- Directed by Fred F. Sears
- Written by Bernard Gordon, George Worthing Yates, Curt Siodmak
- Stars Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor, Donald Curtis
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 23 Minutes
- Watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCdnv3AP0eM
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was a very fun 50s science fiction action flick. It was made before Sputnik, the first satellite, and it’s interesting seeing what they thought the future was going to be like. Plus a flying saucer invasion! The effects are quite good for the era, the story is decent, and the cast is good. It’s a little campy, but they’re all taking it very seriously, and there’s quite a body count. Our only complaint is an ending that’s a bit abrupt, but we liked it overall.
Spoilery Synopsis
Man has always speculated on the existence of life on other worlds. We see news reports of UFO sightings all over the world. The military goes on alert, ready to fire on any UFOs they spot. It might be… Earth Versus the Flying Saucers! Credits roll.
Dr. Russell Marvin rides in the car and dictates a letter to the Defense Department. He’s been married to Carol for two hours, and she still calls him “Dr. Marvin.” He explains that humanity is ready to start exploring outer space. We get stock footage of real rockets and hear about futuristic things called “satellites” that we are about to launch. Suddenly, a flying saucer appears over the car, and they pull over. When it flies away, they both doubt what they saw.
Back at the lab, they notice that the tape recorder picked up the sound of the flying saucer, so it must’ve been real.
General Hanley, Carol’s father, arrives at the base to talk to Russell about cancelling the rocket launch. It’s too late, and the rocket blasts off. The general points out that they’ve launched multiple satellites, but they’ve all fallen back to Earth. Russell thinks someone is shooting them down; he tells the old man what they saw. They get a report that Number Eleven has lost contact.
The next day, they launch Number Twelve, but this time, they load on cameras and video feeds to see what happens. They get a report of a UFO approaching, and everyone sees it this time. It lands there at the base, and someone gets out. The army shoots him, but the others are behind a force field. When the spacemen shoot back, the whole Jeep, soldiers included, vanishes.
The aliens start shooting, and the buildings all over the launch base start exploding. The general is captured, and the aliens speak to him. They tried to talk to Russell, but he didn’t understand them. He refuses to tell them anything, but they have a mind probe that can access his brain directly.
Meanwhile, Russell and Carol are buried in the lab, and they assume everyone outside has been killed. The battery in the tape recorder is dying, and he finally understands the alien’s message as it plays at a slow speed. They tried to come in peace, but he didn’t understand the message because it was sped up so much.
There’s a whole government investigation, and the two survivors explain it all. Russell wants to try to contact the aliens and make peace before it gets any worse. Major Huglin is assigned to keep an eye on Russell. The government tells him to wait before contacting the aliens, but he does it anyway. The aliens want to meet him, but he’s under house arrest until the investigation is over.
Carol doesn’t want Russell to go, so she calls Huglin, who comes after Russell. This leads to a car chase. He arrives at a landed saucer and approaches. The aliens invite the whole group, including the traffic cop, inside. The aliens explain that they’ve taken off using magnetic fields, which also alter the way time works for them and the humans on board.
The aliens misunderstood the satellite launch, thinking they were weapons. They’ve come from a destroyed planet, and their entire fleet is circling the globe. They want to talk to the world leaders about a permanent landing site. They don’t want to cause panic; they want to be invited. General Hanley walks out, now a zombie; his knowledge has been drained. The aliens show their power, and they could wipe us out easily. They give Earth 56 days to arrange a conference.
Russell talks to the generals about the meeting and his idea of building an ultrasonic gun to fight them. The professor suggests a way to disrupt the alien’s magnetic devices. A saucer lands outside, and they get a chance to try their new weapon. Zap! It drives off the saucer, but it leaves one of the aliens behind, which destroys the weapon. Huglin shoots it with bullets, and that seems to work. They pull off the alien’s mask and see what they really look like under the helmet. The aliens then drop the general and the traffic cop out the door, and they fall to their deaths.
Using the captured helmet, the army decodes the alien’s language and starts listening to the alien transmissions.
The aliens broadcast a message to everyone, everywhere. They’re going to disrupt the sun to demonstrate their power, and then they expect a full surrender. The aliens will be landing in DC, so they get working on evacuating the city.
The aliens attack, and the human soldiers get ready. Surface-to-air missiles don’t seem to do much to the UFOs. Russell uses his sonic weapon, and he shoots down one of the saucers. There’s a saucer hovering over the White House, and they shoot it down as well. The aliens then just start blowing up buildings and landmarks all over town, even the Washington Monument and the Capitol building get crashed into.
They signal the all-clear, and everyone comes out to assess the damage. We cut to Russell and Carol at the beach. The aliens have been defeated, and the space program can continue without interference. “Will they come back again?” “Not on such a nice day!”
Brian’s Commentary
This was the year before Sputnik, so satellites and space launches were all science fiction at this point. For 1956, the special effects here are really noteworthy; Ray Harryhousen did the flying saucers, and everything looks really cool.
It’s got its hokey bits, but for the most part, everyone plays it completely seriously, and it all seems fairly realistic. From the name of the film alone, I was expecting a lot more camp and silliness.
The ending is a bit abrupt. I guess they just shot down all the saucers. This might have been more effective if we’d known how many saucers there were or that the aliens were running out of ships. Other than the quick ending, it was really very good!
Kevin’s Commentary
The special effects and sets were pretty cool in this. It’s a great example of 50s science fiction that holds up pretty well for fun and entertainment. I always like seeing visions of what the future was going to be like from decades ago. We watched a colorized version that looked really sharp. I’d recommend it.