I still do, and I've seen all these, too. Some oldies like Bodysnatchers, Forbidden Planet, Thing from Another World and Incredible Shrinking Man, I practically know by heart.
I just saw Forbidden Planet last week at a revival theater: new 70mm print & killer sound system - I was totally blown away. I'll never forget seeing it as a kid, especially of course the Krell Machine. I was fascinated by Nielsen and his partner going deeper and deeper into Morbius' house - first his office, then his lab & ultimately to the Machine.
@@VincentMurphy000 The studio wasn't quite sure what to do with the film. Was it a political thriller? A science fiction film? Was it too "high brow" for the average audience? Computers were nowhere near as ubiquitous then as they are today, and I bet anything they also believed there wasn't much of an audience. Additionally, there had just been a film with a psychopathic computer making the rounds (2001).
A favorite of mine is the British film “The Day The Earth Caught Fire”. It’s a doomsday story about how nuclear tests have altered the rotation of the Earth, causing it to spiral toward the sun. It’s a worthy addition to your list.
The male lead was extremely well acted. Peter Stenning, able to crack wise even as the world comes unglued. And it leaves us with a wonderful cliff hanger, we never know if they survived or died.
@@PeterNebelungI agree, brilliant movie. The actor was Edward Judd, who played Bedford in "The First Men in the Moon" and was also the lead in "Invasion". The latter is a tense and atmospheric low-budget gem of a sci-fi movie about aliens terrorising a small hospital. He was also in the peculiar but enjoyable sequel movie to Hammer's "She", imaginitively titled "The Vengeance of She".
This is the one I was coming to add, I was just recommending it to some one today,.I even have a reproduction movie poster in my home office. The movie is on you tube on the BFI channel
@@donsmith4833 Saw that movie back then when I was a kid. But it was the second movie that got me going that played with it. And I still believe in it and that was called Queen of Outer Space. Loved those micro skirts (from 976-CREOLEMAN)!
Thank you, *thank you* for including "Quatermass and the Pit" (released in the US as "5 Million Years to Earth') - I was really worried you were going to overlook it. It's not just a great 1960s sci-fi movie, it's one of the best damn sci-fi movies ever made! I love how it starts out weird when they discover the skull, and keeps getting weirder and weirder until an apocalyptic climax. "First Men in the Moon" is another favorite of mine for many reasons, including Lionel Jeffries' performance as Prof Cavor; he took what could've been a standard "eccentric scientist" character and imbued him with a lot of humanity and vulnerability. Because of its cheesy lo-budget special effects, "X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes" definitely deserves/needs a remake. (Would you believe the comic book adaptation was actually better than movie? There's a panel in it from the doctor's perspective looking up at his "transparent" building including someone travelling in an elevator I haven't forgotten decades later.) BTW I'm fairly sure "Village of the Damned" was a black & white film; not sure how you wound up with a colorized version.
I was going to comment on Village of the Damned being black and white. The black and white made the film far creepier than the colorized clip shown here.
@@joestrike8537 I LOVE “X: The Man With The X-ray Eyes”. It stars Ray Milland in one of his later decent roles (Let’s not talk about “The Thing With Two Heads” 😄), and a young Don Rickles, of all people. “If thy eye offend thee, pluck it out!” 😫
The Day of the Triffids and the Village of the Damned (Midwich Cuckoos) are both by John Wyndham. His novels are some of the best SciFi ever written. I can thoroughly recommend Trouble with Lichen and his best novel and one of my favourite books, The Chrysalids.
Also a big fan of Wyndham's novels, including those he wrote under a pseudonym. And I agree with another commentator here - THE KRAKEN AWAKES would make a great film!
I was thirteen and thought it was great. I remember seeing, Triffids when I was fifteen, I was picked up from the theater when the show broke, It was dark out with lightning flashes, Perfect.
"First Men In the Moon" I first saw as a child in the 60s and did not see it again 'til about three years ago. I never forgot that movie in those decades since 1964 and it was a real treat to see it once again except this time in crystal clear color on DVD. Very glad to see it on your list 👍🏻
@@magiclantern66 The bbc don't actually make any of the programmes they show and haven't for years. They buy everything in these days and it shows with the ever downwards quality over decades.
Also called Doppelganger. Spoiler alert When it was shown on UK TV in the 80s, the technician thought the last half of the movie had been reversed because of the mirror writing, so he flipped it "back". This actually made the movie more mysterious as we didn't know why Roy Thinnes was freaking out over the bottles in the bathroom.
