Disclaimer: Films listed here may be terrible, but they must have at least one scientifically interesting idea, however badly they may exploit that concept.

~The Colossus of New York (1958)
Ross Martin, Otto Kruger, John Baragrey, Mala Powers, Charles Herbert, Robert Hutton, Ed Wolff
BW-70 mins.

The idea of a brain transplant is still very much conjectural at the moment; fifty years ago it might have seemed more plausible. You can regard this film as yet another version of Frankenstein; this time the creature is meant to engender even more sympathy, what with the transplantee being a Nobel laureate and all. Think of what he can do for the world if we could just keep him alive! The musical score has been alternately praised and condemned.

~The Fly (1958)
Vincent Price, Al (David) Hedison, Patricia Owens, Herbert Marshall, Kathleen Freeman, Betty Lou Gerson, Charles Herbert
C-94 mins.

"She [the cat] disintegrated perfectly, but never reappeared."
"Where’s she gone?"
"Into space … a stream of cat atoms …."
———-
"He put his head and his arm under the press. Why?"
"I cannot answer that question. Coffee, Inspector?"
———-
"It’d be funny if life weren’t so sacred."
———-
"Help me! Help meeee!"

Oddball sci-fi film framed as a murder mystery. Unintentionally funny at times. The Fly could be the first science fiction/horror movie to feature matter transmission (MT). There were at least two sequels and a remake with its own sequel in the ‘8os.

~The Lost Missile (1958)
Robert Loggia, Ellen Parker, Phillip Pine, Larry Kerr, Marilee Earle, Kitty Kelly, Hari Rhodes, J. Anthony Hughes, Robert Busch, Lawrence Dobkin (narrator)
BW-70 mins.

An enigmatic missile (from Earth? from outer space?) gets knocked into a low orbit, spewing out deadly radiation from its power plant. Scientists scramble to solve the problem. Naturally, they encounter too many hindrances from their fellow citizens, which fatally delays a solution. Fast-paced, low-budget thriller with a (be warned) unhappy ending. The producers might have been reacting to an on-going government project to power a cruise missile with an atomic reactor, which for technical and humanitarian reasons was ultimately abandoned.

~4D Man (1959)
Robert Lansing, Lee Meriwether, James Congdon, Robert Strauss, Edgar Stehli, Patty Duke, Guy Raymond, Chic James, Elbert Smith, George Karas
C-85 mins.

"That’s what you’ve done with your force field. You’ve compressed the energy of years into a moment."
"But … that’s like … the fourth dimension."
"I don’t believe it. I’m a cop. I work with facts. Now I have to start looking for something that saps the life out of a man like juice out of an orange."
"Nothing can stop him. Can’t imprison him or surround him with men or guns or tanks. No walls thick enough or guns strong enough. A man in the fourth dimension is indestructible."
———-
"Then you believe it can be done?"
"Believe it? I’ve done it!"
———-
"Scott, there may be side effects of this we don’t know anything about."
———-
"Tell them, shoot to kill. This guy’s a wild one."

The product description pretty much summarizes this film:

He walks through walls of solid steel and stone—into the 4th dimension. Scientific whiz Tony Nelson (James Congdon) has made an amazing discovery. He has developed a method of stimulating the molecular structure of objects so that they can be joined or passed through one another. Stumbling upon this incredible secret is Tony’s older brother, Scott (Robert Lansing), a fellow scientist who decides to take the experiment one step further. Soon he is able to pass himself through doors and walls. But his newfound freedom of movement has unforeseen side effects, for each time the power is used, Scott ages a bit and only by touching other living beings, thus taking their lives, can he maintain his age. In addition, this incredible force is driving him quite mad ….

~Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
James Mason, Arlene Dahl, Pat Boone, Diane Baker, Thayer David, Peter Ronson, Alan Napier, Alex Finlayson, Ivan Triesault, Bob Adler, Gertrude the Duck
C-132 mins.

"Why didn’t they tell us at the desk?"
"Hotels rarely advertise the fact that there are corpses lying around."
———-
"I don’t sleep. I hate those little slices of death."
———-
"Are we to be abducted every day in Iceland?"
———-
"Never interrupt a murderer, madam."

If you check your brains at the door, you’ll enjoy this fantasy. Jules Verne always strove for verisimilitude in his science fiction, but since this story dates from 1864—a time when not much was known about the earth—he can be forgiven some of his scientific inaccuracies.

A product description goes like this:

The accent is on fun and fantasy in this film version of Jules Verne’s classic thriller that stars James Mason, Pat Boone, and Arlene Dahl. With spectacular visuals as a backdrop, the story centers on an expedition led by Professor Lindenbrook (Mason) down into the earth’s dark, threat-laden core. Members of the group include the professor’s star student, Alec (Boone), and the widow (Dahl) of a colleague. Along the way lurk dangers such as kidnapping, death, sabotage by a rival explorer, and attacks by giant prehistoric reptiles. But they also encounter such magnificent wonders as a glistening cavern of quartz crystals, luminescent algae, a forest of giant mushrooms, and the lost city of Atlantis.

~On the Beach (1959)
Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins, Donna Anderson, John Tate, Harp McGuire, Ken Wayne, Guy Doleman, Richard Meikle
BW-134 mins.

"I shouldn’t drink, you know. I inevitab
ly say something brilliant."
———-
"They pushed us too far! They didn’t think we’d fight, no matter what they did!"
"And they were wrong. We fought. We expunged them. And we didn’t do such a bad job on ourselves."
———-
"The war started when people accepted the idiotic principle that peace could be maintained by arranging to defend themselves with weapons they couldn’t possibly use without committing suicide."
———-
"We’re all doomed, you know. The whole, silly, drunken, pathetic lot of us. Doomed by the air we’re about to breathe."

According to the product description:

The war is over. Nobody won. Only the inhabitants of Australia and the men of the U.S. submarine Sawfish have escaped the nuclear destruction and radiation. Captain Dwight Towers (Gregory Peck) takes the Sawfish on a mission to see if an approaching radiation cloud has weakened, but returns with grim news: the cloud is lethal. With the days and hours dwindling, each person confronts the grim situation in his or her own way. One (Fred Astaire) realizes a lifetime Grand Prix ambition, another (Ava Gardner) reaches out for a chance at love. The final chapter of human history is coming to a close … From acclaimed director Stanley Kramer (The Defiant Ones, Inherit the Wind) and screenwriter John Paxton comes this spectacular movie landmark, a film masterpiece with a message that will resonate as long as the world has the power to self-destruct at its own fingertips.

No overt violence, just an overarching sense of doom. If you can tolerate that for two hours, this is your movie—but at least the performers are up to it.

To be continued.

—Mike Gray