THE BABY BOOM YEARS MOVIES

The Baby Boom years of the ‘50 and ‘60s saw the explosion of Science Fiction themes, more grown-up Westerns and the relaxing of the Breen Office’s control over movie censorship. Remember, the Hayes and Breen Offices were imposed on the movie industry by the industry itself as an alternative to outside interference but groups like the Catholic League of Decency had put the fear into the movie moguls in the first place. Now, with the waning of that influence in a more secular age, the studios would replace the old censorship office with a new system, a rating system. This was the age in which that system was devised and ,eventually, came into being.

HIGH NOON is a tense, well-plotted, written and paced opus that not only helped take the Western into the TV era with an alternative to the kiddy, Hopalong Cassidy stuff which used to dominate the silver screen and now resided on the little screen, but also made it OK for “adult” Westerns to invade the little screen as well.
WAR OF THE WORLDS the best adaptation of H.G. Welles’ novel to date combines color, good writing and an ending which would make the atheist Welles turn over in his grave. Welles’ novel, to my thinking, is about how the best minds using the greatest technology may overlook something so small and basic as a virus and thus the entire enterprise is lost. Had the bulkheads in the bottom of the Titanic been just a little higher many more would have survived the accident and, perhaps, the entire ship could have been saved…but that detail was overlooked, the bulkheads were too low and thus the ship flooded rather quickly with great loss of life. The movie version, which makes good use of the scientists and their work, while it keeps the basic outline of the book, is more about humanity triumphing through a combination of faith and reason. The USA saw itself as achieving victory that way in WWII and we wanted to think that combination would carry us through our current COLD WAR.
Science Fiction also gave us THEM which helped usher in a new age of giant , radiation-induced mutant animals. The atom ended the War but gave us nightmares as a legacy. The man who played Santa Clause in the ‘40s, Edmund Gwyn , now is cast as a scientist in this thriller about giant ants. This is a movie that stands up even to the standards of today’s FX shenannigans!
I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE seems to connect to the perceived threat of Soviet infiltration during that era. “Real men, human men,” according to the doctor will put an end to the threat just as “real Americans” were expected to uncover and root out any who plotted with our great enemy. Wonderfully realized monsters and a good, solid script make this an enjoyable flick.
FORBIDDEN PLANET. Basically this is Bill Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST with a metal Caliban and is wonderful to look at, fun to watch and ,yes, is Sci-Fi for grownups and ,in that way, is a forerunner of what would come on TV and in the movies in later years.
THE BODY SNATCHERS may , at first glance, seem to be a “red-scare” film. It is not…in fact, it’s something the opposite. The whole point is that the pods make everyone the same…sort of dull…they like canned “Muzak” and ranch-style frame houses and make no trouble for the authorities. In truth, the movie is a rebuttal to the current tend towards suburbanization of America during the Eisenhower administration. Corporate America wanted “normalization” and conformity, according to some, and the gist of this film is to speak out for human individuality.
THE LONGEST DAY. This stirring, totally interesting re-creation of D-Day, June 6, 1944 is one of the best historical movies, I think, ever. I’m sure not everything happened exactly like that, but the invasion of Northern Europe is an historic fact.
THE GREAT ESCAPE is another WWII effort only this one is fiction, though and through, but what a ride! Great cast, great script and believable plot make this a must-see for me, at least.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS is a lavish remake and is stunning in scope and execution. Yes, it takes liberty with history both secular and Biblical, but itr does so with so much panache!