EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS (director: Fred F. Sears; screenwriter: story by Curt Siodmak/book by Donald E. Keyhoe/George Worthing Yates/Ray Marcus; cinematographer: Fred Jackman Jr.; editor: Danny Landres; cast: Hugh Marlowe (Dr. Russell A. Marvin ), Joan Taylor (Carol Marvin), Donald Curtis (Major Huglin ), Morris Ankrum (General Hanley ), Larry J. Blake (Motorcycle cop), 1956)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A superficial B- movie about flying saucers, offering no relevant views on matters of space exploration, except some might be amused to see Washington D.C. come under attack by flying saucers. Using Ray Harryhausen's flying saucers, this film becomes mostly a special effect experience. It is a good example of the kind of mediocre, paranoiac sci-fi films that were being made at the time. Though, the exception to this uninteresting sci-fi film at the time, might be the one adapted from Robert Heinlein's novel "Rocketship Galileo," which was made as "Destination Moon (50)." But it wasn't until Kubrick came along in the 1960s with his "2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY" that sci-fi films matured into solid ventures and started to be taken seriously.
Somewhere in the desert, on there way to Project Skyhook, a military space exploration project, the civilian project director Dr. Russell Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) and his new wife, Carol (Joan Taylor), observe a flying saucer. The couple are reluctant to report it, seemingly worried about their careers, afraid that their superiors would take them for loonies, if they report that they saw a flying saucer. But back in the lab, Russ discovers the tape recorder recorded the strange sounds made by the saucer, giving them some concrete proof. General Hanley (Morris Ankrum), Carol's father, warns Russ that all the 11 rockets he previously fired into space, supposedly used as observation posts, have crashed mysteriously back to earth. He urges Russ to put a halt to tomorrow's rocket firing, until the mystery is cleared up. But Russ is determined to carry out the mission.
The scientist couple decide to observe the 12th rocket launch from a soundproof bunker. But before the launch begins, a flying saucer is spotted landing on the project site. When the soldiers fire on the three aliens (dressed in lightweight tin armor carrying solidified electricty) departing from the shelter, they shoot one but the others quickly put an electric shield around themselves and the saucer precedes in destroying the entire project site including the rocket. They take General Hanley as a prisoner on their saucer. Once on board, they will steal his mind for their own research purposes but leave his mindless body intact.
The only survivors at the test site are Russ and Carol. While in the bunker, Russ and Carol discover that the sounds they recorded were a message from the flying saucer arranging a meeting. The message was recorded at supersonic speed, but when the batteries failed and the recorder went into slow motion, they were able to hear the message clearly.
It's off to Washington for the rescued couple, to explain their experience to skeptical political and military leaders. Russ grows impatient with the bureaucratic delays and the failure with Washington to try and make contact with the aliens. So he makes radio contact with the aliens on his own and gets another meeting. Carol and a military liason officer, Major Huglin (Donald Curtis), try to stop him but when it is too late for that, they follow him to the meeting place on the beach. A motorcycle policeman also tags along, and all four are forced into the saucer. They hear the bad news that the aliens want to take over the world, but would prefer to do it without destroying the world. They want to arrange a meeting in 56 days of world leaders. They prove they have the means to carry out their mission by blowing up a destroyer. We also learn that they are humanoids, survivors of a disintegrated solar system. When the policman tries to shoot them, they zap his brain and leave him aboard the saucer, while releasing the other three.
Russ explains to the military leaders what the aliens wanted, and claims that he can build a new weapon, an ultra-sonic gun. He does so with the help of scientists from other parts of the world. While he is working on that project, the aliens change the world's weather patterns by causing meteor showers around the sun. This results in storms and the world's communication systems being destroyed.
The silliness of the film is delightfully highlighted by the finale of the flying saucer attack on Washington DC. In some ways it rescues the film from its banal story, its reactionary politics (having the military in the same bed with science), the uninspired acting, and the film's aim of making the aliens the bad guys, by showing the Ray Harryhausen created flying saucers landing in front of the White House, slicing the Washington Monument in half, and waging a full-scale attack on America's capital. There was also the suggestion by one of the generals of the use of a nuclear bomb. Its use was argued against, by Major Huglin, that it would only destroy our country and might not even work against the aliens. The film becomes a classic in sci-fi for its special effects, despite how mundane everything else about this project is.
REVIEWED ON 3/17/2000 GRADE: C-
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
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