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The Last Man on Earth
NO RATING: FILM NOT AVAILABLE The United States’ first all-out sci-fi film, released in 1924, imagines what the world would look like if all men (but one) had been wiped out by a virus, leaving women to run the world. With such a ridiculous premise (a woman president!) this is naturally a comedy. The Last… Read more
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Aelita, Queen of Mars
(8/10) Ostensibly Russia’s/USSR’s first sci-fi film, this political 1924 space fantasy lays down a surprisingly intelligent criticism of the communist revolution, once you look past the clunky, propagandistic symbolism on the surface. Although most of the movie is Earth-bound, it is remembered for the amazing constructivist sets and costumes on Mars, designed by internationally famed… Read more
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The Hands of Orlac
(9/10) The Austrian 1924 film that inspired cult classics like Mad Love, The Beast with Five Fingers and Body Parts is a tour de force of psychological Expressionist terror. Horror icon Conrad Veidt plays a pianist who is driven mad after receiving a hand transplant from a hanged murderer. The Hands of Orlac (Orlacs Hände).… Read more
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Black Oxen
This 1923 film about a woman who undergoes medical treatment to become thirty years younger is a steadily paced and calmly directed mystery drama as well as a poignant, but subtle, social commentary on the Roaring Twenties, sexual liberation and feminism. Not necessarily a favourite among sci-fi fans, but is worth checking out because of… Read more
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The Man from Beyond
(2/10) Harry Houdini is frozen in ice for a hundred years, and is too busy longing for love and escaping from danger to realise it is no longer 1820, but 1922. Houdini is charismatic, but the film derivative, and the escape acts don’t transfer well to the screen. The Man from Beyond. 1922, USA. Director:… Read more
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Top 10 Sci-Fi Films Pre-1910
1895 is generally considered the the starting point for the movies as a mass medium, and sci-fi films were part of the staple diet from the very beginning. Here’s a list of the ten best science fiction (or proto-sci-fi) movies made between 1895 and 1909. Do you agree or disagree? What film did we miss?… Read more
Bela Lugosi Bert I. Gordon Boris Karloff Brigitte Helm Charles Gemora Crash Corrigan Curt Siodmak Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Eiji Tsuburaya Frankenstein Georges Melies George Worthing Yates George Zucco H.G. Wells Haruo Nakajima Invisible Man Irving Block Ishiro Honda Jack Arnold Jack Pierce Jack Rabin Jimmy Sangster John Carradine John P. Fulton Jules Verne Lionel Atwill Lon Chaney Jr. Mary Shelley Morris Ankrum Paul Blaisdell Paul Frees Richard Carlson Richard Denning Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Shayne Roger Corman Sam Katzman Segundo de Chomon Top Lists Top Silents Walter R. Booth Whit Bissell William Alland William Schallert Willis O'Brien
Scifist. 