1950s
In
the 1950's there were a few major fantasy films,
including
Darby O'Gill and
the Little People and
The 5000 Fingers
of Dr. T, the latter penned by
Dr. Seuss.
Jean Cocteau's
Orphic Trilogy,
begun in 1930 and completed in 1959, is based on
Greek mythology
and could be classified either as fantasy or
surrealist film, depending on how the boundaries
between these genres are drawn. Russian fantasy
director
Aleksandr
Ptushko created three mythological epics
from Russian fairytales,
Sadko
(1953),
Ilya Muromets
(1956), and
Sampo
(1959).
Three other notable pictures from the 1950s that
feature fantastic elements and are sometimes
classified as fantasy are:
Harvey
(1950), featuring a
púca
of
Celtic mythology;
Scrooge,
the 1951 adaptation of
Charles Dickens'
A Christmas
Carol; and
Ingmar Bergman's
1957 masterpiece,
The Seventh Seal.
There were also a number of low budget fantasies
produced in the 1950s, typically based on Greek or
Arabian legend. The most notable of these is
probably 1958's
The 7th Voyage
of Sinbad, featuring special effects
by
Ray Harryhausen.
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