Pithy Reviews (7) - Classic Sci-fi Edition

Let's travel to the future in the past, when America was afraid of a commie invasion and filmmakers exploited the hell out of it...

The War of the Worlds (Byron Haskin, 1953)

The first big-screen adaptation of the classic H.G. Wells novel (which is one of my favorite pieces of Sci-fi literature) is a bit clumsily made at times and the acting is pretty flat, but it compensates with a bunch of startling sequences, including the meeting with the alien "tentacles" at the farmhouse, the explosion of an A-Bomb, the cruel, rioting crowds in L.A. and many others.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Forbidden Planet (Fred M. Wilcox, 1956)

It's Shakespeare's "The Tempest" in outer space! Almost... Astronauts arrive on a distant planet searching for the survivors of a "shipwreck" that took place 20 years earlier. They meet a robot, a passive-aggressive scientist and his hot young daughter (the only survivors), the remains of an ancient alien civilization and they face the stuff that nightmares are made on.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Incredible Shrinking Man (Jack Arnold, 1957)

After passing through a radioactive cloud, Scott Carey begins to lose height. The first half of the movie is mostly a awkward family drama (with the added benefit of some comedy), but after a pint-sized Carey is chased in the basement by his own cat, it becomes an adventure movie, as the character explores his almost-microscopic new world in a series on scenes that rely on mood, music and clever effects rather than the occasional narration. Also, the ending really puts things into perspective...

Rating: 4 out of 5