Children of the Damned

Despite the lack of an obvious continuation of the story line in Village of the Damned ('60), John Briley's Children of the Damned (CoD) calls itself a sequel -- right in the credits. In the marketing sense, it is. CoD came after VoD and begs comparison via the titles. VoD repeats the trope of frighteningly gifted children, as in VoD. Here, instead of all blond children, there is an assortment from around the world: China, Russia, Nigeria, India, America and Britain. This diversity moves the 'gifted' children trope out of nationalism, to become an international problem.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A London psychologist (Tom) and a geneticist (David) discover an amazingly gifted boy named Paul. They interview his mother, but she is a below-average poor single woman. She hates Paul, says he's not really hers. She was never touched by a man, etc. Tom and David find out that there are five other similarly advanced children around the world. He persuades a UNESCO official to have them all brought to London for study. This happens, but the children each escape their respective embassies and gather in an old condemned church building. Paul uses his mind power to make his aunt Susan come and help them survive. The various nations clamor for the return of their gifted child. A couple of British agents go in to get the children. Paul uses his mind to make them kill each other. Troops are called in to forcibly bring the children out. The children have constructed a device from junk in the church. They turn it on, and the troops all die of they sound waves. In the melee, the Indian child, Rashid, is hit and killed. The government plans to destroy the children as a menace. Tom goes to them, urging them to each go to their embassies to plead to be left alone. They do this, but the adults harangue them about being their own national super-weapon, or genius enough to build other super-weapons for them so they can stay ahead of the others. Each child causes their adults to kill each other. The children return to the church. The Army has plans to destroy them. Tom argues against it, saying they're not inhuman, but super-advanced-humans. Siege is laid to the church. Tom urges they be given a chance to be heard. A delegation of diplomats go up to the church. The six children come out. While they're talking, a soldier in the impromptu HQ bumps a screwdriver which triggers the "fire" flare. All the troops open fire. The children fall. The diplomats fall. Despite shouting from the commander, and others, to cease fire, the shooting continues. At last, the church is blown up. Amid the rubble is a pair of children's hands, still clasped. Cut and pan to the screwdriver on the floor. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
CoD is a marvelously complex and enigmatic film -- great for post-movie conversations. The black and white photography is quite lush at times.

Cold War Angle
CoD has these, in spades. First, is the heated and irrational behavior of the nations, each wanting their super-child to be their super-weapon. Second is how the authorities follow the Cold War logic that they must act first (destroy the children) before they children can destroy them. Third is the cautionary lesson of having armies primed to fire, so that a mere mistake (the bumped screwdriver) could set off an unwanted catastrophe. The zoom-in on the screwdriver at the end, makes this cautionary moral obvious.

Notes
Sequel or Not? -- The modern (populist) definition for a sequel is that it be a continuation of the previous story. Hollywood does this a lot for purely economic reasons. "You like Spiderman? We'll give you another dose." CoD does not simply continue the story of VoD. How could it? George blows up himself and the children. Yet, there does seem to be a link. At the end of VoD, when the school is destroyed, several pairs of glowing eyes float away from the charred rubble and flames. In CoD, six amazing children are all born at the same time, with a suggestion that they might not have had fathers either. Did the floating eyes -- the spirits or advanced intellects of the children -- disperse around the globe to try Plan B? While not stated overtly in CoD, this does tie up the loose ending of VoD.

Religious Symbols -- Religious commentary and symbolism are laced throughout CoD. The advanced children flee the crazy adult world, to a church. This harkens to the old notion of "sanctuary" where someone in a church was supposed to be safe from outside law. Then there is the church itself, abandoned in run down. A commentary on how modern man has abandoned faith for the "enlightened" (but cruel) world of Darwin and Nietschze?

Doomed Savior? -- Then there is Paul's enigmatic answer to the question, "Why are you here?" -- "to be destroyed." This has a Christ-like ring to it. This goes beyond the mere resignation to defeat. It seems like Paul's role (like Jesus') was to die at the hands of sinful man. Was this why the aliens created the special children in the first movie? Was it a fork-in-the-road for mankind? If we chose to embrace the superior, we would advance. If we rejected the superior, we would have our (bloody) proof that we deserve the rotten world in which we live. This is like the ultimatum Klaatu delivers in The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51) To enhance the Christ metaphor, we also have one of the children, Rashid, killed by the angry men, lie in state for a spell, then rise from the dead. Of course, the analogy breaks when Rashid is killed (again) in the end. Although this plays back into the point above -- a symbol. Cold-hearted modern man has so zealously tried to "kill" (remove completely) Christ from their world.

