I enjoyed this movie quite a bit, even though its lead, Hugh Marlowe, is among my least favorite actors.
The special effects, of course, are a highlight. Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion-animated flying saucers are beautiful.
... Justin
I love this film. It is a fun science fiction flick that perfectly represents such a fun era of sci-fi that we will never get again. The cast did good, and Harryhausen's effects are quite inventive. I love how they served as inspiration for Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! Sometimes, I wish we could have seen more of the natural disasters that were taking place, as the stock footage is nothing special. Still, that is no request for a remake, as I have no faith in film makers of today doing this gem justice.
shareNor do I. Better special effects; worse story.
Wait, did I say better special effects? Harryhausen's saucers are among the best-looking sci-fi contraptions I've ever seen. Stop-motion adds a wonderful quality to them. CGI won't be able to compare.
I don't know what took me so long to get around to this movie. I've seen and loved Them!, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Thing from Another World and other 1950s sci-fi adventures.
Apropos your name: I also just watched Jason and the Argonauts. Great fun; and of course great Harryhausen effects. Gotta love those harpies and the sword-fighting skeletons.
... Justin
For it's time and for it's budget, this movie is brilliant fun and no doubt a classic. It's been one of my favourites since I was a kid seeing it for the first time one late Saturday night on "Creature Features". I love the Harryhausen special effects, the campy 50s dialogue, wardrobe, music and acting, and even the straight-forward, reassuring Cold War tale of military power prevailing over invaders (from anywhere).
As a kid, I found Earth vs. the Flying Saucers thrilling and even a bit scary, particularly the aliens. Nowadays, it is unintentionally funny in that MST3K way (like the appearance of those... ahem... helmets, and Hugh Marlowe's back hair). The best sequences, still, were the destruction of familiar monuments and buildings in Washington DC, which we howled with delight at!
A decent re-make? I think it HAS been re-made many times with various tones and degrees of success, most attributabley in ID4 with good modern CGI, and Mars Attacks! for laughs.
Compaired to other early alien movies, this one was a dissapointment. I really enjoyed Invaders from Mars and the Day the Earth stood Still. I agree that the flying saucers, and special effects were OK, but the first hour just dragged.It was sadly goofy, such as saying that the satelites in orbit, or a they call them "birds". Or the stupid aliens that walk out of the force field and get shot. and the whole premiss of the aliens wanting to peaceably tell us we would be enslaved and/or exterminated, but don't want to cause a panic.
shareAlthough not in the top rank of Science Fiction movies, it's certainly one of my favourites, and ran endlessly on TV when I was a kid.
1953 to 1955 was the peak of UFO paranoia, as the general public started to suspect (incorrectly) that the Government was hiding something. Former U.S. Major Donald Keyhoe had written a magazine article about UFOs, and later expanded the article into a book, "The Flying Saucers Are Real" (1950). Much of the basics of Earth vs. The Flying Saucers expands upon elements of Keyhoe's book.
A couple of years later, crackpot restaurateur George Adamski claimed to have travelled on a flying saucer and met the alien crew. The scene where the saucer lands on the beach was lifted from Adamski's description.
So, besides being a fun 1950s sci-fi movie, "Earth" is something of a time capsule preserving the key elements of 1950s Flying Saucer paranoia.
What!!! No Gravy???
I see what you mean. The Thing from Another World is a sci-fi film of that era that also seems to trade on that fear and paranoia. That movie is scary even for someone like me who doesn't believe in UFOs.
UFOlogy probably isn't what it was in the 1950s, but it still chugs along. I recently saw Dan Aykroyd: Unplugged on UFOs, a shoddy documentary built on an interview with Aykroyd, who believes he's seen the fabled Men in Black and thinks UFOs should be an urgent concern for everyone.
