The United Kingdom has produced a lot of very good science fiction movies. Compared to most U.S. science fiction movies, U.K. movies tend to be “understated” which can mean chatty and slow-moving, or thoughtful and plot-driven, depending on your point of view. The 1960s was a good decade for U.K. science fiction films. Here are ten of my favorites.

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1. First Men in the Moon (1964) – In the late 1800s, scientist Joseph Cavor invents a substance that can neutralize gravity. He uses it to go to the moon with Arnold and Kate. They find a race of insect-like Selenites who live below the surface and whose motives aren’t good. Arnold and Kate return to Earth but Cavor remains on the moon by choice. I love the great stop-motion animation effects by Ray Harryhausen.

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2. The Lost Continent (1968) – In what appears to be the 1920s, a tramp streamer with a motley collection of crew and a handful of passengers become trapped in a fog-enshrouded, gigantic bed of floating seaweed — carnivorous seaweed. They find a colony of descendants from Spanish conquistadors, weird rituals, and menacing creatures. A very creative story.

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3. Quatermass and the Pit (1967) – Known in the U.S. as “Five Million Years to Earth”. In the present day of 1967, construction workers on the London subway discover a buried alien spacecraft. With dead insect-like Martians inside. Dr. Quatermass determines that Martians shaped human evolution and everyone has Martian DNA. The alien ship is sentient, and not in a good way. Quatermass and his pal Roney deactivate the spacecraft and save London.

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4. Village of the Damned (1960) and Children of the Damned (1964) – In VoD, a strange forcefield envelops the small village of Midwich, and everyone inside is rendered unconscious for four hours, apparently without any effect. Two months later every woman in town is mysteriously pregnant. The children are born and they have mind control and they’re not very nice. In the end the children are defeated. In CoD, six children from around the world are found to have psychic powers. Scientists suspects the children are aliens but it turns out they’re just vastly evolved. But in the end the children, who are not evil, die.

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5. Island of Terror (1966) – Genetic experiments to create a new life form based on silicon. On a remote island. What could go wrong? I’m glad you asked. Giant “silicates” that leave their victims very dead and very boneless. Scientists Dr. Brian Stanley (played by Peter Cushing) and Dr. David West must stop the rapidly reproducing silicates. They do, using radioactive Strontium-90.

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6. Night of the Big Heat (1967) – Known in the U.S. as “Island of the Burning Damned”. Strange happenings on the remote island of Fara. Islanders are being incinerated and the island is having an inexplicable heat wave. Godfrey Hanson (played by Christopher Lee) and Dr. Vernon Stone (Peter Cushing) determine that the cause is an alien invasion. The aliens look like kind of like a lump of lava. Unfortunately for the aliens, they’re vulnerable to rain water.

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7. Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966) – In DWD, actor Peter Cushing plays Dr. Who. The Daleks are aliens who must live inside canister-like devices with weapons that look like bathroom plungers. Dr. Who, his granddaughters Susan and Barbara, and Barbara’s boyfriend Ian are accidentally transported to another planet populated by the Thals and a contingent of their enemies, the evil Daleks. Dr. Who helps the Thals prevail. In DIE, policeman Tom Campbell joins Dr. Who and his niece Louise and granddaughter Susan, and they travel to the future where Daleks have conquered Earth. In the end, Dr. Who destroys the Daleks using their own super bomb.

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8. The Day of the Triffids (1962) – A spectacular meteor shower occurs all around the entire Earth and almost the entire population of the planet looks at it. Unfortunately, the next day everyone who looked at the meteor shower is blind. As if this isn’t bad enough, the meteor shower also brought plant spores — triffids, 8-foot tall walking, man-eating plants with poisonous stingers. Ouch. Luckily for the Earth’s survivors, triffids are vulnerable to seawater.

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9. Gorgo (1961) – A salvage crew captures a 65-foot tall prehistoric sea creature and brings it to London, name it Gorgo, and put it on exhibit. This is not a good idea when Gorgo’s mother is 200-feet tall and quite angry. Happily, both Gorgo and his mother escape and return to the sea.

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10. Konga (1961) – Scientist Dr. Charles Decker discovers a serum to grow plants and animals to gigantic size. He applies his serum to a baby chimpanzee named Konga. Konga gets big, and the now-insane doctor hypnotizes Konga and sends the ape to kill scientists who he sees as his enemies. Then Konga gets really big. Decker and Konga go on a rampage but are killed by the British military.

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Honorable Mention

Here are two joint UK-US productions.

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11. Mysterious Island (1961) – Loosely based on the Jules Verne novel. During the US Civil War (1861 – 1865), Union prisoners escape from a Confederate prison camp in a hot air balloon. A violent storm sends them to a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. There they find all kinds of super-sized creatures (special effects by Ray Harryhausen). Eventually the castaways refloat a sunken ship, aided by Captain Nemo who is also on the island, and sail to safety.

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12. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – One of the most famous science fiction films in history. Astronauts travel to Jupiter with the computer HAL after the discovery of an alien monolith on the moon that appears to be guiding human evolution. I like this film but it’s very ambiguous.

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Here are some other pretty good (well, maybe not objectively, but I like them) British science fiction films of the 1960s that didn’t make my top ten:

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They Came from Beyond Space (1967) – Alien invasion.

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Unearthly Stranger (1964) – Scientist’s wife is an alien sent to kill him.

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Spaceflight IC-1 (1965) – Drama on a space colonization effort.

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The Earth Dies Screaming (1964) – Alien invasion with robots.

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Night Caller from Outer Space (1965) – An alien is looking for breeding women. Also known as “Blood Beast from Outer Space” and “The Night Caller”.

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The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961) – Nuclear testing knocks the Earth out of orbit (and back again).

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Invasion (1966) – Invasion by good aliens who look Asian.

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Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969) – A parallel Earth.

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