Red in Tooth and Claw -- Writer John Briley seems to be indicting the modern worlds worship of Darwin. Survival of the fittest sound fine, until you're not the "fittest". The adults in CoD worry that the children would be the start of a superior race that would eventually supplant homo sapien man. "They would beat us every time," says David. With that as their justification, the neo-Neanderthals plot to eliminate their superior competition while they still can -- for the good of their inferior species. This, if you think about it, is a violation of the supposedly inviolate darwinism rule that the superior (fit) survive.

Bottom line? Don't look upon CoD as lesser continuation of VoD. It is actually a great movie in its own right, that followed a different tangent. There is a lot of food for thought in VoD. There are no special effects to speak of, and no monsters or saucers. CoD might be only peripherally a sci-fi movie, but it's a good movie, well worth watching.

Invasion of the Star Creatures

Sci-fi from the Golden era (the 50s) was sufficiently established as part of American culture that it was a candidate for parody. This wasn't new in 1963, of course. Abbott and Costello Go To Mars had done this ten years earlier. Invasion of the Star Creatures (ISC) is a rather amateurish effort at comedy and parody in the Abbott and Costello style. ISC was written by a second-teir B actor, Jonathan Haze, and directed by a third-teir B actor, Bruno VeSota, Like A & C, their story is about a couple of bumbling earth men and some leggy space babes. The poster suggests something more serious. This notion is quickly dispelled.

Quick Plot Synopsis
The opening credit is "An R. I. Diculous Production," so you know a farce awaits. Private Philbrick and Private Penn are two bumbling soldiers on a fictional Nike missile base in the southwest. They are sent with (some only slightly less bumbling) other soldiers to investigate a cave discovered in a nuclear test's blast crater. Philbrick and Penn, as human pack mules, are left outside while the other four investigate the cave. These four are chased by Vegemen, and disappear from the story line. Philbrick and Penn asleep outside, are captured by the Vegemen. They are monologued at by two tall and leggy beauties: Professor Tanga and Dr. Puna. Their planet is small and over-crowded, so they are scouting for suitable planets to conquer. Philbrick and Penn escape when Philbrick discovers that the amazons are rendered helpless by kissing. They flee the cave, but are pursued by Vegemen. The Vegemen almost succeed, but are called (telepathically) back to the cave. Tanga and Puna plan to depart in their rocket. Philbrick and Penn get their commanding officer and some random (un-PC) "indians" to help stop the rocket. The helpers get uselessly drunk on moonshine, so Philbrick and Penn must go it alone. They bumblingly launch the empty rocket, stranding Tanga and Puna. These two decide to make the best of being marooned by becoming Philbrick and Penn's wives. Philbrick and Penn are awarded a medal for saving the planet and then drive off with their 7' tall brides. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
This is tough, as ISC is almost painfully lame. Yet, some of the parody references can bring a small smile to fans of 50s sci-fi. Of course, Puna and Tanga aren't hard on the eyes, and may actually be the best part of the movie.

Cold War Angle
As a spoof, no serious messages exist in ICS.

Notes
Amateur Hour -- The two big forces that shape a movie, the writer and director, were both novice efforts. Jonathan Haze usually played bit parts in low-level B movies. For example, he played the contaminated man who dies pretty early into Day the World Ended ('55). Haze is more famous for his role in Little Shop of Horrors. He was not particularly adept at writing comedy. ISC was his sole effort at writing a movie screenplay. Bruno VeSota was another bit-part actor in B films. His lasting fame was as the fat shop owner in Attack of the Giant Leeches ('59), whose unfaithful wife got everyone out in the infested swamps. To his credit, VeSota had enough technical experience to get the job completed. Comedy/parody takes a skillful hand, which Haze & VeSota were just too green to have. The overall effect of ISC is sophomoric (especially the stereotype indian gags). ISC was VeSota's third and last film as a director.

Ro-Man Reunion -- Fans of 50s sci-fi will recognize the cave as the one at Bronson Canyon. This, ten years earlier, was the lair of the infamous Ro-Man of Robot Monster, and several other aliens too. Little wonder that Tanga and Puna set up their digs there too.

