Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)

Director:

Fred F. Sears

Writers (WGA):

Donald E. Keyhoe (book)
Curt Siodmak (screen story)
(more)

Release Date:

July 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Before You Scoff at Flying Saucers - See the Greatest SHOCK Film of All Time !

Plot:

Extra-terrestrials flying in high-tech flying saucers contact scientist Dr. Russell Marvin as part of a plan to enslave the inhabitants of Earth.

Plot Keywords:

Flying Saucer | Alien | Rocket | General | Tape Recorder

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Hugh Marlowe	...	Dr. Russell A. Marvin
Joan Taylor	...	Carol Marvin
Donald Curtis	...	Maj. Huglin
Morris Ankrum	...	Brig. Gen. John Hanley
John Zaremba	...	Prof. Kanter
Thomas Browne Henry	...	Vice Adm. Enright (as Tom Browne Henry)
Grandon Rhodes	...	Gen. Edmunds
Larry J. Blake	...	Motorcycle Cop (as Larry Blake)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fred Aldrich	...	Airplane Passenger / Officer in Sighting Montage / Man in Saucer Attack (uncredited)
Holly Bane	...	Bit Role (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
Nicky Blair	...	Military Officer at Experiment (uncredited)
Charles Evans	...	Dr. Alberts (uncredited)
Paul Frees	...	Alien (voice) (uncredited)
Duke Green	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Clark Howat	...	Sgt. Nash (uncredited)
Harry Lauter	...	Cutting - Generator Technician (uncredited)
Don Marlowe	...	Bit Role (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
Forbes Murray	...	Military Officer at Experiment (uncredited)
Alan Reynolds	...	Maj. Kimberly (uncredited)
Bert Stevens	...	Officer in UFO Sighting Montage (uncredited)
Arthur Tovey	...	Officer / Civilian at Military Conference (uncredited)
Dale Van Sickel	...	Man Crushed Beneath Wall (uncredited)
Frank Wilcox	...	Alfred Cassidy (uncredited)
Beal Wong	...	Chinese Radio Listener (uncredited)

Directed by
Fred F. Sears

Writing credits (WGA)
Donald E. Keyhoe		(book "Flying Saucers from Outer Space") (as Major Donald E. Keyhoe)
Curt Siodmak		(screen story)
George Worthing Yates		(screenplay) &
Bernard Gordon		(screenplay) originally as Raymond T. Marcus

Produced by
Sam Katzman	....	executive producer
Charles H. Schneer	....	producer

Original Music by
Mischa Bakaleinikoff		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Fred Jackman Jr.

Film Editing by
Danny B. Landres		(as Danny D. Landres)

Art Direction by
Paul Palmentola

Set Decoration by
Sidney Clifford

Production Management
Leon Chooluck	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gene Anderson Jr.	....	assistant director

Sound Department
J.S. Westmoreland	....	sound (as Josh Westmoreland)
Frank Bayes	....	sound editor (uncredited)
Ernest Reichert	....	sound editor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Russ Kelley	....	special effects

Stunts
Dale Van Sickel	....	stunts (uncredited)

Animation Department
Ray Harryhausen	....	special photographic and animation effects

Music Department
Mischa Bakaleinikoff	....	conductor
Daniele Amfitheatrof	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
George Duning	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
David Raksin	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Miklós Rózsa	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Hans J. Salter	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Leith Stevens	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Jack Erickson	....	production coordinator

Production Companies

• Clover Productions

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1956) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Films (1956) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Columbia Film-Verleih (1957) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (1999) (Japan) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (2002) (Japan) (DVD)
• NHK-BS2 (2003) (Japan) (TV)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2004) (India) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Cinema, The (2008) (Japan) (TV)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia (1956) (France) (theatrical) (as Columbia Films S.A.)
• GoodTimes Home Video (1989) (USA) (VHS)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Unrated | Canada:PG (Ontario) | West Germany:12 (nf) | USA:Approved (Certificate #17854)

Filming Locations:

Hyperion Water Treatment Facility - 12000 Vista Del Mar, Playa del Rey, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Clover Productions

Trivia:

One of the buildings struck by crashing flying saucers is Union Station, Washington's main train station. This may have been inspired by a 1953 accident when a runaway passenger train smashed into the station concourse.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening scene as Russell gets in and out of the car, the car seats change colors.

Quotes:

Alien:People of Earth, attention... People of Earth attention. This is a voice speaking to you from thousands of miles beyond your planet... This is a voice speaking to you from thousands of miles beyond your planet. Look to your sun for a warning... Look to your sun for a warning.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: Episode #28.15" (2002)

Better-than-average '50's saucer flick

Ray Harryhausen should have received top billing in this film, since his superb stop-action animation is the real star here. None of this nonsense about wise and benevolent aliens a la "The Day the Earth Stood Still"! Here, the aliens are nasty and mean business. The mass saucer attack on Washington is a classic scene; swiped by everything from "Independence Day" to a TV commercial for a nationwide chain of fast-food restaurants. Although the saucer's "magnetic propulsion" is scientific balderdash (Earth's magnetic field is just about strong enough to swing a compass needle.); still it's thrilling to see the military and the scientists racing around D.C. in 1-and-a-half ton trucks with diesel generators and "magnetic disruptor's" mounted on the truck beds. (They look a bit like an out-sized Maxim machine gun.) When these are fired at an alien ship, it starts to wobble wildly until it falls and crashes. At one point, a saucer lands on the White House lawn in an attempt to kill or capture the President (Eisenhower) (gasp!) The aliens step out clad in silver spacesuits that act as powered exoskeletons that enable them to walk while under Earth's gravity. Fortunately, these are magnetically powered like their ships and Hugh Marlowe (who played Patricia Neal's lunkhead boyfriend in "The Day the Earth Stood Still") arrives on the scene with one of those disruptor's and drives them off.

There is an interesting scene earlier in the film where an alien is subdued and the helmet wrenched off of his suit. Before crumbling to dust in our atmosphere, you can see out-sized black eyes, no nose, and a slit-like mouth set in a light-bulb shaped head. I didn't think this idea of an alien occurred to anybody until the 1970's.

Despite perfunctory acting and scientific howlers, this movie is still endearing, not only for the fine special effects (CGI is a bit too slick for me.), but also for an innocence that would soon be lost. For the following year after this film was made, the Soviet Union would shock America by launching the first artificial satellite (Sputnik I) into Earth orbit using the first ICBM. This meant that the Soviets could launch a nuclear warhead at the United States. From then until the Cuban Missile Crisis persuaded both sides to back down from hair-trigger postures, fears of nuclear war would put possible interplanetary war very much in the shade.