Cardboard Science: Phantom marine mutations, death rays, utter nonsense

THE PHANTOM FROM 10,000 LEAGUES

1955

Directed by Dan Milner

Written by Dorys Lukather and Lou Russof

Spoilers: moderate

Cardboard Science: A million years of evolution with one bomb

DAY THE WORLD ENDED

1955

Directed by Roger Corman

Written by Lou Russof

Spoilers: moderate

Indé film

APACHE WOMAN

1955

Directed by Roger Corman

Written by Lou Russof

Spoilers: moderate

Cardboard Science: I think I could stand it, except for out there—all that wasteland and mountains—it might as well be on another planet

THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES

1955

Directed by David Kramarsky and Roger Corman

Written by Tom Filer

Spoilers: moderate

If a young man came to me today with similar credentials there's no way I'd hire him

FIVE GUNS WEST

1955

Directed by Roger Corman

Written by R. Wright Campbell

Spoilers: moderate

Cardboard Science: I brought the atom bomb, I think it's a good time to use it

KING DINOSAUR

1955

Directed by Bert I. Gordon

Written by Tom Gries, Al Zimbalist, and Bert I. Gordon

Spoilers: high, I guess, but who could possibly care?

Slender man

DADDY LONG LEGS

1955

Directed by Jean Negulesco

Written by Henry Ephron, Phoebe Ephron, and Johnny Mercer (based on the novel Daddy-Long-Legs and play Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster)

Spoilers: moderate

Father knows best

THE DESPERATE HOURS

1955

Directed by William Wyler

Written by Joseph Hayes and Jay Dratler (based on the play by Joseph Hayes)

Spoiler alert: mild

Hannibal ante portas

JUPITER'S DARLING

1955

Directed by George Sidney

Written by Dorothy Kingsley (based on the play The Road to Rome by Robert Sherwood)

Spoiler alert: unless you're somehow surprised to learn that Rome won the Second Punic War, actually quite mild

Cineramarama: Vacation's all I ever wanted

CINERAMA HOLIDAY

1955

Directed by Robert L. Bendick and Philip De Lacy

Written by Louis de Rochemont III and Otis Carney (based on a book, somehow, called America Through a French Looking Glass by Renee Gossett and Pierre Gossett)

Spoiler alert: N/A

The first wonder of the world

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS

1955

Directed by Howard Hawks

Written by William Faulkner, Harold Jack Bloom, and Harry Kurnitz

Spoiler alert: well, the pyramid gets finished, but moderate otherwise

I'm fairly pretty, which is a nuisance

IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER

1955

Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen

Written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

Spoiler alert: moderate

G-d Week: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.

THE PRODIGAL

1955

Directed by Richard Thorpe

Written by Maurice Zinn, Joseph Breen Jr., and Samuel James Larsen

Spoiler alert: inapplicable

Walt Disney, part XIX: The dog days are over

LADY AND THE TRAMP

Maybe I'm just not a dog person, you know?

1955

Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske

Spoiler alert: moderate

Cardboard Science: The wheel in the sky keeps on turning

CONQUEST OF SPACE

George Pal returns to outer space, but we don't much like what he brings back.

1955

Directed by Byron Haskin

Written by James O'Hanlon, Phillip Yordan, Barre Lyndon, and George Worthing Yates (vaguely inspired by the book The Conquest of Space by Willy Ley and Chesley Bonestell)

With Eric Fleming (Capt. Barney Merritt), Phil Foster (Sgt. Jackie "Brooklyn" Seigel), Benson Fong (Sgt. Imoto), Ross Martin (Sgt. Andre Fodor), and William Redfield (Roy Cooper), Mickey Shaughnessy (Sgt. Mahoney), and Walter Brooke (Gen. Samuel T. Merritt)

Spoiler alert: moderate

Cardboard Science: Still fearing the spider

TARANTULA

GODDAM SPIDER

1955
Directed by Jack Arnold
Written by Martin Berkeley, Robert M. Fresco, and Jack Arnold
With John Agar (Dr. Matt Hastings), Mara Corday (Stephanie "Steve" Clayton), Leo Carroll (Prof. Gerald Deemer), Nestor Paiva (Sheriff Jack Andrews), and Tamara (herself)

Spoiler alert: severe

Cardboard Science: I may be the dumbest man to ever walk the Earth

THIS ISLAND EARTH

In the aggregate, the science fiction mediocrity for all time.

1955
Directed by Joseph Newman (and, maybe, possibly, sort of... Jack Arnold)
Written by Franklin Coen and Edward G. O'Callaghan (based on the story "The Alien Machine" by Raymond F. Jones)
With Jeff Morrow (Exeter), Rex Reason (Dr. Cal Meachum), Faith Domergue (Dr. Ruth Adams), Russell Johnson (Dr. Steve Carlson), Robert Nichols (Joe Wilson), Lance Fuller (Brack), Douglas Spencer (the Monitor), Orangey (Neutron), and Regis Parton (the Mu-tant)

Spoiler alert: high

Cardboard Science: A film by Gabriela Cowperthwaite

REVENGE OF THE CREATURE

What if... King Kong were six foot even, and he had to return to the water every three minutes to breathe? Why, it would be just terrible.

1955
Directed by Jack Arnold
Written by Martin Berkeley and William Alland
With John Agar (Prof. Clete Ferguson), Lori Nelson (Helen Dobson), Nestor Paiva (Lucas), Tom Hennessey (the Gill-Man on land), and Ricou Browning (the Gill-Man underwater)

Spoiler alert: high

The heists of Jules Dassin, part I: "First as tragedy..."

RIFIFI
(Du rififi chez les hommes)

It's the gold standard for heist films—but just like there's a reason we aren't on the gold standard, it's a good thing that they don't make 'em quite like Rififi anymore, too.

1955
Directed by Jules Dassin
Written by Renee Wheeler, August Le Breton, and Jules Dassin (based on the novel Du rififi chez les hommes by August Le Breton)
With Jean Servais (Tony le Stephanois), Carl Moehner (Jo de Suedois), Robert Manuel (Mario Ferrati), Jules Dassin (Cesar de Milanais), Pierre Grasset (Louis Grutter), Magali Noel (Viviane), and Marie Sabouret (Mado)

Spoiler alert: severe