Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

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 Planet Earth.

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Rocket | Flying Saucer | General | Tape Recorder

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Hugh Marlowe	...	Dr. Russell A. Marvin
Joan Taylor	...	Carol Marvin
Donald Curtis	...	Maj. Huglin, Liason Officer
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	...	Crushed Beneath Wall (uncredited)
Frank Wilcox	...	Alfred Cassidy (uncredited)
Beal Wong	...	Radio Listener in China (uncredited)
William Woodson	...	Off-Screen Narrator (uncredited) (unconfirmed)

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 (uncredited)

Sound Department
J.S. Westmoreland	....	sound (as Josh Westmoreland)

Special Effects by
Russ Kelley	....	special effects
Ray Harryhausen	....	special effects (uncredited)

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)

Also Known As:

Invasion of the Flying Saucers

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

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

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Clover Productions

Trivia:

Some of the footage showing citizens being loaded on a bus for evacuation is stock footage from The War of the Worlds (1953).

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the scene where the destroyer is to be destroyed, the gun mounts are single 5" mounts. When the destroyer is firing her guns, a twin 5" mount is shown. When the destroyer is shown to explode, the actual film clip used is of a battleship exploding.

Quotes:

Brig. Gen. John Hanley: As you were, Sergeant.
Sgt. Nash: Unidentified Flying Object reported flying due West, sir. Probably a buzzard.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Le joli mai (1963)

UFO's AND Joan Taylor: Beam ME Up!!!

Certainly, the renowned/redoubtable Ray Harryhausen's special effects are absolutely superb in this 1956 sci-fi film. As several of the previous posters have already pointed out, the late Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe (one-time director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenonema, based in Washington, D.C.) served as technical adviser to this film. In fact, Maj. Keyhoe always maintained that alien (?) spacecraft HAD buzzed our nation's capital, during the summer of 1952. Veteran actors Hugh Marlowe, Morris Ankrum and Donald Curtis (who, I believe, portrayed "Prince Barron" in one of the final Flash Gordon serials) appear in the film. However, the wonderful and voluptuous Joan Taylor also appears as Carol Marvin (Hugh Marlowe's new bride in the film). Now, Ms. Taylor also appeared as the medical student granddaughter (?) of a scientist in another 1950s sci-fi flick, "20 Million Miles to Earth." And, I MUST say that Ms. Taylor looked terrific in those shorts of hers, as she and her granddad were conducting scientific research in sunny Sicily, when that U.S. space ship returned, rather abruptly, to Earth. (Seeing her perambulate through the verdant Sicilian countryside, I felt like singing Dean Martin's "That's Amore!") Yet, my favorite scene in "Earth Versus the Flying Saucers," was at the film's conclusion, when, Ms. Taylor and Mr. Marlowe are sitting on a beautiful beach as the sun is starting to set, and she says to Mr. Marlowe: "Do you think that the aliens will ever return to Earth?" To which, Mr. Marlowe (looking at his beautiful bride, attired in her extremely-flattering one-piece bathing suit) dreamily replies: "Not on such a beautiful day as this." And, hands held-together, they both happily and somewhat, "saucily" scamper into the water!