I saw it in the UK, as part of a double bill. Though it did have it's correct title of 'Journey to the Far Side of the Sun' and not the dumbed down US title of 'Doppelganger', which made no sense. Sadly the US has continued this theme of dumbing down film titles for US audiences. A slightly more modern example is 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone', being called 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone', because WB though that US audiences wouldn't know what a Philosopher's Stone was, despite millions of US Americans reading the books before the films were made.
@@Thurgosh_OG It's the other way around. The UK title was Doppelganger, the US one was Journey to, etc. One of the most egregious title changes was the 1955 Diana Dors movie, "Yield to the Night", a thoughtful, powerful and emotive film about a young woman awating execution for murder (not based on Ruth Ellis) which was released in the US as "Blonde Sinner."
Totally agree! With a screenplay by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, the creators of my favorite Sci-Fi TV show UFO, and Donald James, and in the main role the great Roy Thinnes (The Invaders) and part of the cast for the future UFO Ed Bishop, George Sewell and Vladek Sheybal and of course the great Herbert Lom (The Pink Panther). Adding the great music of the British composer Barry Gray, this film is a true gem of great Sci-Fi!
When I first watch Robinson Crusoe on Mars back in the 70's I was expecting a cheesy stinker, but I enjoyed it. I like being surprised. It's one of my favorite Sci/Fi movies.
I’m 69 and I remember all these, I particularly liked “Robinson Crusoe on Mars”it’s storyline of mishap,survival and aliens is something that could in the hands of a talented writer be revisited,what’s especially intriguing is the concept of slavery and alien overlords,I had wondered about why the aliens needed slaves when they obviously had the technology to build robots and why humans never encountered them (their spacecraft was definitely advanced and had devastating weaponry)this is a movie asking for a reboot..
Seen most of these. I haven't been able to watch a meteor shower since the Day of the Triffids in case I go blind! Quatermass and the Pit was one of my favourites.
15:26 So very many favorites from my middle school and high school years. IIRC, Quatermass and the Pit was also shown as Five Million Years to Earth on tv.
I’ve never had someone recommend me 3 movies I would want to watch, let alone 12. lol great video! my niche recommendation is always Hobo With A Shotgun.
You can't have a list of classic 60s sci-fi without including the British sci-fi classic The Day The Earth Caught Fire. Written and directed by Val Guest ( Quatermass Experiment, Quatermass 2). It's a gripping story of nuclear bomb testing going wrong
This was also an excellent and scary film. Leo McKern, and all. Considering that it's been 93-100 degrees F. in Tokyo almost every day of the last two months, 5-10 degrees above normal day after day, night after night, an appropriate film to watch now.
Another I would add would be Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969). It was produced by Gerry Anderson of British Sci Fi fame including the Supermarionation shows of the 1960s. It stars Roy (TVs The Invaders) Thinnes and includes incredibly detailed model work and nice cinematography. Some of the props and set items would later be used in the Anderson produced live action Sci Fi TV classics UFO and Space:1999.
The theory/fantasy that a second, almost identical Earth existed directly opposite us, hidden by the sun was disproved because the effect of its gravity on the sun, if it existed would have revealed its existence. (Great movie nonetheless; I've been a Roy Thinnes fan since his TV series "The Invaders.")
Glad you singled out The Illustrated Man for paise, I have always felt this was an unjustly underrated film, beyond the intrigue of it`s premise it has wonderful photography, a great Jerry Goldsmith score, and the all too rare cinematic pairing of the charismatic Claire Bloom and Rod Steiger.
William Tuttle won an honorary Academy Award for Best Makeup working on 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. The key to "getting past" the yellow face aspect is to put the film into its historical context/time period. That way, viewers can still enjoy films of earlier eras while understanding that society has evolved.
@richarddixon7855 The film suggested Lao's ching-chong dialect was a deliberate affectation to mislead people into thinking him harmless, as he spoke in perfect English several times in the movie.
Terrific list! Glad to see Crack in the World get some recognition! When I was a child, I was lucky to see Fantastic Voyage, First Men in the Moon, Mysterious Island, and Robinson Crusoe on Mars. My Dad was as much of a science fiction fan as I have become and was happy to take me and my older brother to see these! I would add The Power (1968, produced by George Pal, directed by Byron Haskin) and The Satan Bug (1965, produced and directed by John Sturges with an appearance by James Doohan).
