Keep Watching the Skies!: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties, The 21st Century Edition

Lately, my enjoyment of new films and television has sank to abysmal levels. For me, long term genre franchises have been terribly abused into irrelevancy and new content with seemingly amazing effects fails to entertain. I started thinking a lot about the roots of modern science fiction and fantasy and ended up exploring Atomic Age sci-fi.While winding my way through the greats of the period like Forbidden Planet, War of the Worlds and This Island Earth , I began discovering lesser efforts like Creature with the Atom Brain, the Space Children and the Devil Girl from Mars. What I came realize is that I enjoyed these movies as well, despite any limitations of budget or talent but I also needed to know more. This is where Keep Watching the Skies comes in.Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Movies of the 1950s is a well researched guidebook of atomic age scifi by writer and historian Bill Warren. It covers every movie released in the United States from 1950 through 1962. That final year was somewhat arbitrary but movie tastes and trends were rapidly changing after 1962 and so it seems like a good cutoff point.Bill, who sadly passed away in 2016, tackled this project as both a fan and as an academic. His enthusiasm is infectious while he relates his childhood memories of watching these films but he can also be quite the film snob by pointing out everything that’s subpar with inquisitive gusto. Regardless of his personal feelings, most entries are well researched with additional info on a wide range of topics from the creation of the films, their popular reception then and later, and the fates of the cast and crew. One thing to keep in mind is that this book is significantly different then other modern film guides in that the entires are written in an essay format. So, there is no rating system (like 5 stars for example), nor quick suggestions but rather this guide might be something to read after you’ve seen the films discussed. It’s much more like reading a collection of professional magazine articles from a sci-fi periodical. The last part of this guide contains several helpful appendixes.Keep watching the skies comes in a two volume format when ordered as a softcover, which I found to be easier to handle then whole large single book as the combined project is about a thousand pages. This is the latest updated edition. These volumes have a publication year of 2016, but they also have a copyright notice for Bill Warren for 2010, which I think is confusing some folks as to whether this is the latest version or not but the year on the copyright page confirms that it is.I have had a really good time consuming Keep Watching the Skies and I have it next to my bed so it can be the last thing I read everyday. Because of this book I have come know of Jack Arnold, who directed It Came from Outer Space, the first two Creature from the Black Lagoon films, Tarantula, and the Incredible Shrinking Man, which are now all personal favorites. Additionally, I learned about the early, Hammer sci-fi films such as The Quatermass Xperiment and X the Unknown and I found these to be wonderful examples of the period and great examples of British filmmaking. I have also enjoyed reading about classic movies, in Bill’s insightful style, that I have seen before such as: The Time Machine, the Day the Earth Stood Still, Godzilla King of the Monsters, and the Mysterious Island. Finally, I’d like to mention The Day the Earth Caught Fire, a seemingly forgotten film that I was really taken with as well (and so was Bill Warren apparently).Keep Watching the Skies is a great film guide that either helps you reminisce or introduces you to the atomic yesteryears of sci-fi. Its always informative and interesting regardless if the film described by Bill Warren is a clunker or monumental.

I was born in 1953 and lived one block from a movie theater and four blocks from a second until I was 19. I started seeing some of these movies as first-run features and double-bills before 1960 and probably saw most of them before I graduated high school I loved that era and these sci-fi movies, along with the Hammer and other B-movies that came through town made my growing up magical. This book by Bill Warren is a key unlocking a door back into a time when things were simpler and way too much fun! The research is mind-boggling and it is the first thing you notice. You wonder just how he did it and imagine the late nights he was probably writing letters, reading books, watching films, or calling people to interview. The second thing you will notice right away is his opinions on the movies. I have to say I learned a lot and while I am not a highly critical person--I know what I like and don't analyze it too much--Bill's opinions of the many movies he tells me about made me think of them in a new way. The back stories are invaluable to the fan and very interesting. The book contains a bunch of color posters and they are absolutely cool! The book is huge and consturcted well, but cumbersome in all positions except sitting straight up with it on your lap or sitting at a reading table. It is definately a reference volume, but more of an entertainment event. I find myself picking it up at all kinds of different moments of the day and just opening it to get a nostalgic rush. This book has prompted me to invest in getting some of these films on DVD, most I didn't have but some I needed to upgrade to newer and nicer editions. Bill writes very well and the book would be a doorstop if he did not. He is at times a scholar, a critic, and a fan--many times simultaneously. Taken together, all of the components of this effort work equisitely and worth the price being asked. You will not invest your money any more wisely and any fan of the 1950's or of the movies should get this book. Great job and my congratulations goes to him and the others who created such a useful and fun book!