... Justin
When UFOs first began to manifest themselves in a big way in the late 1940s, the Air Force thought it was just a fad that would go away. When it didn't go away, the top brass made the mistake of inventing bogus explanations. Familiar with Air Force double talk, former Major Donald Keyhoe recognised the bullsh!t excuses and wrote his now famous article and book. Keyhoe went further, and speculated on the extraterrestrial origins of the "aircraft."
The Air Force then put Edward J. Ruppelt in charge of investigating the phenomenon. He coined the term UFO, and was open minded about what they might be.
Under his tenure, from 1951 to 1953, the Air Force issued no bullsh!t excuses. If there wasn't enough information to draw a conclusion, he filed the sighting as "unknown."
In 1955, Ruppelt wrote a book about his experiences running "Project Blue Book" and commented on Keyhoe's book.
Surprisingly, Ruppelt agreed with Keyhoe's assertions about the bogus explainations for the phenomenon, but disagreed that it was a coverup of anything more sinister, and strongly disagreed with Keyhoe's conclusion that UFOs were spacecraft from another planet.
On the Hugh Marlowe front, there is a scene in "EVTFS" where Marlowe is smoking a pipe while pondering the problems faced trying to thwart the alien invasion. I always wondered if he was the inspiration for Reed Richards of Fantastic Four fame. Check out this picture from Richard's earliest comic book appearance in 1961.
http://www.geocities.com/ratmmjess/reed.gif
What!!! No Gravy???
That would be funny if Hugh Marlowe inspired Reed Richards. His descendents should ask for royalties.
So the Air Force was the one that fueled the fire of UFOlogy. These 50s films would seem weird today if UFOlogy had totally died out. They'd very much be a relic of their times.
... Justin
Yep, had the UFO craze died out, movies like this would look very strange today.
Ruppelt's book is online. http://www.nicap.org/rufo/contents.htm I've read it, and it's very dull, dry stuff, but interesting in the context of what the Air Force really thought was going on, and the work of a man who honestly didn't know where the investigation would lead. Here's a cut and paste from the conclusion of the book.
"The Air Force is still actively engaged in investigating UFO reports, although during the past six months there have been definite indications that there is a movement afoot to get Project Blue Book to swing back to the old Project Grudge philosophy of analyzing UFO reports - write them all off, regardless. But good UFO reports cannot be written off with such answers as fatigued pilots seeing a balloon or star, "green" radar operators with only fifteen years' experience watching temperature inversion caused blips on their radarscopes; or "a mild form of mass hysteria or war nerves." Using answers like these, or similar ones, to explain the UFO reports is an expedient method of getting the percentage of unknowns down to zero, but it is no more valid than turning the hands of a clock ahead to make time pass faster. Twice before the riddle of the UFO has been "solved," only to have the reports increase in both quantity and quality.
I wouldn't want to hazard a guess as to what the final outcome of the UFO investigation will be, but I am sure that within a few years there will be a proven answer. The earth satellite program, which was recently announced, research progress in the fields of electronics, nuclear physics, astronomy, and a dozen other branches of the sciences will furnish data that will be useful to the UFO investigators. Methods of investigating and analyzing UFO reports have improved a hundred fold since 1947 and they are continuing to be improved by the diligent work of Captain Charles Hardin, the present chief of Project Blue Book, his staff, and the 4602nd Air Intelligence Squadron. Slowly but surely these people are working closer to the answer - closer to the proof.
Maybe the final proven answer will be that all of the UFO's that have been reported are merely misidentified known objects. Or maybe the many pilots, radar specialists, generals, industrialists, scientists, and the man on the street who have told me, "I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't seen it myself," knew what they were talking about. Maybe the earth is being visited by interplanetary spaceships.
Only time will tell."
Clearly, Ruppelt, writing in 1955, thought the truth would reveal itself fairly quickly. He died in 1960 aged 37.
What!!! No Gravy???
Do you know why he died so young?
... Justin
The Men In Black got him.
He died of a heart attack, but at 37 that seems incredibly young.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_J._Ruppelt
What!!! No Gravy???