Quatermass and the pit was originally made by the BBC as a black and white TV series, the film follows the story line faithfully and is my favourite Quatermass film.
It used to come on the TV at Grandma's just as we were leaving to go home. Young me thought it looked fascinating but the adults were against me watching it!
5 Million, but who's counting? The label on my blu-ray's box has the US title and poster on one side...and the British "Quatermass and the Pit" cover on the reverse!
Great list with some of my favorite films: Mysterious Island, Quatermass & the Pit, and Robinson Crusoe on Mars. I would only add director Byron Haskins other 60s gem, The Power, with George Hamilton, Suzanne Pleshette, and the always memorable, Michael Rennie. It contains several of the most bizarre sci-fi moments ever filmed and a unique score by Miklos Rozsa featuring an unusual instrument called a "cimbalom" (which at one point actually appears on screen).
My God, forgot all about that one! (And I really liked it back when I saw it.) The only other production I remember where a character could remake reality was the Twilight Zone episode with Billy Mumy as a kid with the power. (Although Thanos gained that ability in the Avengers' final movies.) It was produced by George Pal who did so many great fantasy films (including the first War of the Worlds movie and Dr. Lao) and one scene featured his trademark stop motion animation. He started his career in the Netherlands and fled to the US when the Nazis invaded. His early "Puppetoons" are here on You Tube and def'ly worth a look.
Here in Brazil 🇧🇷, Globo TV Network had a popular program called Sessão da Tarde (Afternoon’s Season) … that program is part of the childhood and adolescence of 2 generations of Brazilians. With that programming I had contact with a lot of cinema gems like The Planet Of The Apes (The Five Original Movies) and four movies presented here: First Men In The Moon, Robson Crusoe On Mars, Mysterious Island & Fantastic Voyage. What a wonderful time of my life! Ah: about Village of Dammed - I could swear it was a John Carpenter movie! Now I know Carpenter movie was a remake. You have my thankfulness. 😊
As a child of the 60's and a teen of the 70's, and noted film historian as an adult, I have seen all of these (most of them more than once) and you don't have a clinker in the bunch. Good choices, all worthy of binge watching with a jumbo box of popcorn
Village of the Damned, and Mysterious Island were favorite of mine when I was kid. I remember watching them with my family on Saturday afternoons while eating popcorn that my dad had made.
I saw "First Men in the Moon" several times on television when I was younger. I always loved that one. Also, Robinson Crusoe on Mars was pretty darned good as well!
Glad you included 'Day Of The Triffids', and 'Crack In The World', as these are vastly underrated, sci-fi/horror films. The best one you selected, is also one of my favorites: 'Five Million Years To Earth'. Unbelievably intelligent, science fiction story. Yes, one of Hammer's best, sci-fi/horror films🎞️, if not, THE BEST. My personal fav, sci-fi/horror movie: 'The Giant Gila Monster' 🦎(1959)☺️!!!
……not 1960’s, but two films’ I’ve always enjoyed are, ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’, with the wonderful Michael Rennie, + Gort. Also ‘Invaders from Mars’. The creature in the plastic bubble still scares the proverbial outta me!
Thank you. Illustrated Man is a favorite of mine forever. The 50s and 60s really were the golden age of Sci fi, with a charm that cannot be duplicated today. Also, a must-watch is 1957's The Gamma People. Thoroughly Entertaining from Beginning to end, and Island of Terror (1966), with Edward Judd, Peter Cushing and Carol Grey. It's a knuckle-biter, with brilliantly witty dialog, especially the banter between Judd and Grey.
Crack in the World is as good as any of the huge budget movies.. Robinson Crusoe still holds up today. More about story than effects.. and ALL of the Quatermass movies are great, especially Quatermass II (aka Enemy from Space) I saw it as a kid and it still haunts me
Too bad Crack in the World is scientifically impossible. The idea of a world-threatening hole in the Earth that ends up launched into space to create another Moon is fascinating to consider.
Subscribed. Luckily, I had the opportunity to enjoy many of these hidden gems. Thank you for also including the written source of the hidden gems inspiration. These films are very much a part of me. Such wonderful and chilling memories.
Excellent list and reminder to rewatch so many of my favorites, and a few I've never seen yet. I'd add John Frankenheimer's Seconds. It's amazing how these movies really leave an impression. The Fifties through Seventies was really the golden age of sci fi, but I think that the Sixties had the most variety. Thanks.