This is not a conventional cataloging of movies; it is an intensely personal view of a class of movies, and the fascinating stories of their conception and production. One reviewer found this approach confusing and boring; I found it highly entertaining and insightful.One must simply respect the years of research involved in assembling this nearly 1,000-page work, given the difficulty of locating original sources of material many years after the fact. The terms "prodigious", "phenomenal" and "extraordinary" come to mind, and that doesn't begin to exhaust the laudatory adjectives I could apply.Put simply, I found this book fascinating and fun to read. The author does an astounding job of narration, assembling a widely diverse group of facts and weaving them into a tapestry which heavily reflects his own personal preferences and views. Since I agree with most of the latter, this book is a compelling read for me. I didn't read it from front to back, but selected the sections on the movies I remember most fondly and read them first. I am now working my way through the sections which discuss movies I am less familiar with, and find them equally entertaining. This is a book to be read over months and years, not in a few sittings.There are plenty of photos in the book (including a central color section of movie posters), but as one critic pointed out, it would have been nice to have a few more. But this book is already so big and heavy it is hard enough to hold while reading it. If any more material were added, it would have to be split into two volumes, to avoid an increase in hernias in the general population.Thank you, Bill Warren, for a true labor of love.

I happened upon this book through an ad in Filmfax magazine. Upon reading the review in Filmfax, I ordered the book right away. As usual Amazon shipped the book lightning fast and I recieved it the next day. This book's content is amazing, no stone left unturned in some of the summaries I've read so far. I recommend the book highly for it's content, it's like a sci-fi/horror encyclopedia.Several complaints: 1) Very overpriced, period. 2) Not enough pictures, especially in the classic movie summaries. For example, I don't think they had any pics in The Blob's synopsis. 3) The pages while slick and glossy are extremely thin, they will bend and crinkle with light use. For the price, they should have kept it in two volumes with a hard slipcase to keep them in. I love the way the Dilbert 2.0 20th Anniversary book was done, and it was much more affordable. 4) The posters in the color sections were displayed kinda oddly to me. The poster for movies like The Blob etc. are presented as small, while posters for crap like Queen of Space is full page!!!PS The dust cover art is awesome!! Too bad they didn't use a hardcover as the dust cover is pretty flimsy and can rip pretty easy.Still for the material only, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

For information about any American sci-fi movie released from 1950 to 1962, you can do little better than reference “Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties” by Bill Warren to find obscure details (there have been several editions). The amount of minute detail (culled from obscure fan magazines to trade journals to a wide spectrum of interviews) that Warren has brought together is inspirational, though, of course, I don’t always agree with him. This is one of those sterling reference books that documents every last production and reception detail available for the films, providing insanely detailed lists of crew and cast and well-documented production notes.This McFarland book is nicely complimented by other McFarland books such as “The Dinosaur Filmography” by Mark Berry, “Allied Artists Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films” by Michael Pitts, and Thomas Kent Miller’s Mars in the Movies: A History.In fact, Mars in the Movies: A History references Warren’s book 18 times, and itself has proven useful to professionals desiring information on the 100 Mars movies made from 1910 (Thomas Edison’s 5-minute-long “A Trip to Mars”) to Ridley Scott’s “The Martian” and many of the knock-offs that followed!In fact, Rutgers University’s John Powell in his “Emerald Insight” review of Mars in the Movies: A Historysays “there is not one [sci-fi reference work] that is singularly devoted to the subject of movies about Mars. Miller’s book would serve as a compliment to [‘Keep Watching the Skies!’ (Warren, 2010) and ‘Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies’ (Gerani, 2011)]” He also notes correctly that “[Miller] pens the ultimate 292-page love letter to an often-overlooked sci-fi sub-genre… [but] make no mistake, Miller is authoritative on this topic and it is refreshing to read his insightful comments.”This is all well and good, but the facts speak for themselves: “Keep Watching the Skies!” is the monolithic Titan, the Mount Everest of 1950s science-fiction film reference books.

This is a comprehensive look at the science fiction films of the 1950s. They are all here, no matter hold big or small, good or bad. It's a terrific reference, but I enjoyed reading through it from front to back. It's packed with facts, but it's not a dry read.I was born in 1960, so I didn't see any of these during their theatrical release, but I saw many on television and I've made a point of catching them as I can, and these days I don't have to stay up until two in the morning to do it.I already had the giant paperback version of the earlier release, but I wanted this revised version, and the Kindle version is both less expensive and easier to carry. One difference is that the earlier version was arranged by year, while this is by title. It was a more interesting read the old way, but the new way makes it easier to find specific films. The older version was two volumes in one giant paperback binding, and it had separate indices for each. That was frustrating when I didn't know what year a film was released. This is one big volume, and every movie is easy to locate.For fans of '50s monster movies, this is the best book I've seen.

