Sherwood Week: Grinning and baron it

THE BANDIT OF SHERWOOD FOREST

1946

Directed by Henry Levin and George Sherman

Written by Wilfred H. Pettitt and Melvin Levy

THE SON OF ROBIN HOOD

1958

Directed by George Sherman

Written by George S. Slavin and George W. George (no, really)

Spoilers for either: moderate

Cardboard Science: Not dead the way we understand death

CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN

1958

Directed by Edward L. Cahn

Written by Jerome Bixby

Spoilers: moderate

Cardboard Science: I was a teenage arachnophobe

EARTH VS. THE SPIDER

1958

Directed by Bert I. Gordon

Written by Laszlo Gorog and George Worthing Yates

Spoilers: moderate

Cardboard Science: More like bore of the colossal beast, amirite?

WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST

1958

Directed by Bert I. Gordon

Written by George Worthing Yates and Bert I. Gordon

Spoilers: moderate

Cardboard Science: Little men come when anything goes

ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE

1958

Directed by Bert I. Gordon

Written by George Worthing Yates and Bert I. Gordon

Spoilers: moderate

Cardboard Science: Size queen

ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN

1958

Directed by Nathan Hertz Juran

Written by Mark Hanna

Spoilers: moderate

You love a fight your style, but I wonder if you've got the stomach for it, gentleman-style

THE BIG COUNTRY

1958

Directed by William Wyler

Written by James R. Webb, Sy Bartlett, and Robert Wilder (based on the novel Ambush at Blanco Canyon by Donald Hamilton)

Spoiler alert: dreams stay with you, like a lover's voice, 'cross the mountainside (okay, okay, moderate)

Cardboard Science: A real piece of the sky

THE BLOB

Very close to being a flawless version of itself, the only thing that separates The Blob from perfection are a smattering of screenwriting hiccups, a reluctance to completely demonstrate its awesome monster's gross lethality onscreen, and (of course) the production's well-known lack of money.  But let's not be overly critical: the thing is exceptional, and has surely earned its enduring reputation as perhaps the best of its particular breed of B-movie.

1958

Directed by Irving S. Yeaworth Jr.

Written by Theodore Simonson, Kay Linaker, and Irvine H. Millgate

With Steve McQueen (Steve Andrews), Aneta Corsaut (Jane Martin), Earl Rowe (Lt. Dave), and John Benson (Sgt. Jim)

Spoiler alert: severe

Cardboard Science: Descartes with the death ray eyes

THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK

The mind-body problem may be one of the biggest wastes of time in all philosophy—but it's a pretty great origin for a soulless mechanical monster.  The Colossus of New York remains one of the 1950s' most memorable science fiction films.

1958
Directed by Eugene Lourie
Written by Thelma Schnee and Willis Goldbeck
With John Baragray (Dr. Henry Spensser), Otto Kruger (Dr. William Spensser), Ross Martin (Dr. Jeremy Spensser), Mala Powers (Anne Spensser), Charles Hebert (Billy Spensser), Robert Hutton (Dr. John Carrington), and Ed Wolff (The Colossus)

Spoiler alert: moderate

Cardboard Science: Bitten by a fossil

MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS

Cardboard Science's salute to Jack Arnold comes to a strong finish, with this near-classic moral fable of a man's bestial transformation.  Monster on the Campus questions science's responsibility for the horrors it can sometimes unleash, and just like any good 1950s creature feature, it does so in a format that involves several really cool murders.

1958
Directed by Jack Arnold
Written by David Duncan
With Arthur Franz (Prof. Donald Blake), Joanna Moore (Madeline Howard), Alexander Lockwood (Prof. Gilbert Howard), Whit Bissell (Dr. Oliver Cole), Troy Donahue (Jimmy Flanders), and Nancy Walters (Sylvia Lockwood)

Spoiler alert: moderate

Cardboard Science: The secret history of Boomers

THE SPACE CHILDREN

Minor Jack Arnold, and take that with as much or as little irony as you require.  I'd prefer that you took it with none.  (But, yes, it does suck.)

1958
Directed by Jack Arnold
Written by Bernard Schoenfield and Tom Filer
With Michel Ray (Bud Brewster), Adam Williams (Dave Brewster), Peggy Webber (Anne Brewster), Johnny Crawford (Ken Brewster), Sandy Descher (Eadie Johnson), Johnny Washbrook (Tim Gamble), Russell Johnson (Joe Gamble), Raymond Bailey (Dr. Wahrman) (get it? I guess?)

Spoiler alert: high