Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

There were many films that came out in the 1950s about visitors coming from other worlds, probably because it was a time of paranoia, due to communism and nuclear attack, so this film fitted right in at the time. Basically scientist Dr. Russell A. Marvin (The Day the Earth Stood Still's Hugh Marlowe) and his new bride Carol (Joan Taylor) are driving to work, when a flying saucer appears from above. The only proof they have of the encounter is a tape recording of the ship's sound, Dr. Marvin is in charge of American space program Project Skyhook, which has already launched ten research satellites into orbit, he is hesitant to notify his superiors. Brigadier General John Hanley (Morris Ankrum), Carol's father, informs Marvin that many of the satellites have fallen back to Earth, Marvin admits losing contact with all of them, and privately suspects alien involvement, he witnesses the eleventh falling from the sky shortly after launching. A flying saucer lands at Skyhook the following day, an alien walks out, soldiers open fire and kill it, while others and the saucer itself are protected by a force field, the aliens then kill everyone at the facility, besides the Marvins, and capturing General Hanley. Russell replays the tape recording, discovering and decoding it is a message from the aliens, they wanted to meet Dr. Marvin and landed in peace, with this going sideways, Marvin contacts the aliens and arranges a meeting, with Carol and Major Huglin (Donald Curtis) following. They and a pursuing Motorcycle Cop (Larry J. Blake) are taken aboard a saucer, where they learn the aliens have extracted knowledge directly from the General's brain, he is now under their control, and that the aliens destroyed the satellites, fearing them as weapons, they are the last of their species. After a demonstration of their power, with coordinates of a naval destroyer they have destroyed, the aliens release the Marvins, they are given a message that the aliens want to meet with the world's leaders in Washington, D.C. in 56 days, to negotiate an alien occupation. Dr. Marvin observes one of the aliens' protective suits, they are made of solidified electricity, granting the aliens advanced hearing, and Marvin is able to develop a counter-weapon to use against the flying saucers, he later successfully tests it a single saucer. As the aliens escape, they jettison General Hanley and the motorcycle cop, who fall to their deaths, groups of flying saucers then attack Washington, Paris, London and Moscow. But then they are destroyed with Dr. Marvin's sonic weapon, and the aliens can be easily killed when outside the force fields of the saucers with simple small arms, in the end, with aliens defeated, Russell and Carol celebrate the victory privately going to the beach, resuming their lives as newlyweds. Also starring John Zaremba as Professor Kanter, Thomas Browne Henry as Vice Admiral Enright and Grandon Rhodes as General Edmunds. With most of the plot taken from H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, the story is nothing original (and I'm sure it inspired Tim Burton for Mars Attacks!), the script and characters are also very predictable, with sluggish sub-plots going on, but for the flying saucers and buildings destroyed, created by the stop-motion special effects wizardry of the great Ray Harryhausen, there is something worth seeing, overall a fairly disappointing but alright routine science- fiction drama. Okay!

A classic '50s sci-fi B-movie, this early film stands as a template on which later science fiction movies were to be based. Despite working on a low budget, the cast and crew manage to make this one a roaring success. Forget friendly aliens, while these extraterrestrials firstly appear to be nice, they soon reveal their evil plan to colonise earth and destroy mankind! The cast go through the expected motions - there's the typical bunch of tough military guys who just want to blast the aliens away, plus the compassionate scientist hero and his young girlfriend (the age difference is very noticeable between this pair, it always amuses me how middle-aged/old men supposedly appeal to young girls). Marlowe and Taylor may look good as the leads, but they inject little charisma into their roles.Everybody involved knows that the real stars of the film are the aliens themselves, and pretty good they are too. While looking like 'Greys' inside their costumes, on the outside they have a full suit of protective body armour, which makes them look like wandering automatons. They also shoot a ray from their hands which makes their enemies disappear into thin air, like the Martian rays from WAR OF THE WORLDS (an obvious influence). This effect may be a little cheesy but it's all good fifties fun.However, the really impressive special effects take the form of the flying saucers, portrayed in wondrous stop-motion animation by that king of the genre, Ray Harryhausen. While this was only Harryhausen's second film, the SFX work of the flying saucers is brilliant, and they steal every moment they're on screen. Your eyes won't leave them. Events in the film climax to an excellent battle between Earth and the flying saucers, with rockets having no effect on the alien technology. Still, aside from the exciting finale, there are plenty of other moments to savour. Aliens mercilessly dropping captives from high up in the air, countless explosions, the hero's trip inside the flying saucer itself, the clever way that the aliens live in-between the seconds of our time. EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS is everything a sci-fi B-movie should be, and it does its job admirably.

Blast off into orbit with this classic Sci-Fi Alien-Invasion Flick, featuring some truly remarkable flying saucer effects courtesy of Ray Harryhausen.EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS pits puny, little earthlings against mighty alien humanoids in a violent battle for Earth's survival.When the robot-like aliens arrive at a U.S. Army base in search of help for their dying planet, they attempt to make friendly contact with scientist Dr. Russ Marvin. But the military gets into the act and greets their fleet of saucers with non-stop gunfire, and so, the aliens are automatically forced to retaliate.Can Dr. Marvin invent the ultimate weapon in order to counter their terrible attack of mass destruction and save the human race in this deadly game of beat-the-clock? Well, buckle up and hold onto your seats, space fans, 'cause you're in for an intergalactic joyride of pure Sci-Fi/Fantasy fun, 1950s-style! Shot mainly on location in Washington, DC, this picture would be best described as being a cross between Independence Day and Mars Attacks! (on a considerably smaller scale, of course). It's quite easy to imagine both Directors Emmerich and Burton being inspired by this film for their respective pictures.

Well, I just saw this movie because I read some fantastic reviews about it... It stinks. Nowadays it looks as primitive as those automatic pianolas from the 19th Century. After half an hour or so I started skipping scenes and moving forward because unable to stand it much longer.The whole principle of the story is the worst part of it, because, why-oh-why the scientists were never believed by the military men and they always shot first and listen later??The aliens came over with good intentions, but the earthlings didn't give them time to say Hello! that they were already shot to death!! Ridiculous stuff.These movies were all the same, the military shot first without even listening to the intelligent scientists or the super-intelligent aliens, so they looked really like pathetic morons.I think that even nowadays the Science Fiction movies follow the same pattern, the earthlings never listen to the aliens, they always shoot, shoot and shoot!!! Even if the aliens display formidable weapons, the military don't seem to grasp their fabulous power and keep shooting away. Sad display of our low grade intelligence... (and not only WITHIN the movie).I just wasted one hour of my precious time watching this utter garbage.