Oh, Lord. I'd be shocked if UFO nuts haven't blamed his death on some conspiracy. Shocked.
That book sounds fascinating, and might even be worth suffering its dryness.
... Justin
I downloaded "Dan Ackroyd: Unplugged" and watched it. Oh my goodness.
So, according to Ackroyd, UFOs are from a parallel dimension (not exactly a new idea) but we won't worry about any of the finer details like the complete lack of evidence for the existence of a parallel universe.
The problem is, the "not of this earth" UFO scenario requires the existence of either a parallel dimension or faster than light travel to stand up to any sort of scrutiny.
Unfortunately, the dull and uninteresting scenario, that UFOs are not spacecraft from another solar system, or visitors from a parallel dimension, is just, well, too dull and uninteresting to be taken into consideration.
What!!! No Gravy???
I added these hilarious quotations to the database:
David Sereda: 2001 was a real space odyssey for me. Instead of flying on a spaceship to the moon, Jupiter, or beyond the solar system, I met Dan Aykroyd for the first time to talk about UFOs. That's when I knew I had to sit him down in front of the camera and just let him talk about the truth. Because if I didn't no one would believe we had this amazing conversation. One time I had this long conversation with Dan Aykroyd about UFOs, and I thought it was like Einstein was hiding inside of a comic genius, just so that if he told us the real truth he wouldn't have to believe it. If Einstein had told us UFOs were real, would we have believed *him*? He never spoke about it. But Dan Aykroyd speaks about UFOs as if he were a full professor on the subject.
David Sereda: God, God, I thank you, Dan, so much for this interview. I'm very grateful. I really believe you are one of the greatest minds in our world at this time.
... Justin
I liked it, though not as much as Day the Earth Stood Still or WotW, or most of Harryhausen's other movies.
shareGlenMe, thanks for pointing out that Major Ruppelt's book is online. I have a crumbling Dell paperback original edition which I read in the early to mid-1960's. Apparently there was never a hardback editon or a subsequent paperback editon, which is a shame. As you say it is dry reading, but it is full of important information about how the Air Force handled the flying saucer reports, and it explains several seemingly puzzling questions such as the Mantel incident, which are still being pulled out and blown up by UFO nuts. By the way, since U. S. military officers always retire at a rank above their latest active service rank, Ruppelt was only a captain while running the whole of the Air Forces UFO investigation with only one noncom and sometimes a private
clerk to help. Which tells you something about how important the Air Force regarded this issue.
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He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good... St. Matthew 5:45
To me it's ranked high among the cool sci-fi movies. This is one that I DON'T laugh at today.
shareI'll bet the new Day the Earth Stood Still with Keanu Reeves will give us more to laugh at than this movie.
Thanks for replying, rwsmith. Stop by the Watercooler once in awhile: http://us.imdb.com/board/bd0000101/threads/
...Om
I LOVE THIS MOVIE,its awesome,next to War of the Worlds,Invasion of the Body Snatchers.I .yes,I really like Hugh Marlowe..this movie rocks for that period of time..just got my colorized verson,,cant waite to see it..Now,this is NOT one of those "B" movies from the 50's..ITs done in style,class and has a great story line,,unlike so many movies today that are soo wooden,cold and impersonal..with tons of blood and gore.This shows that movies can be soo much more entertaining without all that blood and guts.
shareI love black-and-white and usually dislike colorized movies. But I have to admit that the colorization process is getting pretty good. I recently watched Ray Harryhausen's 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) in its original and then watched a few colorized scenes. They looked good. Harryhausen, who comments on them in the alternate track, certainly likes them.
...Justin
I had decided not to bother with the colorized version. I mean, it was made in black & white and I see no point in altering it from it's original state. Still, you did peak my curiosity with your remark about it looking good.
shareThe nice thing about the DVD is that it lets you see either version. Even better, it lets you toggle between versions. You can flip from color to black-and-white and then back again. I watched 20 Million Miles to Earth in black-and-white and then went back and toggled a few scenes. I also listened to some of the commentary. Ray Harryhausen was happy with the results, and it's hard to argue with him (even though, as George Lucas has proven, the original artist doesn't always know best when it comes to tinkering with his old work).