Budget Bud and Lou -- Bob Bell and Frankie Ray were cast as a low-rent version of Abbott and Costello. A budget pair Stooges might be more fitting. Penn functions as the "straight man" only because he's only slightly less idiotic than Philbrick. To their credit, they do try to act in stooge-esque fashion with many bits of slapstick. The script, however, contains only lame jokes. For instance, at one point, a Vegeman pushes Philbrick to the floor (for refusing to leave when commanded). Philbrick says, "That's the first time a salad ever tossed me! " Now and then, Ball occasionally lapses into a vague Jimmy Cagney impersonation for no particular reason.

Space Babes -- Even though parodied, ICS does manage to pay homage to the 50s tradition that outer space is populated with tall, leggy beauties in their mid-twenties. Part of that tradition is that said space babes are always man-hungry for earth men. While nothing new, this trope was at least amusing to see (again).

Space Rangers -- A running gag throughout ICS is a spoof of the 50s phenomenon of Space Rangers, those pseudo-clubs built around TV shows or movies which appealed to young boys. First Philbrick, then his commanding officer, Colonel Awol, the indian leader and even General Brass at the end, are all revealed to be members of the Space Commander Conners Club, which supersedes all other allegiances. Also, quick-eyed viewers will spot that Puna and Tanga's rocket is Rocky Jones, Space Ranger's "Orbit Jet."

A Thing For You -- The Vegemen are a mildly amusing nod to The Thing. They're plant men, grown in little flower pots, reminiscent of the famous '51 thriller.

Bottom line? ISC is a film which only devoted sci-fi collectors might endure. It may have played better to the drive-in crowd in 1963, who were children raised on 50s sci-fi. ISC has some archeological value as a time-capsule of base humor in the early 60s. To modern viewers, however, the jokes are lame or tedious.

Hand of Death

This bit of digression is for a movie once deemed a "lost": Hand of Death (HoD). It developed more cache for being "lost" than it otherwise could on its own merits. It is really quite an ordinary film.Twentieth Century Fox produced this ultra-low-budget formula film in 1962 as an almost generic B-feature product. HoD starred John Agar, who had some marquee reputation among horror and sci-fi fans. The story (sometimes titled "Five Fingers of Death") is the usual rehash of hubris-dooms-scientist tale and ugly-monster-gets-hunted-down. Imagine a mash-up of Hideous Sun Demon ('59), First Man in Space ('59) and The Invisible Ray ('36).

Quick Plot Synopsis
A rural postman sees a bunch of dead sheep at a remote house, so stops to investigate. He drops over too. He and the sheep revive later. Scientist Alex Marsh (Agar) has been working on a special knock-out gas. Delighted that his unintended human test was a success, Alex goes to Los Angeles to talk his boss into funding more research on his knock-out-hypno-gas as an über weapon. Alex's girlfriend Carol laments at the lack of romance. Alex resumes work in the desert, but progress is slow. An accidentally spilled beaker exposes Alex to a deadly nerve gas mixture. He swoons and dreams of swirling beakers but does not die. He awakens, but finds out that his touch kills. His lab assistant is the first of many accidental victims. Alex covers his act with arson and flees to LA. Terrified at the thought of incarceration or hospitalization, Alex pleads with his boss to find a cure for him. After a few days, Alex puffs up to a crusty black-skinned hulk. At the sight of crusty Alex, his boss tries to get out of his wheel chair. When he falls, Alex tries to catch him. Boss dies and turns into a black crust. So Alex flees. While fleeing, he unintentionally kills a gas station attendant and a cab driver. Alex stumbles across Carol in a beach house. She keeps him there and quiet while the police arrive. In the beach showdown, Alex makes a move towards Carol, so the police shoot him dead. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
HoD has a retro feel, so it has some nostalgic appeal. While not a deep movie, it has several little points of interest. (see below)

Cold War Angle
Grafted into the conventional dangers-of-science story is the notion that Alex's gas would render nuclear weapons obsolete. His idea was a knock-out gas mixed with a hypnotic drug. Knock out the enemy, then persuade them be friendly. Cold War solved! Unless, the Russians are planning to do the same.

