So amid other home projects yesterday, took a break to watch the 1956 movie ‘Earth vs. the Flying Saucers‘. For those of you who haven’t seen it (likely everyone at this point) but HAVE seen a old movie clip of a flying saucer hitting the Washington Monument used in various ways on TV/etc. (e.g. Toonces the driving cat is blamed for it at one point on SNL) – that clip is from this movie.

Basically the plot is simple – an american scientist encounters a UFO during his project to launch space rockets (that seem to be going missing – he’s on his eleventh one) – ‘Project Skyhook’. They find out the UFOs are responsible, and want to colonize earth. Some skirmishes ensue, and (in part due to a mistake on the part of the Americans) the aliens attack and completely obliterate Project Skyhook’s launch base and buildings.

Some further discussions happen between the leading researcher and the aliens, but ultimately we decide to try to fight them – through some ‘amazing insights’ apparently obtained on the spot – we come up with a ‘sonic weapon’ to disrupt the aliens’ ability to defy gravity and make their ships crash. The movie ends with a bunch of jeeps jetting around DC trying to zap the alien saucers – several govt. buildings and monuments die a fiery death as we force the alien ships to crash into them. The main two characters are seen relaxing on a beach afterward, staring into the sunset and thankful that we saved ‘our earth’.

So…..there are many plot holes in this movie. And by way of comparison to the great, earlier movies The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951), War of the Worlds (1953) and 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954) – this is seems a lot more low-budget and cheesy. The saucers were animated by Ray Harryhausen, and they aren’t bad – but their comparative size/scale seems to shift in every scene! Some shots where they are flying over major cities – they seem to all-but-equal the city in size (not unlike the huge ship in District 9 or even V) – and other times they aren’t any bigger than ET’s spaceship – e.g. when the aliens meet the scientists on the beach.

The aliens are pretty crappy tacticians – on their few manned attacks (where they come out of the ship) they show a forcefield below the ship that protects them (and in one case, they can fire out of it at the attacking jeeps, guns and army men) – but then they LEAVE its protection and promptly get shot up – WTF? And they walk like snails – which may be a product of lame rubber suits for the actors, not sure – easy pickin’s for the gunners (even a scientist picks one off).

Also, at one point they show a saucer battling a B-29 (propeller-powered) bomber – hello? Earlier and later in the movie jets are zipping around – why would a old B-29 be leading the charge (it gets zapped in fiery death – big surprise)?

Also, in the climactic battle – despite having shown repeated scenes (and discussing same between the aliens and scientists) that the saucers are hovering over the world’s major cities, awaiting the order to land and take control) – the battle only happens in DC(?) and with a bunch of lame jeeps tearing around town with big ‘sonic guns’ in them – half of which get zapped by the aliens anyway? What happened to all the other ships? At least in (the equally if not much MORE cheesy) Starship Invasions 20 years later (1977), they at least cover that one!

There were some interesting touches in this movie, however – I liked the stark interior of the spaceship, and the ‘talking rose flower’ they used as a translation device. I liked the weird alien voice distortion and psuedo-science babble they used throughout the film (although – no Theremins in the soundtrack? see The Day The Earth Stood Still for how it’s DONE) The saucers are decent – although many times they seem to fly as if the alien pilots are drunk.

So….. in summary, not a terrible movie, but there are far better from the era (see above, or also the great Forbidden Planet (1956) – which includes an extremely young Leslie Nielsen!) – as to me, the next cheesefest will be the slightly earlier This Island Earth (1955) which I have never actually seen – Scarecrow, here I come! 🙂

candybowl