Sixties City - Science Fiction Films of the 60s

	Frozen Alive (Der Fall X701) Creole / Alfa Film Bernard Knowles Mark Stevens, Marianne Koch, Joachim Hansen, Walter Rilla, Wolfgang Lukschy Albert Bessler, Sigurd Lohde, Wolfgang Gunther, Delphi Lawrence, John Longden Helmut Weiss A scientist uses his own body to test the effects of his experiments in suspended animation. While he is in a cryogenic condition his wife is murdered and when he wakes he finds that he is the chief suspect.			The Earth Dies Screaming Lippert Films Ltd Terence Fisher Willard Parker, Virginia Field, Dennis Price, Vanda Godsell, Thorley Walters, David Spenser Anna Palk A returning spaceman returns to an earth devastated by powerful forces. The survivors are brought together to defeat an attempt by alien-controlled killer robots to take over the planet. These robots have a neat trick of reanimating corpses to attack the remaining humans.
	Sound Of Horror (Sound from a Million Years Ago) (The Prehistoric Sound) Zurbano Films Jose Antonio Nieves-Conde James Philbrook, Ingrid Pitt, Arturo Fernandez, Soledad Miranda, Jose Bodalo Antonio Casas A giant invisible dinosaur is accidentally released by a group of treasure hunters in the Greek mountains, saving the producers a fortune in special effects. I'd rather look at Ingrid anyway…			The Flesh Eaters Vulcan Productions Inc. Jack Curtis Martin Kosleck, Byron Sanders, Barbara Walken, Rita Morley, Ray Tudor, Rita Floyd Ira Lewis, Barbara Wilson, Warren Houston Bad weather forces a helicopter containing three people to set down on an uncharted island where a Nazi scientist is transforming microscopic marine life into flesh-eating creatures.
	Santa Claus Conquers The Martians Jalor / Avco Embassy Pictures Nicholas Webster John Call, Leonard Hicks, Vincent Beck, Bill McCutcheon, Pia Zadora, Victor Stiles Donna Conforti The Martians kidnap Santa Claus and two children to bring a little Christmas cheer to Mars, but not all the aliens are filled with the festive spirit.			The Time Travelers AIP / Dobie Ib Melchior Preston Foster, Phil Carey, Merry Anders, John Hoyt, Joan Woodbury, Forrest J. Ackerman Not dissimilar theme to the 1960 film 'The Time Machine' but more complex. Scientists find themselves in a time trap after using a device to travel 107 years into the future.
	El Asesino Invisible (Man In The Golden Mask vs The Invisible Assassin) Filmadora Panamericana Rene Cardona Guillermo Murray, Adriana Roel, Ana Bertha Lepe, Carlos Agosti, Jorge Rivero Miguel Arenas, Karloff Lagarde, Los Sinners We've had black and silver-masked wrestling superheroes, now meet a gold-masked one! A scientist and his daughter's lover jointly invent a machine that makes people invisible that they demonstrate to the gold-masked hero. The scientist is murdered shortly afterwards and the machine, together with a young laboratory assistant, disappears ( ha ha ), following which there are a number of inexplicable bank robberies. The effects of the machine are only temporary, however, and it is this which leads to the discovery that the bank robberies are being carried out by the missing boy and the girl's lover.			Kiss Me Quick! (Dr. Breedlove) Fantasy Productions Russ Meyer Jackie De Witt, Fred Coe, Althea Currier, Claudia Banks The titles may give you a clue to this one! A semi-porn semi-comedy film which involves an alien called Sterilox (sounds more like a denture fixative) who comes to Earth in search of females as the women on his home planet are sterile. He first falls in love with a vending machine after which he encounters Dr. Breedlove, whose forte seems to be the manufacture of artificial women (although he apparently produces the odd Frankenstein-like monster in his spare time). Sterilox likes what he sees and takes one of the constructs home with him.