...Justin
Believe me, I'd buy it if it weren't for the fact that I already own the previous version. I hate getting double-dipped. I watched some clips to the film on Youtube with Ray's commentary playing. I might get the new DVDs one day if I find them for cheap for no other reason than to hear Ray's commentary in full. Otherwise, I am still not that impressed with the colorization. The environment looks pretty nice, and it's cool to see colored fire effects, but the people look odd. There's something wrong with how humans are colored, and I can't quite put my finger on it. It's kind of like the uncanny valley!
shareI agree about the people. It helps in 20 Million Miles to Earth that the monster is more important than the humans. In a movie like It's a Wonderful Life, where the people are more important than the Christmas tree ornaments, the people have to look good or forget it.
I don't mean to tout the colorized version too highly. I was impressed with it, and I liked toggling from one version to another. But I still watched the entire film in black and white first and then played the colorized version with the commentary track. To me, the color version is a nice little gimmick, but it's not the real movie.
...Justin
Next to "20 Million Miles To Earth," this is my favorite of the b/w movies he did. Not only did his stop-motion saucers influence the look of the CGI spacecraft in the not-quite-as-memorable "Mars Attacks." But, one week ago, today, was the 62nd anniversary of the Kenneth Arnold UFO sightings!
For those two reasons alone, Robert Osborne should host a special screening of this film on Turner Classic Movies.
I wonder if there would have even been a UFO movement without Kenneth Arnold. His sightings even predate Roswell by a few months.
...Justin
Two weeks, actually!
And, last Wednesday was the 62nd anniversary of the initial Roswell headline (later retracted with that b.s. about a weather balloon).
An undeniable classic! Especially, when Hugh Marlow takes the helmet off that dead alien in the forest. Anyone else notice how much the head conformed to modern-day folklore about Little Gray Man-atmomy? Remember: this was 1956.
At least, twenty years before that concept was first standardized by the NBC TV-adaptation of the Barney and Betty Hill incident!
I saw that Betty and Barney Hill movie on YouTube recently: imdb.com/title/tt0073834/. Not a bad movie. I didn't realize it had so much influence on our current idea of space aliens.
...Justin
i think the plot was ridiculous, the science behind it poor and the soundtrack simply lacking. i dont see why this one is so much better than other 60s sci-fi b-movies.
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"Common sense is not so common."
- Voltaire
Do you like any of the 1950s sci-fi movies? And which ones do you think are the best from the 1960s?
...Justin
I woudl direct you to my voting history, which used to be public, but due to changes in IMDB it is now locked and cant go public except for first 20 aphabetical, which all happens to be tv shows. yikes. What ruined a LOT of movies in the 50s-60s sci-fi is the soundtrack.
anyway, this is a copy-paste from my rating list, so this can be a mess to read:
Title Year Rating
2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 4
Planet of the Apes 1968 8
Monstrosity 1964 3
The Slime People 1963 5
The Brain That Wouldn't Die 1962 6
The Phantom Planet 1961 3
Creature from the Haunted Sea 1961 3
Gorgo 1961 3
The Amazing Transparent Man 1960 5
The Tingler 1959 6
The Killer Shrews 1959 6
The Giant Gila Monster 1959 2
The Monster of Piedras Blancas 1959 3
Monster from Green Hell 1958 2
I Married a Monster from Outer Space 1958 5
The Blob 1958 8
It! The Terror from Beyond Space 1958 2
Fiend Without a Face 1958 6
War of the Colossal Beast 1958 3
The Colossus of New York 1958 5
Attack of the Puppet People 1958 3
Terror from the Year 5000 1958 6
The Amazing Colossal Man 1957 3
From Hell It Came 1957 1
The Cyclops 1957 3
Beginning of the End 1957 4
The Monster That Challenged the World 1957 6
The Deadly Mantis 1957 3
Not of This Earth 1957 6
Attack of the Crab Monsters 1957 5
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers 1956 4
Forbidden Planet 1956 10
Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1956 8
Tarantula 1955 5
The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues 1955 3
Devil Girl from Mars 1954 4
Them! 1954 5
Monster from the Ocean Floor 1954 3
Creature from the Black Lagoon 1954 8
Escape from Fort Bravo 1953 4
Project Moon Base 1953 1
The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951 6
I have bolded those with rating of 8 and 10
I plan to watch more of them, given time, but this is my list so far.
