. Within days he succumbes to his injuries. Faced with the fact that she is with Geoffrey's child, she accepts the proposal of Ed Seward who still wants to marry her. Laura vowes that her new son will never fight in a war again. Jumping ahead it is 1940 and Robert, who is Geoffrey's son, meets Peggy Chase on a Ship steaming across the Atlantic. Ed Seward, who is now the Secretary of State, has adverted War by drafting a peace treaty with a belligerent country called Eurasia. However, before the treaty can be signed, Eurasia has the envoy assassinated and both sides escalate. At home, Laura campaigns for Peace, Ed stands with the country and will fight and Robert declares that he will not fight. In doing so, Robert loses Peggy and sees his family break apart.
- DirectorAbel GanceStarsAbel GanceColette DarfeuilSylvie GanceThe two Novalic brothers, Jean and Martial, are in love with the same woman, Genevieve. Jean is an impoverished actor and an idealistic dreamer, who does not want Genevieve to share in his life of suffering. Martial is an internationally-respected astronomer who discovers the return of Lexell's Comet, on a collision course for Earth. Meanwhile, the rich play while the world is arming for war. Martial decides to use the impending threat of world destruction to reorganize and improve global society. But he is opposed by the rich financiers and government officials who stand to lose their power and influence.
- DirectorDavid ButlerStarsEl BrendelMaureen O'SullivanJohn GarrickNew York, 1980: airplanes have replaced cars, numbers have replaced names, pills have replaced food, government-arranged marriages have replaced love, and test tube babies have replaced ... well, you get the idea. Scientists revive a man struck by lightning in 1930; he is rechristened "Single O". He is befriended by J-21, who can't marry the girl of his dreams because he isn't "distinguished" enough -- until he is chosen for a 4-month expedition to Mars by a renegade scientist. The Mars J-21, his friend, and stowaway Single O visit is full of scantily clad women doing Busby Berkeley-style dance numbers and worshiping a fat middle-aged man.
- DirectorMaurice ElveyStarsBenita HumeBasil GillHumberston WrightWomen unite to prevent financiers from engineering a second world war.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsWilly FritschGerda MaurusKlaus PohlA tenacious scientist blasts off for the moon in hopes of riches that may be found there.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsBrigitte HelmAlfred AbelGustav FröhlichIn a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
- DirectorYakov ProtazanovStarsYuliya SolntsevaIgor IlyinskyNikolai TsereteliEngineer Mstislav Sergeyevich Los travels to Mars where he leads a popular uprising against the ruling group of Elders with the support of Queen Aelita who has fallen in love with him after watching him through a telescope.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsCharles MartinelliLouis Pré FilsAlbert PréjeanA scientist's invisible ray freezes Paris into immobility.
- DirectorJohn G. BlystoneStarsEarle FoxeDerelys PerdueGrace CunardIn the future year of 1940, a young man is rejected and humiliated by a girl and goes off to be a hermit in a redwood forest. By 1950, a dreadful plague of "Masculitis" has killed every male over the age of puberty but our hermit hero. He's become a national treasure, and millions of man-starved females crave him, yet he still wants the gal who wouldn't have him.
- DirectorRoy William NeillStarsGrant MitchellMargaret IrvingGertrude HillmanAn inventor succeeds in making contact with Mars via television.
- DirectorMaxwell KargerStarsBert LytellRaye DeanMaud MiltonHorace Parker is a wealthy young man who is exceedingly selfish and self-centered. He is engaged to Minnie Talbotr who has discovered his selfishness and she is on the brink of calling off the engagement. On Christmas Eve, a messenger from Mars comes to Earth to show Parker the error of his ways.
- DirectorWallett WallerStarsCrissie BellE. Holman ClarkHubert WillisA Martian is sentenced to visit Earth to cure a selfish man.