STUFF YOU GOTTA WATCH - Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers

EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS

(1956)
With Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor, Donald Curtis, Morris Ankrum, Paul Frees (alien voice - uncredited)
Directed by Fred F. Sears
Black and White
Reviewed by JB

The Giant Pith Helmets are back!! Run for your life, Martha! The fifties were a great time for intelligent, thought-provoking science fiction - as well as cheesy nonsense like EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS. That's not to say EVTFS is a bad movie, though it comes close at times. It's just a somewhat lackluster, implausible film chock full of stock footage, unconvincing back-projection and stiff performances that nevertheless manages to be marvelously entertaining thanks to Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion effects and outstanding model work, Paul Frees all-knowing, all-seeing but never seen alien commander, and the creepy aliens themselves whose helmets make them look like humanoid waterbugs. The film has enough going for it in the special effects department, art direction and set design that it manages to make you think you are watching a much better movie than you are. It's also fun to see a 1950s sci-fi classic without any social or political overtones whatsoever. It's not about the commies, it's not about how we people of earth are all violent maniacs. Like the equally nonsensical yet fun INDEPENDENCE DAY, EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS is simply about a race of "oh, aren't we so superior!" aliens coming to kick our butt, and we kick theirs instead. Go Earth! ½ - JB

ALL SCI-FI CLICHÉS HAD TO COME FROM SOMEWHERE

"Attention, people of Earth! Attention, people of Earth!"