The North Pole is the setting for The Thing From Another World, based on a 1931 short story about a shape-shifting alien who crash lands on Earth and is found frozen in a block of ice. In the original story, paranoia runs rampant as the men begin to wonder if their companions are human...or something else. In this Howard Hawks/Christian Nyby directed film, the shape-shifting abilities of the creature (more than likely beyond the special effects of the day) are substituted for those of an intelligent plant, able to grow duplicates of itself while it feeds on human blood. The smart script and terrific acting make The Thing From Another World one of the very best the fifties had to offer.

My Personal Views - "This is probably my very favorite film from the fifties, edging out some very respectable movies. I remember the first time I saw this film as a kid and it scared the bejeezus out of me. When James Arness, as the titular monster appears in a doorway with no warning whatsoever, I let out a yell. My parents, who I awoke from their sleep in the other room, were not very happy. They started rethinking their decision to let me stay up late on Friday nights watching monster movies."

It seems strange that two of the very best alien contact films should differ in tone as much as The Thing From Another World and this film. Micheal Rennie plays Klatuu, an alien emmisary who comes to Earth on a mission of peace and is gunned down the moment he steps from his ship. Incarcerated at Walter Reed hospital, Klatuu decides his mission is too important to waste time recuperating and he escapes into the city where he takes refuge at a boarding house so as to study humanity and plan his next move. He tries to call a meeting of the greatest minds on Earth in the hopes they will deliver his warning to all the people of our planet not to extend our warlike tendencies as we start to explore the universe. If we disregard the warning, the Earth would have to be destroyed. Patricia Neal plays the women who befriends Klatuu and helps him with his mission. And Gort? One of sci-fi's most ominous robots, Gort lets his cycloptic disintegrator beam do his talking.

My Personal Views - "I have always loved this film because it is so well done. This is a sci-fi film for people who think sci-fi films are only for kids. I have watched this film at least 2 dozen times and I am captivated every single time. This is a movie that I love to watch with people who haven't seen it, just to watch their reaction. They are always surprised at how intelligent it is. And it's got one of the absolute best film scores of all time."

The third important film from 1951 was the global disaster film from producer George Pal, When Worlds Collide. Based on a novel by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie, the movie tells the story of Earth's destruction due to the passage of two celestial bodies through our solar system. While the first, the planet Zyra, would only pass by causing environmental damage, its companion, Bellus, would hit the Earth and destroy it. The only chance the human race has of continuing on lies with the plans of a well-meaning group of scientists to transport, via rocket, a few hundred survivors to Zyra. The film is surprisingly good in drawing out the suspense and while there is some standard melodrama thrown in (a lover's triangle), overall this is a fine addition to sci-fi cinema.

My Personal Views - "I first saw When Worlds Collide in a film class covering science fiction films. After seeing it, I wished I'd seen it as a child. I loved the old fashioned type of adventure films. Movies like Journey To The Center Of The Earth, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and First Men In The Moon always had an epic feel to them for me. I have a feeling I would have thought of this movie in the same way. I mean, how much more epic can you get than the end of the world? This is a film I pull out and watch from time to time. I highly recommend it."

"Mixing rockets and dinosaurs made Lost Continent a very strange film. Starring Cesar Romero and stock footage from Rocketship XM, the story concerns the search for a missing rocket on an island where prehistoric dinosaurs still live. One interesting bit of trivia about the film is that at the point the characters reach the "lost continent", the black-and-white print of the film turns green. In one of the countless "gimmicks" of the time, theater projectionists were told to put a green filter on the projectors at the appropriate time.

My Personal Views - "Unfortunately, I have never seen this film although I would like to. I like to think I have a high tolerance for cinematic cheese. I can forgive any kind of cheap effects, wooden acting and hokey scripts if there are dinosaurs in it. I mean, I went to see Carnosaur...2. I can sit through this. And hey, it's got Cesar Romero in it. How can anyone resist the Joker?"