Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)

Director: Fred F. Sears

Starring: Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor, Donald Curtis, Morris Ankrum, Paul Frees

More info: IMDb

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.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? Yeah.

I've always had a soft spot for this picture and it's largely due to Ray Harryhausen's magnificent special effects. The only problem with the picture is that when Harryhausen's stop motion effects are absent and we're left with, uh, humans providing the drama, it can get a little dull. It's not the fault of the actors or anyone behind the camera, it's just that Harryhausen's work is SO FRIGGIN' AWESOME that you salivate waiting for it to come back. It's just all kinds of badass.


And the shit really hits the fan in the last 15 minutes (it's only 83 minutes long, anyway) where the saucers start blowing the shit out of famous landmarks in Washington D.C.. Too bad our heroes didn't have the power of Slim Whitman's haunting voice to stop the scourge of alien invaders! Tim Burton's MARS ATTACKS! (1996) discovered that solution.