Earth vs. the Flying Saucers

I always wondered how they managed to pick the name of the main character in this movie (Dr. Russell A. Marvin). That is my name, and it is very uncommon. When I saw the credits in the IMDB, I realized the answer. The inspiration for this movie was a book by Donald E. Keyhoe, who was consulted on this film. In 1956, Keyhoe started an organization called NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena). In 1956, I was a real flying saucer enthusiast, and was one of the very first people to join NICAP. I believe that they picked my name off of Keyhoe's membership list. I was 14 years old at the time. Anyway, it's a good flick with some great special effects (done the old fashioned way) by the legendary Ray Harryhausen.

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) *** (out of 4) Fun science-fiction film has flying saucers coming to Earth and warning us to quit sending spacecrafts into their orbit or else. This film shares a lot of the same ideas as The Day the Earth Stood Still but this remains a pretty good entry in the genre, which had countless films during the 1950s. It goes without saying that the greatest thing this film has going for it are the incredible special effects by Ray Harryhausen. All of the spaceships looks very well as does their electric guard shield, which is best shown during the first landing. There are countless battle scenes, which are obviously fake and some use stock footage but this really doesn't take away from the film. Another bonus is the actual story, which is a good one and makes sense. A lot of these sci-fi films have incredibly stupid stories, which make no sense but that's not the case here.

This was fairly interesting and nicely low-key for a 1950s sci-fi flick....which usually means one thing: hysterical women shrieking and screaming. Well, there's none of that nonsense here. Ray Harryhausen's special-effects were lauded and justifiably so for his era, but you can imagine how they look today 50 years later! They look pretty primitive. The acting is respectable considering the three stars - Hugh Marlow, Joan Taylor and Donald Curtis - are anything but "stars." I do think the story could have used a bit of humor to spice it up a bit, but you can't always get everything. At least this one was one "flying saucer movie" that had some intelligence. It might have had too much, because it had very little excitement.

While "War of the Worlds" is probably the most heralded of the 1950s alien invasion films, this one is a lot more fun. There are none of the heavy-anded quasi-religious sub-texts that weighed down WOTW. There are no pretensions of any kind. "Earth" gets right down to the business at hand...aliens coming to Earth with the sole purpose of kicking our asses. Throw in the always fun Harryhausen effects, in which real life monuments are destroyed (later incorporated in the equally dumb and equally fun "ID4"), and what's not to like?

There are no dull frames in this remarkable saucer invasion film set directly in the center of the fifties. Harryhausen met the challenge of animating flying machines. Sure enough, they whiz, spin, even wobble when need be. Saucers even have a protruding ray-gun device. The action begins during the credits and never lets up. Admittedly, it's fifties. But it was impressive enough to heavily influence Tim Burton's Mars Attacks. You can't miss the references. Film is packed with clever and creative touches such as the tape recording including aliens speaking at a speed natural for them, but not for us on Earth. If you are not terribly put off by 50's, black and white, and (god forbid) stop motion, you can't go wrong with this quintessential sci-fi extravaganza.

My sister took me to this movie in 1956 when I was 8. It shocked me. For two weeks I was afraid to go to sleep at night for fear of nightmares. Some years ago I bought a 16mm print and studied it. It has all the right elements for a nerdy kid with glasses: Beautiful Joan Taylor and serious Hugh Marlowe work well together. The lonely laboratory at night is a wonderful location, frightening when attacked. Dr. Russell A. Marvin removing the helmet from the alien is particularly creepy. We know so much more now about outer space, so to appreciate this you have to suspend disbelief and travel back in time when comic books were 10¢. Soon after seeing this movie I was bitten by the movie bug which resulted in a lifelong passion for films and animation, which I have to credit to the intense effect that Earth Vs the Flying Saucers had on my young mind. I still watch this film several times a year and never get tired of seeing it.

From the moment the extraterrestrials buzz newlyweds Hugh Marlowe and Joan Taylor (the Barney and Betty Hill of their generation), Ray Harryhausen's "Dynamation" helps make EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (an "unofficial" version of the H.G. Wells classic, WAR OF THE WORLDS) one of the better UFOs-out-to-get-us entries. These lumbering, warbly-voiced Gort wannabes aren't messing around: they "skeet shoot" satellites at their leisure, win dogfights with Earth aircraft, and use their brain-drain x-rays to get the info they need from the hapless humans in an impressive series of sequences that Ed Wood no doubt envied (sequences in which Real World newsreel footage is expertly interwoven with some great fx). The spinning saucer fx and the "sonic solution" were both impressive enough to influence Tim Burton when he made MARS ATTACKS!