Sixties City - Science Fiction Films of the 60s

	The Manchurian Candidate Based on the novel by Richard Condon United Artists / MC John Frankenheimer Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Angela Lansbury, Henry Silva, Leslie Parrish An American Cold War suspense thriller telling of an international communist conspiracy to brainwash the son of a prominent right-wing political family to act as an unwitting assassin.			Reptilicus Cinemagic / AIP Poul Bang/Sidney W.Pink Carl Ottosen, Ann Smyrner, Mimi Heinrich, Asbjorn Andersen, Bodil Miller, Bent Mejding, Povl Woldike A piece of an ancient creature is dug up out of a Danish bog. You have to be careful with these continental toilets. Obviously hacked off at being disturbed, it proceeds to reconstitute itself into a giant poisonous dragon with predictable results.
	In Search Of The Castaways Walt Disney Productions Robert Stevenson Maurice Chevalier, Hayley Mills, George Sanders, Wilfrid Brambell, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Michael Anderson Jr., Antonio Cifariello, Keith Hamshere, Jack Gwillim, Ronald Fraser, Norman Bird, George Murcell, Inia Te Wiata, Mark Dignam, Michael Wynne, David Spenser, Milo Sperber, Roger Delgado, Barry Keegan, Maxwell Shaw, Andreas Malandrinos, Joss Ackland, Jean Alexander Set in 19th century England, Mary Grant and her brother Robert embark on an unlikely and dangerous quest to try and find their missing sea captain father who vanished somewhere along the coast of Chile.			The Great Big World And Little Children (Wielka Wieksza I Najwieksza) (Big, Bigger And The Biggest) Start Unit Anna Sokolowska Kinja Sienko, Woychiech Purzynski, B. Bilewski, Zbigniew Josefowicz, J. Klosinski, Z. Malowski, E.B. Mickus, B. Pawlik Only science-fiction in part, the film is a children's fantasy made up of three separate stories. The first two feature children in a world of animated objects. The third segment has two children, Groszek and Ika, entering a silver ball that transports them to the planet Vega. The world they discover is suffering from the aftermath of an atomic war. You Tube
	The Man From The First Century (Muz z Prvniho Stoleti) (The Man From The Past) (Man In Outer Space) Czechoslovensky Film Oldrich Lipsky Milos Kopecky, Radovan Lukavsky, Anita Kajlichova, Otomar Krejca, Vit Olmer, Lubomir Lipsky, Vladimir Hlavaty, Josef Hlinomatz, Zdenek Rehor, Anna Pitasova An upholsterer called Joseph accidentally launches the spaceship he is working on, gets shot into space and returns to Earth in the year 2447 with an alien companion to find that the planet is ruled by automated machinery. He is eventually returned to his own year, 1962, with a warning not to allow over-automation to happen in his own time, therefore protecting the Earth's future. The film is essentially a comedy story with a moral to it.			The Awful Dr. Orloff (Horrible Dr. Hitchcock and Awful Dr. Orloff) (Gritos En La Noche) (Cries In The Night) Based on a novel by David Kuhne Hispamer Jesus Franco Howard Vernon, Conrado San Martin, Perla Cristal, Diana Lorys, Ricardo Valle, Maria Silva, Mara Laso, Felix Dafauce, Faustino Comejo Dr. Orloff and his blind, hunchbacked assistant Morpho kidnap young women, drain them of blood, and use their skin in an attempt to graft a new face onto Orloff's daughter's badly disfigured face. The film is essentially erotic horror with large portions of the film committed to documenting the deranged Morpho's attentions to the female prisoners before their eventual demise and surgical disposal. Although gruesome and sadistic in content it was popular with its target audience and spawned several sequels.
	Face Of Terror (La Cara Del Terror) (Face Of Fear) Documento Films Isidoro Martinez Ferry Lisa Gaye, Fernando Rey, Virgilio Teixeira, Conscita Cuetos, Gerard Tichy, Carlos Casaravilla, Emilio Rodriguez, Angel Menendez A plastic surgeon tries out a new reconstruction process on the badly-scarred face of a mentally ill female. The woman escapes from the clinic, taking with her the necessary medication to keep her new, beautiful face up to scratch. She eventually marries a wealthy man and goes on honeymoon but, on their return, while driving in a car, she runs out of the medication and her face returns to its previously deformed state. Her husband tries to escape but she runs him over before returning to the clinic for new supplies. Once there, she is discovered by the surgeon's assistant who tries to stop her and in the ensuing fight she falls to her death.			The Doll (La Poupee) (He, She Or It) Films Franco-Africains Jacques Baratier Zbigniew Cybulski, Sonne Teal, Catherine Milinaire, Claudio Gora, Sacha Pitoeff, Daniel Emilfork, Laszlo Zabo, Jacques Dufilho Set in South America, a revolution occurs in a banana republic when dissidents take control using the wife of the assassinated governor as a figurehead. The real power, however, is wielded by a banker who keeps in the background. The woman is virtually a human robot as a result of experiments in molecular multiplication carried out on her. The twist comes when she leads the revolutionists into an ambush and the country reverts to its original government, once again led in the background by the scheming banker.