Notes
Customary Hubris -- As with many of the traditional science-gone-wrong tales, the star scientist smugly thinks he has things all figured out. Poetic justice has them fall victim to their hubris. Carol worries about Alex's work with deadly nerve gas. Alex assures her that scientists are all smarter now and take very precaution, etc. etc. Yet, what does he do? Set a beaker of deadly toxins next to his elbow on the table, and fall asleep. What could happen?

Make Suggestions, Not War -- Alex's brainstorm is bizarre at best. Mix a mild nerve gas (just enough to temporarily knock people out) with hallucinogens that will render the targets open to suggestion -- a drug-induced hypnosis state. Then, tell all those would-be enemies to be friendly...or whatever. The 'whatever' is the bizarre part. The only way his gas-drug weapon would be better than nukes, is that it would leave the buildings standing. There would still be a gas-based Cold War with each side trying to have more gas bombs than the other. A world in which the regime in power can gas and reprogram its opponents is too much like Orwell's 1984. Far from utopia. This reprogramming-gas world would make a good sci-fi movie plot.

Touch of Death -- In 1936, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff starred (together!) in a film called The Invisible Ray. In it, Karloff is exposed to an unknown isotope in a meteorite. Thus infected, he glows in the dark, but more saliently, whomever he touches dies (of radiation poisoning). It is a bit surprising that this touch-of-death trope wasn't used again until 25 years later.

The 3rd Third Stooge -- Watch for Joe Besser in a small role as the gas station attendant. Besser became the 3rd third stooge in 1955 after Shemp's death. His tenure with the Three Stooges was not a comfortable fit, so was short. Curly Joe replaced him by 1960, being then the 4th third stooge.

Bottom line? HoD is too much a rehash of well-worn plots and tropes to be of much interest to anyone beyond avid 50s sci-fi buffs. It can still be hard to track down a copy, but only diehard hubris-monster fans, or John Agar fans, may feel it is worth the effort.

Gorgo

Often called the "British Godzilla", Gorgo scarcely qualifies as a sci-fi movie. No "science" is offered to explain the giant monster. Nor is any "science" used to battle it. Gorgo is pretty purely a monster movie. Yet, by association, it gets on sci-fi lists. The poster's tag line: "Like Nothing You've Ever Seen Before!" is not very accurate. The Gorgo story is part Godzilla, in that a giant (rubber suit) monster stomps around destroying famous landmarks in a major city, and part King Kong. Shameless profiteers bring a huge beast into a major city to exhibit it and things go wrong. By 1962, audiences had seen quite a few giant lizard things stomping on cities.

Quick Plot Synopsis
A marine salvage team is working off the Irish coast when an undersea volcanic eruption creates a tsunami that grounds their ship off the island of Nara. Odd dead fish surface. A mysterious underwater monster appears too, upsetting the local divers. The harbormaster on Nara is illegally collecting shipwreck gold. The salvage men, Joe and Sam, offer to capture the monster in exchange for some of the gold. They net the 60' bipedal amphibian and take it to London. There, it is put on display in Dorkins' Circus. Worried professors tell Joe and Sam that their Gorgo is only a juvenile. The parent (gender never specified) looms up and destroys the village on Nara looking for Junior. Gorgo Senior follows the ship's trail towards London. The British military are called in to stop Senior. Naval fire and depth charges fail. Senior sinks a destroyer. Submarine nets across the Thames fail. Senior breaks through. Fire on the water and jet airplane attacks do not stop Senior from wrecking the Tower Bridge and Big Ben on its way to the circus. Giant high voltage lines also fail to stop Senior. Junior is freed from his exhibition pen. Junior and Senior trudge back to the Thames through the burning ruin of London. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
As a monster movie, Gorgo is entertaining. The pace is brisk enough and the action plentiful. The monster itself, and the model work are pretty well done for the kaiju genre.

Cold War Angle
Gorgo is actually a beware-of-nature story. While the similarity to Godzilla (the nuclear metaphor) is clear, there is never any connection made to radiation. Gorgo just is.

Notes
Gozillas For Everyone! -- Seems like having one's own giant monster to ravage your capital city, was important back in the 50s and 60s. New York had the Beast From 20,000 Fathoms in 1953. That seemed to kick off the sub-genre. Tokyo got the most famous monster, Godzilla, in 1954. The Danes got Reptilicus to ravage Copenhagen in 1963. The Brits were not the first in the kaiju parade, but they made a good example of it.