I actually had both volumes of this book in it's original form back in the mid 1980's and was VERY PLEASED to see this new edition of it! Mere words cannot possibly describe the feelings that I had upon seeing this new edition and the work, care, and effort that it took to produce it for those of us that are simply "crazy" about the science fiction, fantasy, and horror films of the 1950's and early '60's. Much of the new material that has been added this time was very enjoyable and very informative as well as the section of movie posters included here.I really got a kick out of trying to name the films represented by the monsters, creatures, and "other things" that go "bump" in the night Illustrated on the front cover dust jacket (with a listing of the movies on the inside front cover if your having trouble naming the films that they're (the critters!) from. I am 55 years "young", still love these movies to this very day, and think this book would be an excellent addition to anyone interested in wanting to know about these "films of the 1950's" and the impact that they had on many of us as well as those of us who are the present day film makers responsible for many of the Sci-Fi,Fantasy, and Horror "blockbusters"(Avatar, Lord Of The Rings, Harry Potter,etc,etc) of today...........

First the real pluses of this book... It covers virtually every sci fi film of the classic sci-fi era, and it does so with lots and lots of data -- including information available really nowhere else. And for such a data driven book it is highly readable. Too, you feel the passion of the author (one that you possibly share, as I do!) for these films.But... yeah, but... the author "likes" and "doesn't like" various films for reason that seem highly personal. The characters may be too 'nice' (as he judges the prime character and his girlfriend in The Giant Gila Monster. Their 'sin' of niceness? Getting braces and caring about the prime character's crippled younger sister. (Also a personal opinion... I enjoy the film in part for that very reason.)The author sees anything that does not directly drive the story -- but that fills it out -- as wasteful and unnecessary. For example the scene where the prime character who saw the beast in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is questioned by a psychiatrist who tries to convince him that it was a delusion -- that, he says, is useless filler because we, the film viewers, saw the monster too.Most every script is to him weak. What seems to matter almost solely is how real and/or scary the 'monsters' are, or how believable is the fake science (i.e., "science fiction") behind the story.Another thing the author dislikes is anything God related. So while, as just one example, he loves the George Pal War of the Worlds, he finds fault with so much focus on churches, and even with HG Wells on crediting 'the littlest things God put on this earth' for the world's survival.Is "Keep Watch on the Skies" worth owning? Yes. For the breadth of its coverage alone. But it is also a bit disappointing to this long-time fan of classic sci fi. Being told again and again why the author thinks poorly of a film I really enjoy is rather a drag. And it, frankly, is not at all what I expected.

Dit is alleen deel 2. Begint op blz. 496 met films van L-Z en eindigt op blz.1004. Dus zeker geen 1040 pagina's zoals in de beschrijving vermeld wordt. Geen enkele verwijzing dat dit alleen deel 2 is (de beschrijving "1040 pagina's" suggereert dat het de volledige versie is.Daarom zou ik graag de helft van mijn geld terug zien. Of inruilen tegen de volledige versie.

An awesome achievement for fans of the genre--like me !

Quite simply this the definitive and exhaustive book on the subject. It is written with great knowledge, insight, and accuracy and also happens to be very entertaining -no dry tome this. If you are at all interested in science fiction film, particularly of this period (by the way, it also extends into the early 60s) then this is essential.The print edition is hugely expensive, the Kindle edition isn't. In fact I'd call it one of the year's best bargains. I only just heard of this book when I learned of the sad recent death of its author. Being a big fan, and (he modestly says) reasonably knowledgeable about the genre, I'm amazed I hadn't discovered it before (though I wouldn't have been able to afford a print copy). Better late than never and I probably lack the physical strength to read such an enormous book in the bath, something I can do easily on my Ipad.

Das Buch ist das ultimative Buch über Sci Fi der 50er und 60er, die guten Jahre bevor LSD 2001. Mit einem einmaligen Style, der einfach nur schön zu lesen ist, werden alle (wirklich!Kein Gag) Filme besprochen. In Deutschland hat man von ca. 78 % der Filme nicht gehört, aber das ist wirklich schade, den wenn man das Buch gelesen hat, dann will die Filme sehen. Wen kümmerts das sie Käse sind, wen kümmerts wenn die Schauspieler nicht spielen können. Lang lebe der Käse, lange lebe Crow. T

I orignally bought this on Kindle, but due to the nature of the layout, I decided to buy the two volume paperback edition. It really is a labor of love, and while I may not agree with every personal opinion about the entertainment value or critical analysis of every film the writer has, the incredible depth of detail about production and history/legacy of each film cannot be faulted. Those personal opinions feel like conversational anecdotes, and one doesn't feel bad for disagreeing, rather one feels that having a differing thought is what makes such conversations and these films very special. It's an invaluable source guide for anyone with an interest in '50s science fiction - those weird, flawed and lovable films.The only thing that was not great is that in the first volume, the centre colour pages were filled with images of magazines that had nothing to do with science fiction - and I can only assume that it was a printing error. The second volume has the correct images of sci fi posters of films... but yeah, the first one was a waste of space and a little disappointing - but no fault of the author.This was an expensive investment and was worth every cent.