Twenty All Time Great Science Fiction Films

[Det Jim McLeod]

This is a book i own, complied by Kenneth Von Gunden and Stuart H. Stock published in 1982. I have finally seen all of them (Things To Come was the final one). There are ones you would expect like Day The Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet and 2001. But there are little known ones like Magnetic Monster and Robinson Crusoe on Mars. Surprisingly, no Star Wars films were included. What do you think of this list?

Things To Come (1936)

Destination Moon (1950)

The Thing (1951)

The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)

The Man In The White Suit (1951)

Donovan's Brain (1953)

The Magnetic Monster (1953)

Invaders From Mars (1953)

The War Of The Worlds (1953)

Them (1954)

This Island Earth (1955)

Forbidden Planet (1956)

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956)

Village Of The Damned (1960)

Dr Strangelove (1964)

Robinson Crusoe On Mars (1964)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

The Mind Of Mr Soames (1969)

Colossus-The Forbin Project (1970)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

[LawrenceA]

Interesting list, but it leaves out a lot of important films. Others, like The Man in the White Suit, don't really belong, although technically it's a Sci-fi movie if one wants to be pedantic. I wouldn't have included either The Magnetic Monster or The Mind of Mr. Soames.

The post-75 era has seen a lot of terrific SF movies, so it's hard to imagine a list not containing any, although the publication date is part of it.

I posted my personal Top 100 pick a couple of years back on this thread:

http://forums.tcm.com/topic/94871-top-100-sf-films/

There may have been a couple I would add since then, like Arrival and Blade Runner 2049.

[TopBilled]

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) is probably my favorite. Though I like INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) a lot too.

[Det Jim McLeod]

3 hours ago, LawrenceA said:

I wouldn't have included either The Magnetic Monster or The Mind of Mr. Soames.

I wouldn't have included The Mind Of Mr Soames either, but it is one of my favorite films. It is about a man(Terence Stamp) who has been in a coma since birth and is now 30 years old. A surgeon (Robert Vaughn) performs a special brain operation which awakens him. There are great scenes of trying to teach him basic skills so he can be put into society. It was made in England and has some fine locations and a pointed discussion of how to educate and raise a child. Nigel Davenport plays a doctor who takes a cold, clinical approach and Vaughn tries to use more kindness and enjoyable activities. 

[Det Jim McLeod]

2 hours ago, TopBilled said:

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) is probably my favorite. Though I like INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) a lot too.

I like those two as well. "Day The Earth Stood Still" is a great Christ allegory with Klaatu coming to earth, dying and being resurrected, he even takes the name of Carpenter (Jesus's occupation)

"Body Snatchers" is good film, as close to horror as sci-fi. The scary part was how your neighbors and loved ones can suddenly turn evil, which is also similar to the plot of "Invaders From Mars" another of my favorites.

[universalkaiju]

No Godzilla?

 

[Det Jim McLeod]

1 hour ago, universalkaiju said:

No Godzilla?

 

Afraid not, the authors wanted to limit themselves to just 20, and ones they consider "great" not "best". They do a very in depth look at each film, describing every scene in detail. 

As for "Godzilla" most of us got to know the US version with Raymond Burr, which is good, though the original Japanese version is better, giving more in depth to the characters and a sense of foreboding, and that great music is one of the best things about it.