arminius

I loved Them

as a kid and still like it today. The whole mystery atmosphere in the beginning. Voted for that but there are alot of great ones on this list. But what about The Giant Gila

Monster or better yet The Giant Claw!

marty888

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is one of my top movies of all time, so it is automtically the fave.

Picking a runner-up would be difficult, because so many on that list are movies I've been watching my entire life, without ever tiring of them.

Ky-Fi

Why, it's the size of a battleship!

Charlie Goose

Hell yes, that's a terrific list.

I'm going to go with Them!, because it's an excellent movie and one of my earliest memories of 50s sci-fi. Plus, it's friggin scary. And it's got Santa Claus.

B5Erik

If it's "Favorite" and not "Best," then I've got to go with...

The War Of The Worlds

I love everything about that movie, but one thing in particular stands out - the voice work. Paul Frees, Les Tremayne, Sir Cedric Hardwicke - three fantastic voices all in the same movie. Of course, the movie itself is great - great script, direction, and the acting is really underrated and quite good. It's a classic, without a doubt.

But for me several films are practically tied with that one, including...

Forbidden Planet
Gojira/Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Them
When Worlds Collide
The Creature From the Black Lagoon

And one that I wouldn't put quite that high on the list, but is worth watching is

IT! The Terror From Beyond Space

NoirFan

The scene in which the alien slowly reaches out his "hand" and places it on the shoulder of an unaware Ann Robinson is still genuinely creepy.

wvtechs

Classic Sci-Fi doesn't get much better than this.

HistoryProf

I chose Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but really could have been Them!, Forbidden Planet, the Thing, or the Day the Earth Stood Still - all are awesome and movies that really freaked me out when I was a kid....especially Them! I remember seeing that on a saturday Chiller! on tv50 in the mid 70s and being scared shitless!

Other random movie memory that gave me nightmares: Gargoyles!

Charlie Goose

Which is the one with the guy who grows into a giant, and his sister or his girlfriend is chasing him around shouting, "Glenn! Come back!"

arminius

And you don't want to change that diaper.

Giles

according to wiki, it was shot in 57, released in Japan in 58, released in the US - 59

as for the film, which I watched last night - wow, what a truly absurb absolutely entertaining film. Some of the action scenes could have been tightened a bit, but the story and how the situations play out make this a wild little gem of a film.

islandclaws

Tough call...

I went with Forbidden Planet because it encapsulates so much of what I love about 50's sci-fi.

NoirFan

Plus, how many other Shakespearean films feature booze-sluggin' robots?

Joe Molotov

Forbidden Planet, with tDtESS a close second.

Trevor

Very tough choice, but today I'll go with Godzilla.

NoirFan

It's a pity the upcoming Blu-ray won't include the commentary track or the U.S. cut. Although obviously inferior to the Japanese version, it would be nice to be able to do a hi-def compare and contrast.

felixm13

I love John Carpenters The Thing, and have to admit that I've never seen the Howard Hawks version. I think I have to pay netflix a visit...also never seen Forbidden Planet.

NoirFan

I just finished watching this. Mara Corday is a dead ringer for Gina Gershon.

mndtrp

A lot of good movies on this list, but I'll have to go with The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Ky-Fi

She was a great 50's sci-fi actress---I enjoyed her in Tarantula as well. She was a total knockout.

Ash Ketchum

Mara Corday stopped acting after 1961, but then made a comeback of sorts, quite a bit heftier than she was in the above photos, appearing in four Clint Eastwood movies, THE GAUNTLET, SUDDEN IMPACT, PINK CADILLAC and THE ROOKIE. In SUDDEN IMPACT, she's the counter girl pouring sugar into Dirty Harry's coffee cup as a way of alerting him that a robbery is in progress. "Me and Smith & Wesson."

What's the connection? Eastwood had a bit part in TARANTULA.

NoirFan

It's a lot of fun. Hawks directs with his usual breakneck speed, characters tossing off rapid rejoinders, often stepping on each other's lines - it's like a 1930's screwball comedy that just happens to include an alien monster. The performances are nicely low-key too, with very little of the stiff, strident pontificating that bogs down many of it's contemporaries.

NoirFan

Bumped for the challenge - anyone discover a new favorite?

statcat

NoirFan

Fiend Without a Face has a pretty graphic sequence for it's time, but the overall concept is a bit more creative than the execution. That's a great poster though.