Battle of the Worlds (1961)

Director: Antonio Margheriti

Starring: Claude Rains, Bill Carter, Umberto Orsini, Maya Brent, Jacqueline Derval

More info: IMDb

Tagline:

Plot: A runaway asteroid dubbed "The Outsider" mysteriously begins orbiting the Earth and threatens it with lethal flying saucers.

My rating: 5/10

Will I watch it again? Nope.

#4 on SCI-FI TRAILERS VOLUME 9 & 10 (part of the TRAILER TRASH PROJECT)

The ONLY reason to see this is for the fantastic performance of Claude Rains as the crotchety old professor with an acerbic wit. He's funny as hell as he cuts down just about everyone. And it's not like he's only in it for a couple of scenes, no, he's the star of the show and he owns every moment he's on screen.

"A match! Somebody please give me a match!"

Click, click, click, click, click

When he's not on screen it's pretty dry, dull stuff except when Bill Carter (as Cmdr. Bob Cole) speaks. I swear he sounds just like Snagglepuss from the Hanna Barbera cartoons. OMFG is it hilarious! Other than that, it's snoozeville with an OK story and effects but I can forgive the latter as it's a 1961 low budget Italian picture.