Ravaging Deja vu -- When Gorgo Sr. stomps through London causing great havoc, it wasn't the first time this had happened. In the 1925 silent film, The Lost World, Professor Challenger's party brought back a dinosaur from that remote Amazonian plateau. It, naturally, gets loose and does some rampaging through London's streets. Another bit of deja vu, and probably no accident, is Gorgo Sr. stomping in the midst of a roller coaster. This harkens to the big finale in Beast from 20,000 Fathoms which director Eugene Lourie just happened to have directed too. Yet another bit of deja vu is that Lourie also directed The Giant Behemoth ('59) in which another dinosaur comes to stomp around London. Some things just don't seem to change.

Missing Woman -- A distinctive feature of the King Brothers' production of Gorgo is that they avoided the typical Hollywood formula of including a female lead, to provide a love interest for the leading man. Joe and Sam start out as partners in the enterprise, but friction develops over the ethics of exploitation. The usual love-interest conflicts wold have cluttered that subtle subplot too easily.

A Boy & His Monster -- Before the Gamera franchise made it campy and trite, young Sean has a sympathy and protective feelings for Gorgo Jr. He tries to "free Willie" at one point. At the end, he smiles contentedly when Gorgo Sr. escorts Junior back to the sea. Never mind all the hundreds of people who were killed just minutes ago. Isn't it sweet that they're going home together? This young boy and his monster angle was (thankfully) not overplayed in the script.

Moral of the Story -- Nature is personified by the Gorgo pair. Junior is the abused and exploited side -- exploited by shallow and greedy men looking to hustle a buck (or pound). Senior, is the remorseless consequences side. Build your house on the beach? A big storm will come and wipe you out. Over clear the land? Rains will wash away all your soil in a deadly mudslide. Etc. etc. In case the metaphor escaped viewers, the screen writers made it plain at the end. An overly loquacious radio reporter sums it all up as the Gorgo pair walk out into the Thames, They are "leaving man to ponder his proud boast that he alone is Lord of all creation."

Bottom line? Gorgo as a sci-fi movie is questionable. It is, nonetheless, a well done monster movie in its own right, and not simply a British copy of Godzilla. For fans of rubber-suit monsters stomping model cites, It has all the appeal of a classic kaiju story.

Village of the Damned

This 1960 release is another film at the outer (and blurry) edges of sci-fi movies. Village of the Damned (VoD), has almost none of the usual sci-fi elements -- aliens, saucers, monsters, mad scientists, etc. Instead, VoD is a tight thriller about the mysterious birth of a group of children who have special powers. How to deal with children who can kill whomever threatens them via mind control, and can read minds, poses a desperate puzzle.

Quick Plot Synopsis
On an otherwise bucolic day in a small English village, everyone suddenly falls over, unconscious. There is an invisible perimeter around the village that causes anyone who enters it to fall unconscious too -- even soldiers in gas masks. Just as mysteriously, everyone wakes up after a few hours, with no serious harm done. A few weeks later, the women of child-bearing age are all pregnant. This causes great unrest in itself. The babies are all "perfect", though large. They develop quickly. David, the mysterious son of Anthea and Gordon, exhibits a frightening power to cause "accidents" when he's angry. He is also a child genius. What's more, anything that one of the Children learn, they all know. They are telekenetic, and can read minds to some degree. Years later, the soberly dressed, all blonde children are perceived as a threat by the authorities. Gordon pleads for a chance to learn more about them. Yet, after more fatal "accidents", Gordon knows he must do something. He prepares a bomb in his briefcase. He fills his mind with thoughts about a brick wall as he goes to teach the Children about atomic physics. They worry over his brick wall thought, but cannot break the wall in time. The bomb goes off, killing everyone in the school. Yet, pairs of glowing eyes stare out of the flames, and float away. The End.

Why is this movie fun?
VoD is a great bit of movie story-telling. George Sanders gives a great performance as the kindly and optimistic (but doomed) professor, Gordon Zellaby.

Cold War Angle
While not overt, the era's paranoia is strongly evident. Older generations worry about the corruption of their youth.

