Earth vs. the Flying Saucers

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers

Directed by Fred F. Sears
Produced by Charles H. Schneer
Sam Katzman
Written by Curt Siodmak
George Worthing Yates
Bernard Gordon
Raymond T. Marcus
Based on Flying Saucers from Outer Space
1953 book 
by Donald Keyhoe
Starring Hugh Marlowe
Joan Taylor
Music by Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Cinematography Fred Jackman Jr.
Edited by Danny B. Landres
Production
company
Clover Productions
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • July 1, 1956 (1956-07-01)
Running time
 83 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $1,250,000 (US rentals)[1]

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (aka Invasion of the Flying Saucers and Flying Saucers from Outer Space)[2] is a 1956 American black-and-white science fiction film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Charles H. Schneer and Sam Katzman, directed by Fred F. Sears, that stars Hugh Marlowe and Joan Taylor.

The film's storyline was suggested by the bestselling, non-fiction book Flying Saucers from Outer Space by Maj. Donald Keyhoe.[3]

The stop-motion animation special effects in the film were created by Ray Harryhausen.

Plot

Scientist Dr. Russell Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) and his new bride Carol (Joan Taylor) are driving to work when a flying saucer appears overhead. Without proof of the encounter, other than a tape recording of the ship's sound, Dr. Marvin is hesitant to notify his superiors. He is in charge of Project Skyhook, an American space program that has already launched 10 research satellites into orbit. General Hanley (Morris Ankrum), Carol's father, informs Marvin that many of the satellites have since fallen back to Earth. Marvin admits that he has lost contact with all of them and privately suspects alien involvement. The Marvins then witness the 11th falling from the sky shortly after launch.

When a saucer lands at Skyhook the next day, soldiers open fire, killing one exposed alien, while others and the saucer itself are being protected by a force field. The aliens then kill everyone at the facility but the Marvins; General Hanley is captured and taken away in the saucer. Now too late, Russell discovers and decodes a message on his tape recording from the aliens: they wanted to meet with Dr. Marvin and had landed in peace at Skyhook for that purpose. Now impatient to conduct that meeting because everything has gone sideways, Marvin contacts the aliens and steals away to meet them, followed closely by Carol and Major Huglin (Donald Curtis). They and a pursuing motorcycle cop are taken aboard a saucer, where they learn that the aliens have extracted knowledge directly from the General's brain; he is now under their control. They claim to be the last of their species and have destroyed all the launched satellites, fearing them as weapons. As proof of their power, the aliens then give Dr. Marvin the coordinates of a naval destroyer that opened fire on them, and which they have since destroyed; the Marvins are then released with the message that the aliens want to meet the world's leaders in 56 days in Washington, D.C., to negotiate an alien occupation.

Dr. Marvin's later observations uncover the fact that the aliens' protective suits are made of solidified electricity, and grant them advanced auditory perception. From other observations, Marvin develops a counter-weapon against their flying saucers, which he then later successfully tests against a single saucer. As they escape, the aliens jettison Gen. Hanley and the motor cycle cop; both fall to their deaths. Groups of alien saucers then attack Washington, Paris, London, and Moscow, but are destroyed by Dr. Marvin's sonic weapon. The defenders also discover that the aliens can be easily killed by simple small arms gunfire once they are outside the force fields of their saucers.

With the alien threat eliminated, Dr. Marvin and Carol quietly celebrate the victory by going back to their favorite beach, resuming their lives as newlyweds.

Cast

Production

Visual effects

Special effects expert Ray Harryhausen animated the film's flying saucers using stop-motion animation. Harryhausen also animated the falling masonry when saucers crash into various government buildings and monuments in order to make the action appear realistic.[4] Some figure animation was used to show the aliens emerging from the saucers. A considerable amount of stock footage was also used, notably scenes during the invasion that showed batteries of U. S. 90 mm M3 guns and an early missile launch. Stock footage of the destruction of the warship HMS Barham during World War II was used for the U. S. Navy destroyer that is sunk by a flying saucer. Satellite launch depictions made use of stock film images from a Viking rocket launch and a failure of a German V-2 rocket.[5] The aircraft that are shown crashing after being hit by a alien ray is actual stock footage shot of a real military aircraft accident that happened during World War II, on July 23rd, 1944.

