Earth vs. the Flying Saucers

1956 "The terrifying truth about flying saucers!"
6.3| 1h23m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 04 July 1956 Released
Producted By: Columbia Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Test space rockets exploding at liftoff and increased reporting of UFO sightings culminate in a direct attempt by alien survivors of a dead, extra-galactic civilization to invade Earth from impervious flying saucers, using ray-weapons of mass destruction.

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Reviews

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
Scott LeBrun Studly Hugh Marlowe ("The Day the Earth Stood Still") is the egghead hero of this classic example of alien invasion sci-fi. He plays scientist Russell Marvin, one of the first few humans to witness extraterrestrial craft in our own atmosphere. It turns out, the creatures are here to colonize our planet - hopefully with our consent, but it's no skin off their "noses" if we don't go with the program. They have advanced weaponry to use against mankind, but they didn't count on Russells' ingenuity."Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" is pretty good for a movie of this nature. As was often the case with movies of its ilk, it features a narrator who gives the proceedings a documentary type of approach. It's a reasonably intelligent story (scripted by Bernard Gordon and George Worthing Yates), with an array of engaging characters. Less patient viewers could make the point that it's often more plot and dialogue-based than action-oriented, but it does work its steady way towards some effective scenes of destruction and annihilation. The special effects are fine, but it's the "technical effects" devised by stop-motion legend Ray Harryhausen that do ultimately take centre stage. Fred F. Sears, whose other B credits during this era include "The Giant Claw" and "The Werewolf", capably occupies the directors' chair.Marlowe, and the very pretty Joan Taylor (also the leading lady in "20 Million Miles to Earth"), are a hero and heroine for whom we can easily root; he possesses a Richard Carlson-like air of sincerity. Donald Curtis ("It Came from Beneath the Sea") is the efficient Major Huglin. Of course, you can't go wrong with character actor Morris Ankrum ("Rocketship X-M") in a key supporting role; he was on hand for a number of these 50s sci-fi flicks, and was always excellent value. John Zaremba ('The Time Tunnel'), Thomas Browne Henry ("Beginning of the End"), Grandon Rhodes ("Detective Story"), Larry J. Blake ("Creature with the Atom Brain"), Clark Howat ("Billy Jack"), and Harry Lauter ("Escape from the Planet of the Apes") co-star, and the great Paul Frees - actor, author, composer, songwriter, and prolific voice-over artist - performs the voice of the alien intelligence.Good fun, and essential for anybody who enjoys this sort of entertainment; subsequent blockbusters like "Independence Day" may outdo it for sheer spectacle, but this movie isn't nearly as stupid as that one.Seven out of 10.
Leofwine_draca 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.
Fuzzy Wuzzy 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.
sddavis63 It's a pretty standard 50's sci-fi film made in response to the rash of UFO sightings that began in that era and that continues to this day. It's not the best movie about alien invasions of earth - not the best even from that era. That honour would probably belong to 1953's "The War Of The Worlds" or perhaps "The Day The Earth Stood Still" from 1951. This movie has all the limitations of the era - extremely primitive effects being the primary one. Neither the flying saucers nor the buildings they crashed into looked particularly convincing and there were some holes in logic and in science, but at the same time it was an entertaining enough movie that sought to whip up people's fears about the phenomenon.Here the flying saucers are the remnants of a dying civilization looking for a planet to be their new home, and seeking to take over the earth. Starting with a series of satellite launches that failed (one wonders why they kept launching 11 of them when they kept losing contact with them soon after launch) it ends with a pretty good battle between earth and the flying saucers (the title being a pretty good summary of the content of the movie; although "earth" in this case was represented almost totally by the United States.) Overall, this featured pretty good performances for a B movie of the era, and while not the best movie of its kind, it was nevertheless pretty good. (5/10)