Actuakers
One of my all time favorites.
Phonearl
Good start, but then it gets ruined
ShangLuda
Admirable film.
Hadrina
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Matthew_Capitano
Mikel (spelling looks Russian) Conrad 'stars' in this little sci/fi thing as a "two-fisted playboy" who is sent to Alaska with a cute chick (Pat Garrison) to investigate the recently reported 'sightings' of flying saucers circling intermittently overhead.The film ultimately amounts to nothing more than a visual brochure detailing the beauty of the Alaskan tundra, sprinkled with Conrad smoking every two minutes followed by the inevitable littering of his cigarette butts, the curious prospect that Garrison only brought one change of clothes for the trip, and an occasional glimpse of what appears to be a flying saucer.Non-stop mellifluous background music melds the proceedings together seamlessly, but as previously stated, at least the scenery is pretty. Frank Darien as 'Matt' delivers a realistic dying scene 48 minutes into the movie. Credit also goes to Conrad here for keeping the camera on Darien's face in close-up. No doubt Conrad wanted to attain a hopefully stellar film career as a leading man. Somehow, he was able to produce, direct, and write the movie. He even closed his tale with a kissing scene on a rocky slope, remembering to carefully position himself just a bit higher than Garrison so he would appear taller than she was (which he was not).Of interest to film historians and genre aficionados will be Conrad's innovative advertising stunt to coax potential movie-goers into theaters by falsely relating that the story is derived from "classified government files".
schneiderdick
This movie is far better than some of the reviews indicate. One reviewer rightly said that good films like The Thing or The Man from Planet X were made at the same time, but the comparison is faulty. The Flying Saucer was a one-off by Mikel Conrad who starred in it, wrote the storyline, directed and produced; it seems to be his only writer-director-producer credit. TMFPX was extremely low budget but used far superior actors. And Thing was a Howard Hawks production with a top-notch cast and crew; many of the scenes, judging by dialogue and action alone, seemed to have been directed by Hawks even though he is not credited. Compare The Flying Saucer to the many other sci-fi flicks of the early fifties and it holds up a little better. Except for interiors, the entire film was shot on location in Alaska – so you get a great look at the 1949 Alaska environment around Juneau, Spring Lake, and Taku Glacier. And a number of boats, docks, cabins, and float planes from that era. I found the storyline interesting – a scientist builds a saucer (From alien plans? This question is left to the viewer's imagination) that both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. want to get a hold of. The saucer was a good MacGuffin. Acting was stiff at times, but this was a pro- sumer production. Still, it was worth watching.
jvance83
I just love 1950s B-grade science fiction movies, but I can't open my heart to this one. Mikel Conrad walking, Mikel Conrad smoking, Mikel Conrad standing around, Mikel Conrad riding in a boat, Mikel Conrad...well, you surely have the drift of my opinion by now. For the life of me I can't figure out what anyone had in mind when they financed this turkey of a film, which has some of the worst acting and dialogue I've ever laid eyes or ears on. Even the "action-filled" fight scenes have all the realism one might expect from a grade school production. The flying saucer? Well it appears they saved a bit on the budget by purchasing the item from the pages of a schlock comic book of the era ("Genuine Spaceship!! Holds 2 crewman!! Only $3.99 plus shipping!!!"). Nope, not even my odd obsession with giant irradiated bugs, spooky invaders and evil scientists can brook this piece of garbage.
graduatedan
I tried to like The Flying saucer...I really did, but this low budget thriller simply didn't work for me. (It didn't "take off", if you will.) For one thing the black and white photography is so bleak and cold that it actually works against the film. The acting ranges from bland to overwrought and the dialog is stilted and lifeless. Here's the thing; all of these shortcomings taken together still might mot torpedo the overall enjoyment of this film, but its' boneheaded polemic (even for 1950) left me flat. I did like the location shooting ( the film is set in Alaska) but that didn't stop me from wanting the movie to be over--soon. The Flying Saucer is disappointing on all levels.