Edit: though some surruond navigation from my movies i manadged to acess the old interface of voting history (yay) and it has the public link, so see if http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=32183105 works.
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"Common sense is not so common."
- Voltaire
Thanks for taking the trouble to post that. I have a higher estimation of Them!, The Day the Earth Stood Still, 2001 and the subject of this board; a much lower estimation of The Blob; a slightly lower estimation of The Creature from the Black Lagoon; and the same high opinion of Forbidden Planet and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
...Justin
I guess everyone has its own taste. personally 2001 was one of the first sci-fis i saw and it is also one of the 3 movies from over 1000 i watched that made me almost fall asleep. it didnt work. on the other hand a clockwork orange i loved. i found nothing that different from other sci-fi movies in Them. the acting was good, but thats about all it was different. the day the earth stood still would be fine but i just didnt find the chemistry in there. Guess its up for rewatching osmetime soon anyway.
like i said there still a lot of 50s-60s sci-fi movies id love to see, time permits, so the list is not set in stone.
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"Common sense is not so common."
- Voltaire
Though it dates me mercilessly, I saw this in its original theatrical release - my Dad took me. I was bowled over by the smooth, scary saucers, traumatized by the effects of the Infinite Indexer on poor Morris Ankrum's brain, and by the ruthlessness of the saucer people. It's remained one of my favorites. Seems solid sci-fi of the Fifties to me ... even though there are some clunkers like Marlowe's evaluation of his saucer sighting, "Well, of course my wife and I are subject to the same atmospheric disturbances as anyone else - but with scientists there is a quantitative difference..."
One interesting facet is that the saucer people don't attack first.
SPOILERS
... instead, they send Marlowe a warning pitched far too fast for him/human beings to "hear" and understand, which consists of a request for a negotiations meeting. Since the message was not understood, and the aliens meet at the appointed place and are fired upon by us first, only then do they go on a rampage. They were represented as conquerors, but not out and out fanatics. Which for most Fifties sci-fi was a nice change of theme.
I really liked the effects in this movie. They put a lot of character in the aliens. If only everything around them was more professionally done, it wouldn't be as silly as it is. Seeing the UFOs in the actual stock footage of plane crashes (with people dying I presume) is a creepy experience. The movie feels really short because it lacks an emotional buildup. It's just talking interspersed with animation. I even kept forgetting who the lead was when he appeared in the scene! Nevertheless, I love UFOs in movies and Ray Harryhousen did something special here.
shareI found the film boring and cheap. The space suits for the aliens were especially disgraceful - stiff, ugly, featureless pieces of **** that looked like they came out of an Ed Wood production.
Standing there, on a road that leads to anywhere ...
This was a top shelf sci-fi movie of the 1950's.
A "9" rating.
Agree! When I saw it in the theater in its original release - my Dad took me and I had my first Butterfinger candy bar from the lobby snack bar - I was bowled over by the saucers - not only their sheer, streamlined alienness, but how large Harryhausen made them look in that glorious black and white photography... Ditto the alien suits and the glimpse of the "ancient" alien who soon dissoves in Earth's corrosive oxygen atmosphere ... Not to mention the smaller "spy lights" that flickered around the scientists' house and flutter around the sound-weapon development lab...
share