Off screen and on, the 1950s was a spectacular era for science fiction. In literature, Ray Bradbury kicked off the decade with his masterpiece, The Martian Chronicles, while digest magazines like Galaxy were publishing the works of such sci-fi luminaries as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein.

In the cinema, every year brought forth a fresh wave of genre pictures, some brilliant in their awfulness (Plan 9 From Outer Space, Robot Monster), others simply brilliant. This article is devoted to the movies in the latter category.

Here, then, is my rundown of my ten favourite science fiction movies of the 50s:

Destination Moon (1950)