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The vogue for many fantasy films in the 1950s was towards the horror schlock of creature feature and alien invasion movies. The Thing From Another World and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers typify the top end of the genre. In retrospect, it is easy to dismiss these flicks as amateurish, almost comical thrills and spills, but that would miss the point and context of their creation. Many a child, growing up in the fifties, will still be able to remember these strange, fantastical films in adulthood. Almost certainly, even if the name of the film is long forgotten, they'll be able to pinpoint the exact scene that scared them witless and forced them to spend the rest of their childhood sleeping with the lights on.

Space was still an unexplored mass, NASA didn't even exist until 1958, and man didn't step foot on the moon until 1969. Considering how much we still have to learn about space today, the 1950s were like the dark ages. Little green men from Mars were a very frightening prospect, and played on the very real fear we all have of the unknown.

The Thing From Another World (1951)
This film is often credited to one of America's truly great directors, Howard Hawks, although it is Christian Nyby who gets his name on the screen. Whether Hawks actually ghost directed or not, he certainly had a hand in making this film one of the classics of 1950s science fiction. The plot follows a group of scientists who discover an alien spacecraft buried underneath the Arctic ice. They take the frozen pilot back to their research station, where he accidentally thaws out with violent consequences. The claustrophobic, fantasy elements of the creature coming to life and stalking the good scientists has parallels with the anti-communist feelings America was experiencing at the time. McCarthyism was at its height and Americans feared they were being pursued by demons of the political variety.

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956)
Directed by Don Siegal, Body Snatchers can also be read as an anti-communist allegory, and even names its lead character McCarthy, but it's also a chilling thriller. Mysterious pods appear, and people begin to act very strangely. When Dr McCarthy sees for himself what emerges from a pod, he tries to alert the authorities. But no-one can be trusted to be who they appear.

Other science fiction films, many with great titles such as Flying Disc Man From Mars and Rocketship X-M, were prevalent in the 1950s, as well as a TV version of the great sci-fi fantasy Flash Gordon.

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