	Doctor No Based on the novel by Ian Fleming Eon Productions / United Artists Terence Young Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman, Jack Lord, Anthony Dawson, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell Bond is in Jamaica, investigating the liquidation of a local agent and some missing files. After recovering from the sight of Honey (Ursula Andress) rising from the sea in that bikini he unravels the secret of Crab Key and its strange fire-breathing 'dragon', eventually finding SPECTRE-backed Dr.No. The evil organisation's plans are halted by the ultimate timely destruction of an atomic reactor which was planned to be used to power a device for interfering with American space flight launches. See James Bond			The Road To Hong Kong Melnor Norman Panama Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Joan Collins, Roger Delgado, Robert Morley, Felix Aylmer, Walter Gotell, Mei Ling, Michele Mok The last of the long-running 'Road' series starring Hope, Crosby and Lamour, just sneaks into this category. Hope acquires a photographic memory after taking a strange drug and accidentally manages to memorise the formula of a top secret super rocket fuel. A complex plot has them all ending up on the planet Plutonium, wisecracking their way out of trouble. The film was shot in Britain and features cameo performances from Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Peter Sellers.
	Santo Contra El Cerebro Diabolico (Santo and the Diabolical Brain) Peliculas Rodriguez Federico Curiel Santo, Fernando Casanova, Ana Bertha Lepe, Roberto Ramirez, Luis Aceves Castaneda, Celia Viberos, Augustino Benedico Santo is a silver-masked wrestler and first starred in his series of films, which were a competitor to the 'Neutron' films, in 1952. There were about 30 'Santo' films made in total and, like the 'Neutron' films, also contained curious musical interludes. Another similarity is that these also were made in short, episodic form and edited together to produce full length films. In this particular one a character called La Sombra Negra kills Santo's sister to get his hands on a gold mine situated on her property and is subsequently hunted down and eliminated by Santo. Another segment features a mad Frankenstein-like doctor who experiments with monsters made from reconstructed corpses. You Tube			The Testament Of Dr. Mabuse (The Last Will Of Dr. Mabuse) (Das Testament Des Dr. Mabuse) CCC-Film Werner Klinger Gert Frobe, Senta Berger, Helmut Schmid, Wolfgang Preiss, Charles Regnier, Walter Rilla, Harald Juhnke, Leon Askin, Ann Savo, Claus Tinney Our old friend Dr. Mabuse has been locked up in an asylum at last. He rebuilds his evil organisation and takes control of the establishment after hypnotising the asylum's director. The result of this is that when Dr. Mabuse dies during a brain operation the director still carries out Mabuse's dormant instructions. Gert Frobe once again plays the inspector who has made it his own personal crusade to track down and overcome Mabuse's organisation of evil.
	Masters Of Venus Childrens Film Foundation Ernest Morris Robin Stewart, Norman Wooland Two children escape some strange men in black with ray guns by blasting off in the rocket built by one of their fathers and end up on Venus, experiencing Flash Gordon style adventures. This film was made as an eight-part serial for Saturday morning cinema clubs, and episodes included 'Lost In Space' and 'The Thing In The Crater'. You Tube			Clown Ferdinand And The Rocket (Klaun Ferdinand A Raketa) (Rocket To Nowhere) Studi Barrandov Jindrich Polak Jiri Vrstala, Eva Hrabetova, Hanus Bor, Vladimir Horka, Vaclav Stekl, Jaroslav Valek, Ludek Kindermann, Jan Kurcik, Karel Smrz A sci-fi children's film featuring a spaceship controlled by a robot who succeeds in rescuing three children and a clown from a devastated city.
