Monday, January 30, 2017

MOVIE SPACESHIPS OF THE FIFTIES

Here's a special post to end the month! These are movie spaceships built on Earth to explore the universe, no alien spacecraft or TV rockets are included... Enjoy!

Here's the beautiful ship in DESTINATION MOON from 1950, a nice way to start the show.

ROCKETSHIP X-M also came out in 1950, I have fond memories of this one because they played the crap out of it on TV in the fifties, the ending is sad...

FLIGHT TO MARS hit the screens in 1951, what a classic spaceship. I swear, the colors in this movie are just freakin' amazing!

Another awesome spaceship in WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, also from 1951. This time they build a long rail to shoot it into space!

This beautiful ship appeared in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS in 1953. My parents took me to see it and I loved it, A & C were my favorite comedians at the time!

Here's the cool spaceship from CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON in 1953, nice shot...

Looks like they reused the Cat-Women ship again in PROJECT MOON BASE in 1953. This movie has some amazing accuracies about landing on the Moon.

Check out the great looking British ship from SPACEWAYS, also from 1953. This movie is pretty damn boring, too much drama.

Another movie I saw a lot on TV was RIDERS TO THE STARS from 1954, chasing that meteor and the dead spaceman were my favorite parts.

Space hardware was modernized for CONQUEST OF SPACE in 1955. The crew crash on Mars and end up growing a plant before they head back to Earth.

Just when the spaceships were starting to look modern, good old Mr. BIG came up with KING DINOSAUR in 1955 and used a freakin' V-2 Rocket to get to a distant planet... Gimme a break!!

Also in 1955, THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT had this beautiful spaceship that crashes into the British countryside with many mysteries inside after going into space!

 
Randall Landers pointed out in a comment that we omitted SATELLITE IN THE SKY from 1956, so, here it is, making our list complete, thank you R. What a beautiful spaceship it is too, white no less!

FIRE-MAIDENS OF (FROM) OUTER SPACE in 1956 also used a V-2 Rocket to get to their destination in space, again, gimme a break!

My favorite movie from the fifties is FORBIDDEN PLANET, saw it in 1956 when my dad took me to the theater! It totally blew my little 7 year old mind, an unforgettable experience. This is the only saucer spacecraft in the post, the C-57D!

WORLD WITHOUT END from 1956 used this very nice spaceship, a really exciting flick!

Then, in 1957, Ray Harryhausen had this very cool ship in 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH! Saw this one at the theater too, a great movie for us little sci-fi guys...

I also saw THE INVISIBLE BOY in 1957, loved it because of Robby the Robot. Here's a shot of the huge spaceship Robby and the Invisible Boy use to go into space!

My second favorite movie from the fifties is QUATERMASS 2 aka ENEMY FROM SPACE, I love blobs!! There's the spaceship in the background that saves Earth from the alien invaders... Saw this one at the theater too!!

Even though I saw FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON in 1958, I really don't remember much about it. The rocket launch is one of the worst ever, the model is stationary, letting the smoke from the flames shoot up above it... LAME!!!

That great Allied Artists spaceship is back in IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE, reused from WORLD WITHOUT END... Hell, why not?! That's one of my favorite backgrounds.

This rocket from MISSILE TO THE MOON in 1958 reminds me of a model I built in wood shop with Eegah!! in the 8th grade!

Here's a little shout out to Bernie with that tailless animated rocket in NIGHT OF THE BLOOD BEAST from 1958.

Gawd, I even saw QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE in 1958, and again, they reused that Allied Artists ship! I liked the big spider reused from WORLD WITHOUT END and the cool sound effects.

Here's a small look at SPACE MASTER X-7 from 1958 as it has an encounter with a space blob and brings it back to Earth, photo found by Crashsq, thanks pal.

I saw WAR OF THE SATELLITES in 1958, liked it a lot. Check out those squat spaceships, they had to carry the Satellite pieces into space!

Eegah!! and I saw ANGRY RED PLANET in 1959, wow, it was a wild roller coaster ride for two sci-fi guys!! They use an Atlas rocket, obviously so they could use actual footage of an Atlas launch to cut in for realism...

Eegah!! and I also saw BATTLE BEYOND THE SUN in 1959, we really enjoyed the ride. Those Russian rockets were impressive, but, we liked the two bizarro monsters the best.

Toho kicks some butt with BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE in 1959. The Earth and Alien spaceships are really fun to watch in action!!

I'm pretty sure we saw HAVE ROCKET, WILL TRAVEL in 1959, again, they use an Atlas rocket. Give us The Stooges any day of the week!!

That was fun, I like putting things into order, can't believed I'm finally done... Check back soon for more cool junk from... THE DUNGEON!!

