Forbidden Planet is the best of them, in my view. Timeless story (Shakespeare's The Tempest), amazing special effects, wonderful imagination on the part of the director, writer, and technical crew.
Oh, and Anne Francis, wearing clothing that appears - in some scenes - to be just a few atoms thick.
If you are a fan of Forbidden Planet, another version of The Tempest, called Prospero’s Books (1991), is one of the finest examples of artistic film making I have ever seen.
A totally unique movie, more like a moving classical oil painting.
Starring Sir John Gielgud as Prospero, almost every scene is filled with half naked, but partially costumed and made up, unusual people who represent spirits invisible to all but Prospero. And all of them are engaged in their own odd, repetitive tasks that mean something to spirits just as important as what people do is to them.
In the midst of all these spirits are the people, whose conversations and actions are just a small part of the tableau. But it is dramatic when there is a scene with just one or a few actors in it.
It has the mood and appearance of a stage production, and is extremely hard to get on DVD. More expensive than most Criterion Collection movies.