	Goldfinger Based on the novel by Ian Fleming Eon Productions / United Artists Guy Hamilton Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Shirley Eaton, Tania Mallet, Nadja Regin, Lois Maxwell Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewellyn, Gert Frobe, Harold Sakata, Martin Benson, Cec Linder Austin Willis, Bill Nagy, Alf Joint, Varley Thomas, Raymond Young, Richard Vernon Denis Cowles, Michael Mellinger, Bert Kwouk, Hal Galili, Lenny Rabin Auric Goldfinger, who has a passion for gold, plans to raid America's Fort Knox gold reserves by using a team of typically gorgeous female stunt fliers, led by hay-loving Pussy Galore, to spray the area with poison gas before cutting into the facility using an industrial laser which Bond has already seen at quarters a bit too close for comfort. Goldfinger meets his fitting end in a chilling manner during his 'escape' when he is sucked out of the window of a jet plane after the cabin depressurises. Which just leaves a contrite Pussy Galore for him to deal with in his usual manner. See James Bond and Super Spies			Firelight Self-produced by Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg Robert Robyn, Beth Weber, Lucky Lohr, Margaret Peyou, Chuck Case, Charles Emery Tina Lanser, Warner Marshall, Sherry Nalder, Carolyn Owen, Chip Parker, Haven Peters Deedee Pisani, Nancy Spielberg Written and directed by Steven Spielberg at the age of 17 on a $500 budget. A group of scientists investigate a series of coloured lights in the sky, followed by the inexplicable disappearance of people, animals and things from the town of Freeport, Arizona. Among those kidnapped by the Aliens are a dog, a unit of soldiers and young girl named Lisa, whose abduction induces a heart attack in her mother. The Aliens' plan is to transport Freeport to their home planet, Altaris, and create a human zoo. The film has sub-plots involving marital discord between scientist Tony Karcher and his wife Debbie and the determination of Howard Richards to convince the CIA that alien life does not exist.
	The Flying Saucer (Il Disco Volante) Dino De Laurentiis Cinematografica Tinto Brass Alberto Sordi, Monica Vitti, Silvano Mangano, Eleonora Rossi Drago, Guido Celano Alberto Fogliani A comedic film featuring Italian comedian Alberto Sordi playing many different roles depicting various people who claim to have seen flying saucers and Martians landing on Earth. They are all locked up in a lunatic asylum when they persist with their stories. I hope they threw away the key . . .			Kisses For My President (Kisses For The President) Pearlayne / Warner Brothers Curtis Bernhardt Polly Bergen, Fred MacMurray, Arlene Dahl, Eli Wallach, Edward Andrews, Donald May I'm not quite sure whether this belongs here but as it was set at some future time and is still relevant I suppose it qualifies. Fred brings his gentle charm to the role as he plays 'first lady' to a macho female President of the U.S.A. and her dealings with a visiting dictator whose morals are somewhat suspect when it comes to the female gender.
	Sky Above Heaven (Le Ciel Sur La Tete) (Stade Zero) (Skies Above) (Sky Beyond Heaven) Gaumont / Galatea Yves Ciampi Andre Smagghe, Jacques Monod, Marcel Bozuffi, Yves Brainville, Guy Trejean, Henri Piegay Bernard Fresson, Beatrice Cenci A radioactive satellite of unknown origin appears in orbit over the U.S.A. leading to all sorts of suspicions and accusations bordering on nuclear war. Doomsday is avoided when the U.S.A. and Russia join forces to investigate and destroy the satellite, but before they can get the job done the thing disappears as mysteriously as it arrived. There was a large involvement of the French armed forces in the making of the film including the use of its aircraft carrier Clemenceau for many of the scenes.			The First Men In The Moon Columbia / Ameran Nathan Juran Edward Judd, Lionel Jeffries, Martha Hyer An eccentric professor discovers an anti-gravity compound which, when pasted onto his home-made spaceship constructed of old railway bits, allows him and his companions to travel to the moon. They are captured by an underground race of ant-like Selenites from which they eventually manage to escape, but leaving the professor behind, whose common cold germs eventually wipe them out. It is told as a flashback story by an old man in a nursing home watching the televised discovery of the extinct Selenite city by a modern day lunar mission. Special effects are by Ray Harryhausen.
	The Creeping Terror (Dangerous Charter) (The Crawling Monster) Metropolitan International Pictures Art J. Nelson Art J. Nelson, Shannon O'Neill, William Thourlby, John Caresio, Brendon Boone Byrd Holland, Jack King, Pierre Kopp, Ken Savage, Mark Field, Les LaMarr, Mary Price Louise Lawson, Myra Lee, Buddy Mize Filmed at Lake Tahoe, a prime candidate for the worst sci-fi (or possibly any kind of) film of all time. A man-eating carpet terrorises a town, sucking conveniently unmoving people into itself. It is finally killed by being run into with a car. They should have just hoovered it and polished it off with a dose of shake'n'vac. Apparently the film is narrated because the director knocked the sound equipment into the lake during a scene and couldn't afford to replace it so overdubbed the narrative himself during post-production. You Tube trailer			Monstrosity (The Atomic Brain) Cinema Venture Joseph V. Mascelli Frank Gerstle, Erika Peters, Frank Fowler, Judy Bamber, Marjorie Eaton, Margie Fisco Lisa Lang, Xerxes the cat A doctor who has harnessed atomic power into a machine that can transplant brains is engaged by a rich matron to endow her with the body of a sexy young woman. For this purpose she also takes on a couple of gorgeous housekeepers and sets him up in a lab where the machine itself seems to require a mainly-naked young lady ( Margie Fisco ) being hooked up to it in order for it to work. A test experiment results in the brain of a cat being transplanted into one of the young ladies (Lisa Lang). Fortunately, it didn't affect her work - but they had to get a bigger cat flap fitted. The movie is narrated by Bradford Dillman.
