Earlier Star Wars

most of the space opera ideas used in Star Wars were established in pulp sf by the 1940s. What if someone had had the idea of making a space opera epic movie before the 1970s? what would it have looked like? what impact would it have on popular culture? Would it even have been as big as SW was in OTL? Discuss!
 
I somehow imagine the Special Effects would be a lot cheesier. If you look at Star Wars, the original, it was a giant leap in Special Effects compared to anything that came before. Perhaps this earlier Star Wars would look like any other 50s movie.
 
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