Notes
Based on the Novel -- VoD is adapted from John Wyndham's 1957 novel, "The Midwich Cuckoos." Some species of cuckoo lay their eggs in other birds' nests so they raise the cuckoo chick. While the screenplay follows the novel fairly well, there are some economies taken. For example, there are 60-some Children in the novel, but only 6 or 8 in the movie. Wyndham's novel makes the alien connection more obvious, with aerial spotters sighting a metallic object near the village. The movie makes no mention of this, though Gordon does ask the Children what they know about life on other planets.

Aryan-o-phobia -- It is interesting that director (and co-writer) Wolf Rilla had the Children all dress in matching formal school attire, travel together in a pack and be very very blonde. The specter of the Nazi ideal of blond "aryans" being the "master race" was evidently still a strong cultural force in Britain. The Children's cool, stoic demeanor lined up well with the coldly dispassionate stereotype of the Nazi. To 1960 audiences, the blonde Children were a quiet, though menacing, reminder of a terrifying ideology.

Bad Boy -- Children have generally had haloes in movies before VoD. The evil-child trope runs counter to the cultural momentum to regard children as innocent and in need of protecting. Once the halo was take away, the bad boys (and girls) would resurface many times in other movies, and not just the semi-sequel to VoD, Children of the Damned. In the next decade (the 70s,) however, the evil child would the result of the occult, not aliens. The Omen, The Exorcist, and Rosemary's Baby. Still, there was the tension between cultural maternal instinct and fear.

Bottom line? Fans of saucers and monsters won't find any. Fans of horror-gore won't find any. Yet, VoD is a well told story, with a power belying its meager budget. It's an engaging and intelligent thriller well worth watching.

Must-See Sci-fi: Buried Treasure

In the 50s and 60s, there were over hundred films were not flashy enough (or bad enough) to get the main-stream's attention. Most were too average to leave a lasting impression. Quite a few, however, were intriguing and entertaining films which don't deserve their obscurity. They may not be as readily available commercially -- a bit off the beaten path -- but are examples of good non-mainstream sci-fi. (which relied on story more than special effects)

Below is my list of ten fun "buried treasure" sci-fi films. There are more than ten, of course, so readers should feel free to post their own favorites via the Comments feature.

1. Red Planet Mars ('52) -- A scientist invents a special radio which makes contact with a civilization on Mars (or is it God?). A duplicitous former nazi employed by the Soviet Union is out to discredit or destroy the scientist.

2. It Came From Outer Space ('53) -- Strange beings from outer space crash-land near a desert town. Residents begin to disappear, then reappear, but acting strangely. Is it an invasion, or are the aliens up to something else?

3. Not of this earth ('57) -- An alien on earth needs regular blood transfusions to survive. He can kill with a look of his eyes. He is the vanguard of a project to harvest earthlings to help his race on their home planet survive. A doctor begins to unravel the plot.

4. Kronos ('57) -- An alien civilization which consumes far more power than they can create, send a giant power-absorbing robot to earth to steal earth's electrical energy. The robot is impervious to earth's weapons, simply absorbing their power too.

5. X: The Unknown ('57) -- A radioactive blob arises from a crack in the earth. It seeks out medical or research isotopes as food. It kills anyone in its path. Is it alive? How can it be stopped?

6. Incredible Shrinking Man ('57) -- A man is exposed to a radioactive fog. He begins to shrink. A personal tragedy becomes a fight for survival when he is a small as a spider's lunch.

7. Colossus of New York ('58) -- A distraught scientist creates a mechanical body for the brain of his adult son (killed in a traffic accident). Intending that his son finish his work to solve world hunger, the brain-machine hybrid causes the son to slowly become unhinged.

8. The Mysterians ('59) -- Aliens land on earth looking for just a few square miles of land to live on, and a few earth women to rebuild their species. Was it a sincere request for help, or a smoke screen for a darker intent?

9. The 4D Man ('59) -- A scientist subjects himself to a special radioactive process. He is then able to alter his body's "time", allowing him to move through solid matter. His new power also kills by draining the life out of people. The power begins to affect his mind.

10. Creation of the Humanoids ('62) -- In earth's future, human population is in decline. A growing population of servant robots eventually outnumber the humans. Anti-robot vigilante squads discover a robot plot. Is it to seize power or something else?

For you 50s/60s sci-fi fans out there, what "buried treasure" movies would you nominate?