Gerry Anderson's UFO series was very popular in Italy and this led to five dubbed compilation films being released there in the 1970s, giving Italian viewers a chance to see the show not just on TV but on cinema screens. This one was released in 1976 and is a bizarre concoction of various episodes including briefer sequences from others interspersed into them.
This does have the original TV titles and music followed by space footage from "The Cat With Ten Lives". A scene of a UFO exploding then leads into the credits which roll over images from some of the episodes used in the film. The chief episodes used are "Confetti Check A-OK", "Flight Path" and "A Question of Priorities". However sequences from others such as "The Psychobombs", "Kill Straker!" and "The Square Triangle" are inserted at various points.
There would have been an obvious link between "Confetti" and "A Question of Priorities" with both focusing on Straker's relationship with his wife and son. However the producers decided for no obvious reason to sandwich "Flight Path" in between them. As is common with compilation films the material is obviously disjointed. This becomes even more so with the extra insertions of clips or brief scenes from other episodes. Whether these were added to extend the length of the "film" or - more likely - to add extra action is unknown. Some of these involve Moonbase under attack and maybe these were intended to live up to the film title although only one of the three core episodes used focused on this. Perhaps the strangest choice is to insert one of these attacks into the concluding scenes from "A Question of Priorities" which was one of the show's most significant and poignant episodes and certainly didn't need any "extra drama".
Another strange feature is the use of music by John Barry from James Bond films at various point in the narrative. It's been suggested this occurred due to the compilers mixing up John Barry with original composer Barry Gray! Whether or not this was the case the "new" music works well and is certainly less jarring than the synthesiser music used on the "Invasion: UFO" compilation released in 1980.
Ultimately these compilations are all now historical curiosities as the original full episodes are all now readily available on DVD, Blu-Ray or on streaming services. These are certainly superior ways to watch the show today but the compilations are still worth seeing as a reminder of how it was marketed and screened in the past.