	The Brain That Wouldn't Die Rex Carlton Productions Joseph Green Jason Evers, Virginia Leith, Leslie Daniels, Adele Lamont, Paula Maurice, Marilyn Hanold, Audrey Devereal, Bruce Brighton, Arny Freeman, Fred Martin, Lola Mason, Doris Brent, Bruce Kerr, Eddie Carmel, Bonnie Sharie Following a fatal car crash a man manages to keep the head of his wife alive in a laboratory. The story traces his attempts to obtain another body to attach it to. For added interest, there is also a hideous monster locked in another room of the laboratory…maybe an old girlfriend?			Giant Of Metropolis (Il Gigante Di Metropolis) Centroproduzione SpA Umberto Scarpelli Gordon Mitchell, Bella Cortez, Roldano Lupi, Liana Orfei, Furio Meniconi, Carlo Enrici, Omero Gargano Marietto, Mario Meniconi, Luigi Moneta, Ugo Sasso, Leopoldo Savona, Carlo Tamberlani, Renato Terra A strongman goes to the city of Atlantis and becomes involved in the fight against its evil leader, Lord Yoh-Tar who is abusing their super-science capabilities.
	Invasion Of The Star Creatures (The Monsters From Nicholson Mesa) AIP Bruno VeSota Frankie Ray, Robert Ball, Dolores Reed, Gloria Victor Two soldiers investigate a strange crater in an atomic testing area and come across a pair of beautiful and buxom aliens with plans to conquer the world with the help of their animated giant carrots.			Panic In Year Zero Based on Ward Moore's 'Lot' and 'Lot's Daughter' AIP Ray Milland Ray Milland, Jean Hagen, Frankie Avalon, Mary Mitchel, Joan Freeman Film detailing the struggles of a family unit to survive following the nuclear destruction of Los Angeles and the ensuing social breakdown and anarchy.
	Creation Of The Humanoids Genie Productions Inc Wesley Barry Don Megowan, Erica Elliot, Don Doolittle, George Milan, Didley Manlove, Frances McCann, David Cross Nuclear war survivors create cyborgs to help rebuild the planet but the part-man part-machines have different ideas and rebel against the humans. The main 'human' hero is understandably shocked when he discovers that he is, himself an R-36 series cyborg.			Vengeance (The Brain) CCC / Raymond Stross Freddie Francis Peter Van Eyck, Anne Heywood, Cecil Parker, Bernard Lee, Maxine Audley, Jeremy Spenser Yet another scientist has his mind controlled by a disembodied brain. This time it belongs to a tycoon who tries to persuade him to find his murderer after he is killed in a road accident. There's a lot of it about!
	Moon Pilot Walt Disney James Neilson Tom Tryon, Brian Keith, Edmond O'Brien, Dany Saval, Bob Sweeney, Kent Smith, Tommy Kirk, Simon Scott, Bert Remsen, Sarah Selby A less than capable astronaut falls in love with a bit of totty from outer space who helps him complete his mission.			Zotz! Columbia / William Castle William Castle Tom Poston, Fred Clark, Jim Backus, Cecil Kellaway, Margaret Dumont A professor comes across an ancient, rare coin which bestows him with extremely unusual powers.
	Five Weeks In A Balloon Based on the story by Jules Verne TCF Irwin Allen Cedric Hardwicke, Peter Lorre, Red Buttons, Fabian, Richard Haydn, Billy Gilbert, Herbert Marshall A humorous fantasy in which a professor receives finance to make a balloon trip across Central Africa. Never mind the plot…. Five weeks? Where's the toilet?			Planet Of Storms (Planeta Bur) Leningrad Studio Of Popular Science Films Pavel Klushantsev Vladimir Yemelyanov, Georgi Zhzhyonov, Gennadi Vernov, Yuri Sarantsev, Kyunna Ignatova, Georgi Tejkh Six men, one woman and a robot land on Venus, encountering deadly plants, flying dinosaurs and the lizard men. A spaceman's lot is not a happy one…
	The Three Stooges In Orbit Columbia Pictures Corporation Edward Bernds Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Joe DeRita, Carol Christensen, Edson Stroll, Emil Sitka, George N. Neise, Rayford Barnes, Norman Leavitt, Nestor Paiva, Peter Brocco, Thomas Glynn, Jean Charney, Peter Dawson The stooges accidentally launch a flying machine invented by a crazy scientist and end up running into some Martian invaders who are not amused.			The Underwater City Columbia Pictures Corporation / Neptune Frank McDonald William Lundigan, Julie Adams, Roy Roberts, Carl Benton Reid, Chet Douglas, Paul Dubov, Karen Norris, Kathie Browne, Edward Mallory An engineer, a psychologist and several other strange people take part in an experiment to see if they can live in a city built under the ocean for extended periods of time.
	The Day Mars Invaded Earth Associated Producers Inc. Maury Dexter Kent Taylor, William Mims, Betty Beall, Barbara Beall, Lowell Brown, Marie Windsor Martians, in the form of pure energy who can transmit themselves by radio waves, take over the bodies of a scientist and his family to prepare the way for a Martian invasion.