I used to say that too, until I gave the 80s a closer look. Aliens, Bladerunner, Reanimator, Robocop, Terminator, They Live, Altered States, Predator, Alien Nation, The Fly, Scanners, Dune, Wrath of Kahn, Back to the Future, Dune, Lifeforce, Videodrome, The Thing, Buckaroo Banzai, KIller Clowns, Brazil, Time Bandits. The 70s had plenty of keepers, too, but for me the 80s comes out slightly ahead.
@MsAppassionata I know it as "The Trollenberg Terror", brilliant movie. Colin Douglas, who played the man who got possessed and did that really creepy look when he spotted the clairvoyant, played another alien-possessed man in Dr Who in the 70s. When he gave his creepy look in that, the director fell off her chair.
Great list!! One of my all time favorites is Robinson Crusoe on Mars! First saw it when I was quite young on TV. Then went years where I was the only person who knew about it!!
I remember "The Illustrated Man" was assigned reading in my high school class in Literature in 1976. Loved "The Valley of Gangi", "Mysterious Island", "Fantastic Voyage" amd "Village of the Damned" on the Late Show in the 70's. The latter also creeped me out.
In Robinson Crusoe, Colonel Dan McReady made it back to Earth and became Batman a couple of years later. His grandson, also named Dan McReady, showed up as the helicopter pilot in John Carpenter's "The Thing".
Great list, I've seen all of these as a kid...and have the DVD of Fantastic Voyage, First men in the Moon, Quatermass and the Pit, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, and Day of the Triffids. PLUS, I'm a model builder, and just finished the spacecraft from Robinson Crusoe on Mars!
This list could not have been better. I was a teen during the sixties and saw quite a bit of sci-fi. However, I only saw a few of the films on your list and the rest are now on my radar for must-see events. Thank you. I find most of these movie list videos sadly lacking. Yours was succinct but thorough in that you managed to capture the essence of each movie in a surprisingly short expose. As the “Project Farm” RU-vidr would say, “Very impressive!”
That movie gave me nightmares when I was a kid. Unique idea and really scary for me at the time. Saw it at a drive in and couldn't easily go to sleep that night.
Looks like the recent movie "Cowboys and Aliens" may have been inspired by one of these? I like just about any and all of the older films based on the stories of Jules Verne ❤
I must add The Time Machine from 1960. This film is based on the 1895 novella of the same name by H. G. Wells. It was produced and directed by George Pal, and stars Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, and Alan Young. It has nice special effects and good acting by Rod Taylor.
Barbara Shelley was in three of these movies: Village of the Damned, The Gorgon, and Quatermass and the Pit. When I first saw Quatermass and the Pit, it was titled 5 Million Years to Earth.
Shrinking Man utterly freaked me out as a kid. (Especially his fight with the spider.) 've avoided it since then, only seen it once and that was because I had to produce a TV promo for it. And why the hell would you keep the guy in a doll house...with a hungry cat in the house?!
Gwangi still looks great and it was always a must-watch and a real treat to watch on tv in the early 70's as a kid. Btw, it's spelled Gwangi and pronounced Gwan-jee. He was the original purple dinosaur.
Thanks for a great the summaries of my favs. Saw most of these in the theater 25 cent Saturday matinee. If are a boomer, none of these Gems are "lesser-known", and definitely not forgotten! One more to add, Vincent Price in "The Last Man on Earth" (1964)
I've been a science fiction fan since I was a little boy and I have to say that, if I really had to chose, my favourite film would be The Forbidden Planet. There are just so many excellent films out there and I don't have time to see them all (I'll be 71 in November).
Well, I'm 80, that means I saw all of these movies in theaters around Dallas as a teenager. They were great for the Drive In on dates with girlfriends on the weekends.
I cant believe that you did not have "The Creation of the Humanoids" that was made in 1962. This is a great SciFi movie. And it poses moral-ethical questions too... while also telling a love story.
'The Valley Of Gwangi' is a terrific Ray Harryhausen showcase - even if the allosaur is purple. 'The Day Of The Triffids' has a good concept and story, but it feels SOOOO LOOONG. (No 'that's what she said' jokes, please)
I’ve told friends for years about Crack in the World. I remember seeing it in the theater as a Saturday Matinee with my bff. It got me interested in the then-new theory of plate tectonics.
I have never heard of Quatermas And The Pit, but I remember this film vividly. I saw it on TV when I was about 10 or 12, under the title Five Million Years To Earth. I watched it alone, late at night, and it was terrifying but fascinating. That would have been about 1978. I never forgot it.