The voice of the aliens was produced from a recording made by Paul Frees (uncredited) reading their lines and then hand-jiggling the speed control of an analog reel-to-reel tape recorder, so that it continually wavered from a slow bass voice to one that is high and fast.[6]

During a question-and-answer period at a tribute to Ray Harryhausen and a screening of Jason and the Argonauts held in Sydney, Australia, Harryhausen said he sought advice from noted 1950s UFO "contactee" George Adamski on the depiction of the flying saucers used in the film. He also noted that Adamski appeared to have grown increasingly paranoid by that time. The film's iconic flying saucer design (a static central cabin with an outer rotating ring with slotted vanes) matches descriptions given to Maj. Donald Keyhoe of flying disc sightings in his best-selling flying saucer book.[7]

Reception

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers was well received by audiences and critics alike, with Variety noting that the special effects were the real stars of the film. "This exploitation programmer does a satisfactory job of entertaining in the science-fiction class. The technical effects created by Ray Harryhausen come off excellently in the Charles H. Schneer production, adding the required out-of-this-world visual touch to the screenplay, taken from a screen story by Curt Siodmak, suggested by Major Donald E. Keyhoe’s Flying Saucers from Outer Space." [8]

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers has reached an iconic status in that many films in the "flying saucer" subgenre that followed, imitated and incorporated many of the elements established by Ray Harryhausen.[5] In an article for The New York Times film reviewer Hal Erickson noted that, "Anyone who's seen the 1996 science-fiction lampoon Mars Attacks may have trouble watching Earth vs. the Flying Saucers with a straight face." The later campy film could be seen as an homage to the era, especially to the contributions made by Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.[9]

Legacy

Several films have recycled stock footage from the film, including The Giant Claw and The 27th Day (1957), an episode of the Twilight Zone (1985) and the short Flying Saucer Daffy[10] (1958).

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ "The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956." Variety Weekly, January 2, 1957.
  2. ↑ "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers AKA Invasion of the Flying Saucers." moria.co. Retrieved: January 6, 2015.
  3. ↑ Jacobs 2008, pp. 11–16.
  4. ↑ Dixon, Wheeler Winston. "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers." University of Nebraska–Lincoln, 2015. Retrieved: January 6, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Wood, Bret. "Articles: Earth vs. the Flying Saucers." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: January 6, 2015.
  6. ↑ Hagerty and Rogers 2008, p. 204.
  7. ↑ Hankin 2008, p. 146.
  8. ↑ "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers." Variety, December 31, 1955.
  9. ↑ Erickson, Hal. "Overview: Earth vs. the Flying Saucers." The New York Times. Retrieved: January 6, 2015.
  10. ↑ Internet Movie Database Trivia

Bibliography

  • Hagerty, Jack and Jon Rogers. The Saucer Fleet. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Apogee Books, 2008. ISBN 978-1894959-70-4.
  • Hankin, Mike. Ray Harryhausen: Master of the Majicks, Vol. 2: The American Films. Los Angeles, California: Archive Editions, 2008. ISBN 978-0-98178-290-4.
  • Jacobs, David. "Flying Saucers from Outer Space – The inspiration behind Earth vs. the Flying Saucers". in Wilson, S. Michael. Monster Rally: Mutants, Monsters, Madness. West Orange, New Jersey: Idea Men Production, 2008. ISBN 978-1-4392-1519-7.
  • Warren, Bill. Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Films of the Fifties, 21st Century Edition. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2009, (First edition 1982). ISBN 0-89950-032-3.

External links

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