	The Last Man On Earth (Night Creatures) Associated Producers Inc. / Produzioni la Regina SpA Sidney Salkow Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia, Emma Daniela, Giacomo Ross-Stuart, Christi Courtland The sole untouched survivor of a plague discovers that the remaining 'humans' have been turned into vampires. I hope he likes garlic…			Robinson Crusoe On Mars Loosely based on Daniel Defoe's classic novel Paramount / Devonshire Byron Haskin Paul Mantee, Adam West, Vic Lundin An astronaut is marooned on Mars when his ship crashes. Naturally, the alien discovery - a refugee from an interplanetary war - is called Friday. You Tube trailer
	Dr. Strangelove (How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb) Based on the book 'Red Alert' by Peter George Columbia / Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick Sterling Hayden, Peter Sellers, Slim Pickens, Keenan Wynn, George C. Scott James Earl Jones Brilliantly made black comedy, made in a series of sketches, about the threat of nuclear weapons. A Strategic Air Command General takes the law into his own hands and orders his bombers to attack Russia. Recall fails and the world awaits the inevitable.			The Twelve-Handed Men Of Mars (I Marziani Hanno Dodici Mani) Epoca Films SA / DS Produzioni Franco Castellano and Giuseppe Moccia Isabella Biancini, Dominique Boschero, Alicia Brandet, Lando Buzzanca, Jose Calvo Carlo Croccolo, Umberto D'Orsi, Pietro DeVico, Valeria Fabrizi, Agata Flori, Jenny Folchi Corinne Fontaine, Franco Franchi, Cristina Gaioni, Enzo Garinei, Aldo Giuffre Annie Gorassini, Ciccio Ingrassia, Alfredo Landa, Comedy storyline about the adventures of four Martians on earth, one of whom falls in love with every jukebox he meets. Watch yourself girls…
	The Death Ray Mirror Of Dr. Mabuse (Die Todesstrahlen des Dr. Mabuse) Franco London Films / CCC Filmkunst GmbH / Serena Hugo Fregonese Wolfgang Preiss, Peter van Eyck, Yvonne Furneaux, Yoko Tani, Robert Beatty, Rika Dialina Dieter Eppler, Leo Genn, O. E. Hasse, Walter Rilla, Ernst Schroder The world is in danger from a death ray invented by the evil Dr. Mabuse who plans to take over.			The Misadventures Of Merlin Jones Walt Disney Robert Stevenson Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello, Leon Ames, Stuart Erwin, Connie Gilchrist, Alan Hewitt A young genius carries out experiments with hypnosis, leading to his inventing a machine that can read other people's minds. The results of this is a whole heap of trouble with the law. The sequel to this film is 'The Monkey's Uncle'.
	Pajama Party (The Maid And The Martian) American International Pictures (AIP) Don Weis Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello, Elsa Lanchester, Harvey Lembeck, Jesse White Jody McCrea, Ben Lessy, Donna Loren, Susan Hart, Bobbi Shaw, Cheryl Sweeten Luree Holmes, Candy Johnson, Buster Keaton, Dorothy Lamour A Martian teenager called Gogo is sent to Earth on a mission to pave the way for an invasion. He meets a rich widow who runs a fashion boutique and falls in love with her nephew's girlfriend, Connie. The nephew, Big Lunk, only cares for volleyball and gets into trouble with a motorcycle gang for 'messing up' their beach. Also, Aunt Wendy ( the rich widow ) has a neighbour whose gang plan to rob her. Confusing and interwoven but it all comes good in the end. You Tube trailer Also see Beach Movies			The Horror Of Party Beach (Invasion Of The Zombies) Iselin-Tenney Productions Del Tenney John Scott, Alice Lyon, Allen Laurel, Eulabelle Moore, Marilyn Clarke, Augustin Mayor Damon Kebroyd, Munroe Wade, Carol Grubman, Dina Harris, Emily Laurel, Sharon Murphy Diane Prizio, Edward Earle, Wilfred Holcombe, Gary Robert Jones, Ronnie Linares Robin Boston Barron Beach culture horror movie with music. Mutant monsters, created by the dumping of radioactive waste into the sea, create havoc amongst the beachfront community. A scientist and his daughter assisted by the police and some local 'heads' have to figure out a way of stopping them. The film features music by The Del-Aires.
	Fail Safe Columbia / Max E.Youngstein / Sidney Lumet Sidney Lumet Walter Matthau, Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, Frank Overton, Fritz Weaver, Larry Hagman Another nuclear war 'scare' movie. An American plane carrying atom bombs is accidentally sent to destroy Moscow and the President has to destroy New York in 'retaliation' in order to prevent a full-scale nuclear war.