Though color film was possible as early as 1908, it was not the default for Hollywood productions until the early 1960s. There were countless films made before that massive industry-wide change, and some of them represent levels of clever science fiction beyond even today's standard.

It is common knowledge that the first science fiction story is probably Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. Similarly, the go-to mental picture of black and white sci-fi is probably still the Universal Monsters franchise, including Shelly's iconic story. Alongside that group of classic films is a mountain of trashy monster movies, classy novel adaptations, and adventurous looks into possible futures.

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Metropolis

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Fritz Lang's 1927 German film is one of the first feature-length sci-fi films. The film remains a visual masterpiece with a politically charged undercurrent that remains relevant today. Crafted in the Weimar period, the film centers around a pair of well-meaning idealists trying to unite and save the working class of a futuristic city. The film's message is plain and obvious but delivered in a spellbinding and unique way.

This iconic work of German expressionist art remains powerful and moving. Multiple restorations of the film have been created over the years, but in its time, Metropolis was not well appreciated. Some called it silly and others accused it of having communist leanings. In the modern-day, however, Metropolis is regarded as one of the most influential films of all time and should be sought out by anyone with an interest in film history.

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

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The biggest mark upon the cinematic history that this 1953 film ever left is the fact that most credit it as a direct inspiration upon Ishiro Honda's original Godzilla. This film is not as good as the 1954 masterpiece that spawned the longest-running film franchise in history, but it still deserves credit as a solid underrated monster movie. Directed by Eugene Lourie, but the big name behind this film's success is one Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen is a legend of special effects and his work on this film is the element that makes it an instant classic.

The plot is similar to Godzilla, focusing on a fictional dinosaur, freed from a frozen slumber by an atomic bomb test. This is the radioactive monster movie that inspired most other standouts in the genre, and the set-pieces and destruction scenes make it a great creature feature in its own right. The beast's complicated biology, the many fascinating settings, and the stellar effects work all contribute to this underrated monster classic.

The Thing From Another World

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As a strange victim of one of the very few successful film remakes, this 1951 adaptation of John Campbell's Who Goes There? is wholly drowned out by its newer edition. John Carpenter's The Thing is one of the best-loved horror films of all time, but this earlier adaptation of the same work deserves some attention as well. Despite being inspired by the same source, the film is radically different from Carpenter's adaptation.

The film centers around a group of scientists trapped in the Arctic with an alien threat. Rather than taking on the form of its victims, like in the short story and Carpenter's film, screenwriter Charles Lederer crafted a humanoid plant monster that fed on warm blood. This shifts the narrative to something more akin to a science fiction slasher as some attempt to study the titular Thing and others attempt to reason with it. Carpenter's opus is untouchable, but The Thing From Another World deserves its moment on its own merits. It's an ice-cold nightmare well worth looking into.

Them!

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Glancing through the 1950s horror catalog, one could find a monster movie made from just about any animal. Though not quite the first, Gordon Douglas' sci-fi horror epic about massive ants is one of the best of the genre. Yet another movie about the atomic bomb, tests of the massive weapon accidentally irradiate colonies of New Mexico ants, making them huge and violent. This is a classic monster movie, anyone familiar with the genre knows what they're in for.

Blameless innocents running for their lives as cops and federal agents struggle against the newfound nightmare that threatens to tear the countryside apart. Unlike Godzilla or his supporting cast, the giant ants are capable of being damaged by human weaponry. This makes the movie less of a panicked horror and more of a domestic war movie against giant bugs. Them! is a classic 50s monster movie, standing out above most of its peers mostly through superior acting and camera work.

Alphaville

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Jean-Luc Godard's tale of a classic noir detective sent to a futuristic city to destroy it from within. One of the most straightforwardly excellent sci-fi premises and executed with impressive aplomb. The film seeks to interrogate noir masculinity's place in a dystopian future, posing the poetic and the artistic as the direct combatant of technology's cold embrace.

Rather than special effects, the titular city is created with real shots of Paris' modernist architecture. This film is an unfairly forgotten classic of French cinema, impressive for its ability to fully understand multiple difficult genres. Alphaville is a special film, that even fifty years later stands out as a great sci-fi epic.

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