21 comments:

The Del-Aires said...

A-ma-zing. Love love love this post. The films from the 50s had some great spaceships and you put them all together in one fantastic post! If I recall, back in the day Starlog (remember that?!) published a special edition just about spaceships from sci-fi films. Your post reminded me of that -- thanks for taking me back!

TABONGA! said...

No problem Bro - I had a rocket blast doing it, thanks for checking in...

Grant said...

That comment about the one in MISSILE TO THE MOON makes a lot of sense. Especially because the rocket the scientist builds is pretty much sitting in his front yard, like some homemade spaceship in one of those Victorian SF stories. Which is pretty much what it is.

zillagord said...

Phallic!

TABONGA! said...

Great to hear from you Z - even if it has to do with sex!!

Anonymous said...

Another brilliant post... I keep reading it over and over... just love it to death!

Even if some of those spaceships were reused in other films, it still doesn't compare to the number of times Irwin Allen reused the animated "alien" spaceship blasting off (occasionally reversed for landing) in the Lost in Space tv series from the good old 60's.

regards from Paul in Sydney, Australia

TABONGA! said...

Hi Paul - Thanks, I'm very happy with the post, but, what about fifties Alien Spacecraft?!

Eskyman said...

What a great series of spaceship shots! Wonderful stuff, brings back a lot of great memories!

That first one, Destination Moon- RA Heinlein had a lot of trouble with the filmmakers, as Heinlein wanted everything to be correctly done in accordance with physics and scientific facts, which was a first in cinema. He deserves our eternal thanks for causing later filmmakers to see the virtue of reality when it comes to "suspending our disbelief."

Thanks for posting this!

Crashsq said...

Found this for 1958's SPACE MASTER X-7.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FjfMsozdIhA/UMtMJrZzY8I/AAAAAAABpjo/o7-cbgQs6KU/s1600/CaptainVideo+(37).jpg

Randall Landers said...

My favorite of this group has to be the realistic CONQUEST OF SPACE ship. Not that I don't love that Allied Artists ship, or even the Battle in Outer Space ship. One of my other favorites from this time period is the Stardust from "Satellite in the Sky" which is shown on TCM from time to time. She's a beauty!

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjS3fGvkvjRAhVm1oMKHS9mA48QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscififilmfiesta.blogspot.com%2F2015%2F06%2Fsatellite-in-sky-1956.html&psig=AFQjCNHyFZ0FZzRQ2nyMmE-XTWDOUa04nQ&ust=1486356159198367

Lacey said...

I think you should give "From the Earth to the Moon" another chance.
It is trying to be a faithful "Julies Vern adaptation with the ship fired form a huge gun before the rockets kick in. Very pre-steampunk."

Great post, as usual.
I saw all theses films on rainy Saturday afternoons growing up.

Exeter said...

Bad Request

Error 400

WTF?

mOOn ChunkS said...

Seeing all that Moon Cheese made me hungry!

steve hurley said...

I just came across this blog, so I apologize if I'm posting old info. When I found a model kit for “Flight to Mars” I discovered the spaceship in “World Without End” was re-used from FTM.

EEGAH!! said...

Better late than never Steve. Glad you got on board!

Anonymous said...

Y0! do not forget that strange but cool ship from "First Spaceship On Venus" a very inconsistent but interesting film.

Unknown said...

Hi. I saw a space movie in the late 50's - early 60's where a space ship was returning to earth in a rocket where they had been to another planet. (or maybe just the moon") As their trip continues they realize that there is an alien creature in the lower levels of the ship and it is climbing up through the different levels to the control room and it appears to be unstoppable. In the end, when the creature is breaching the control room hatch, one of the officers notices their oxygen levels have dropped from the creature requiring excessive amounts, so the crew dons their space suits, and blows open the exit doors and lets the air out of the ship which kills the creature. I have remembered the name of this movie as "IT" but, I have never been able to find it, and I don't know what it was really called. Are you familiar with a movie like this? THX

EEGAH!! said...

You got it right, but you just don't have the whole title, which is actually "It! The Terror From Beyond Space," which I think is one of the scariest monster movies ever made.

https://monstermoviemusic.blogspot.com/2008/05/it-terror-from-beyond-space-1958-vogue.html

Andrew Givens said...

Great post - I love that us retro sf fans are still finding and coming to this post for a fix of glorious rocket ships (and one flying saucer, of course). I agree, the Cosmostrator from 'First Spaceship on Venus' is stunningly beautiful and would make a worthy addition to any classic rocket ship list. I'm also a fan of the outrageously-finned (and comically so) Martian Maggot, but since she's both alien and from an animated short, well.

Charlie B said...

Great stuff!

Anonymous said...

Love those sleek finned old-style spaceships!

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