Cardboard Science: But he had glimpsed a dark swooping patch overhead, lighted by gleams of fox-fire redder than the aurora glow, and had heard a flutter of thick wings and smelled a whiff of corruption tainting the clean air

THE GIANT CLAW

1957

Directed by Fred F. Sears

Written by Samuel Newman and Paul Gangelin

Spoilers: high

The mediator between the head and the hands must be the heart!

THE PAJAMA GAME

1957

Directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen

Written by George Abbott, Richard Bissell, Richard Adler, and Jerry Ross (based on the novel 7 1/2 Cents by Richard Bissell)

Spoilers: moderate

Cardboard Science: You didn't get paid to be eaten by prehistoric animals, did you?

THE CYCLOPS

1957

Written and directed by Bert I. Gordon

Spoilers: as the film would have it, high, but practically mild by the standards of anyone with the intellectual faculties of a six year old

Cardboard Science: And out of the smoke locusts came forth unto the earth, and power was given to them

BEGINNING OF THE END

1957

Directed by Bert I. Gordon

Written by Fred Freiberger, Lester Gorn, and Bert I. Gordon

Spoilers: moderate

Cardboard Science: B-I-G

THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN

1957

Directed by Bert I. Gordon

Written by Mark Hanna, George Worthing Yates, and Bert I. Gordon

Spoilers: moderate

Cardboard Science: Dangerous minds

THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS

1957

Directed by Nathan Hertz Juran

Written by Ray Buffum and Jacques Marquette

Spoilers: high

An American against Paris

FUNNY FACE

1957

Directed by Stanley Donen

Written by Leonard Gershe

Spoiler alert: high, but it'd be your fault if you were surprised

The Rasho-men

LES GIRLS

1957

Directed by George Cukor

Written by John Patrick and Vera Caspary

Spoiler alert: moderate

Cardboard Science: Do you think you'll be able to respect a husband that probably pulled the scientific boner of all time?

KRONOS

As we briefly pause in our retrospective on the science fiction of George Pal, let's instead take a glance at something a little lower-fi: namely, Kronos, the 1957 sub-classic that must be counted as one of its decade's most successful attempts at depicting a full-scale alien apocalypse.

1957

Directed by Kurt Neumann

Written by Lawrence Goldman and Irving Block

With Jeff Morrow (Dr. Leslie Gaskell), Barbara Lawrence (Vera Hunter), George O'Hanlon (Dr. Arnold Culver), and John Emery (Dr. Hubbell Eliot)

Spoiler alert: moderate

Cardboard Science: When everybody does the dinosaur, everybody should get the dinosaur's affirmative consent first

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Cardboard Science: Does your learned young friend always go on like this?

THE DEADLY MANTIS

The dullest movie about a giant mantis terrorizing America you're ever likely to see.

1957
Directed by Nathan Hertz Juran
Written by Martin Berkeley and William Alland
With Alix Talton (Marge Blaine), William Hopper (Dr. Nedrick "Ned" Jackson), and Craig Stevens (Col. Joe Parkman)

Spoiler alert: moderate

Cardboard Science: There is no zero

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN

The single best science fiction film of the 1950s may even be the single best film of the 1950s, period, and one of the most emotionally resonant motion pictures in the medium's history.  Plus: the return of Tamara the Tarantula, because that's the kind of thing you'd expect in a movie billed as the "best" anything.

1957
Directed by Jack Arnold
Written by Richard Matheson and Richard Allan Simmons (based on the novel The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson)
With Grant Williams (Scott Carey), Randy Stuart (Louise Carey), Paul Langton (Charlie Carey), April Kent (Clarice), Orangey (Butch), and Tamara (an extremely large black widow)

Spoiler alert: high

Cardboard Science: Rock, roll

The Cardboard Science series intends to be a catalog of the science fiction of the past, today.  Science errors will be mocked.  20th century mores will be challenged.  Glories will be recorded.  Films will be, as usual, reviewed.

THE MONOLITH MONSTERS

The writers' lack of access to an encyclopedia, and the abysmal stupidity that issues in its absence, subverts this sci-fi thriller severely.  And yet a no-nonsense running time, some surprisingly suspenseful direction, and a truly unique monster elevate it above the madding crowd.

1957
Directed by John Sherwood
Written by Norman Jolley, Jack Arnold, and Robert M. Fresco
Grant Williams (Dr. Dave Miller), Lola Albright (Cathy Barrett), Les Tremayne (Martin Cochrane), Trevor Bardette (Prof. Arthur Flanders), William Flaherty (Chief Dan Corey), and Phil Harvey (Dr. Ben Gilbert)

Spoiler alert: high