Article by Beth Kelly
Science fiction, by its very nature, seeks to innovate in storytelling. Restricted only by the boundaries of their imaginations and the limits inherent to their craft, filmmakers of this genre use complex cinematic effects and fantastical plotlines to create worlds outside time. These films are notable for their craftsmanship as well as their embedded social and political messages, which later serve as reflections of the time periods during which they were produced. For enthusiasts of film, culture, and recent American history, classic science fiction movies provide a window into the past while predicting the course of society’s future
1. Metropolis (1927)
At date of its release this was the most expensive silent film ever made. Unfortunately, in the time since its initial debut in Weimar Germany, nearly a quarter of the original film has been lost. Legendary German director Fritz Lang, a notorious control freak, used inventive practical effects to evoke a Utopian city with decay at its core. The result is one of most visually innovative sci-fi movies of all time. The oft-replicated scene of Maria’s transformation stands alone as one of the first and only depictions of a female robotic imagery in early science fiction.
2. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
This philosophical parable starring Oscar winner Patricia Neal tells the story of a visitor from another world who lands unexpectedly at the White House. Klaatu bears a prophetic message for all international leaders, but the state of world politics being what they were in 1951, is ignored. He then poses as a human named John Carpenter, and is resurrected after being wounded. Sound like anyone you know?
3. Forbidden Planet (1956)
Surprisingly intelligent for a 50’s B movie – and starring a dashing young Leslie Nielsen! – Forbidden Planet was also the first film to feature a self-aware robot or human interplanetary travel. This cinema landmark also snagged an Oscar nod for best special effects, and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry cited it as a major influence. Indeed, the film has come to be known as a major sci-fi masterwork, as well as a cautionary tale of the role human error plays in technological innovation.
4. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
You know a film is influential when it’s been remade three times. The concept of alien beings that can replicate our bodies is frightening enough, but not being able to tell who is real was true horror for an audience still reeling from McCarthyism and the Red Scare. The phrase “pod people”, used in the film to describe those who had been brainwashed, became a part of American popular slang by the late 20th century.
5. Les Yeux Sans Visage (1962)
This edgy, macabre French horror gem had film-goers fainting in their seats at its Edinburgh premiere. Then again, the story of a lonely doctor cutting the faces off of young girls to graft them onto his disfigured daughter is sufficiently disturbing in any time period. His attempts at radical plastic surgery are no longer contained to fiction, but the film’s audacious, gothic beauty is something that has never been replicated.
6. The Time Machine (1960)
Based on a novel penned by sci-fi master H.G. Wells, and winning a special effects Oscar for its ingenious time-lapse photography, this classic depicts the dystopian future of a world laid to waste by nuclear war. Fast-paced and thrilling, with an overt anti-war message, it set the standard for time-travel films in the modern era, and was remade in a 2002 film directed by Wells’ great-grandson Simon.
7. Planet of the Apes (1968)
Screen icon Charlton Heston headlines this timeless adventure with an adapted screenplay by Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling. Astronaut Taylor crash lands on an unknown planet where chimpanzees run the world and humans are enslaved mutes. Fascinated by Taylor’s ability to speak, the apes keep him captive and form a tribunal to discover his origins. Desperate to find answers, Taylor fights for his freedom and the truth- but he will be shocked by what he finds.
8. Soylent Green (1973)
Another great Charlton Heston thriller, this time with our stoic hero playing a futuristic detective trying to get to the bottom of a suspicious murder of one of the city’s elite. In a world that has become heavily polluted and overcrowded, government-funded Soylent Corporation produces rations essential to the survival of the human race. The government boasts that their scientists have discovered the miraculous nutritional value of the ocean’s plankton and can create healthy foodstuffs for all. Set in the year 2022, today the race to find alternative energy sources and solutions to overpopulation is already on. But why is Soylent’s sleuth being pressured to lay off the case? The answer lies in one of the most famous twist endings of all time.
Today, it’s easy to marvel at how far filmmakers have come in their creation of futuristic worlds. Yet the appeal of these classic pictures remains undeniable, and their prescience eerily remarkable.
