TCM “Must-See Sci-Fi” Update for February 2020

I am still having a blast with my 2020 movie project of watching all 50 movies listed in the cool book from Turner Classic Movies (TCM) called Must-See Sci-Fi: 50 Movies that Are Out of This World by Sloan De Forest (Running Press, 2018; available at Amazon.com and Shop TCM). The complete list of 50 films is here.

Here’s the current rundown on the films I watched in February (courtesy of my Instagram feed).

Things to Come (1936)

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This week’s #tcmmustseescifi film is a “bold, sweeping vision of the future” called THINGS TO COME (1936). Made in Great Britain, the film is based on the H.G. Wells’ 1933 book THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME (Wells also wrote the screenplay). The film tells a cautionary tale of the destruction of war and its toll on civilization. In the film, a multi-decade war and a sort of zombie apocalypse ultimately force the film’s characters underground where they build a new art-deco utopia (with fancy capes, too). Director William Cameron Menzies and screenwriter Wells created “a somewhat preachy but visually stunning work of art.” @turnerclassicmovies #tcmmustseescifi #letsmovie (📷: London Films/United Artists) 🚀

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The Thing from Another World (1951)

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This week’s #tcmmustseescifi pic is THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951). This horror-tinged sci-fi movie tells the story of an American military crew in the Arctic that finds a crashed flying saucer and a body frozen in a block of ice (spoiler alert: it’s not Captain America). When the ice block thaws, bad stuff starts to happen… This film is definitely a product of its time. Many critics interpret the thawed-out alien monster as a representation of the threat of communism in America. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote that the film was “seen at the time as [a fable] based on McCarthyism; communists, like victims of The Thing, looked, sounded, and acted like your best friend, but they were infected with a deadly secret.” #scawy @turnerclassicmovies #letsmovie (📷: RKO Pictures) 🛸❄️

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The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

It Came from Outer Space (1953)