User Reviews

This is a terrific older sci-fi movie. It has all the elements to make it a sold movie; a good variety of characters, an interesting plot, and a solid script. The great special effects are just icing on the cake. Much of the movie is told in documentary style with a voice-over of someone, which adds to the realism.

You can feel connected with the main characters and what goes on in the movie. Even most of the characters that don't have much of a role seem realistic, not two-dimensional (like some in Spider-man). The plot has many viable twists and the movie comes to a exciting and feasible conclusion (un-like Independence Day). Many/most people will find it more entertaining than the "classic" sci-fi invasion movie War of the Worlds.

This movie, even though it was a relatively mid-budget movie made in the 1950's, should serve as a message to modern day Hollywood. It shows how a movie if made with a lot of thought and heart, as opposed to just violence and/or sensualism, can produce a real winner.

The title pretty much sums up the story. Malevolent aliens in the titular vehicles try to intimidate Earth into surrendering before launching an all-out attack. Unusual for the genre, we 'fired first', (although the aliens were likely up to no good from the beginning, having shot down all of our satellites). The typical B-movie story finds scientist Russel Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) (and his pretty wife Carol (Joan Taylor)) constantly in the thick of things as the heroic boffin whips up a last minute miracle weapon. The script and acting are pretty trite, and other than Ray Harryhausen's stop-action work, the production values are weak (notably in the use of excessive and sometimes poorly matched stock footage). Some of the matte footage (such as the heroes running through the fire) is amateurish, and there are a number of irritating inconsistencies in the plot, especially with respect to the alien's capabilities. Of course, what makes the film a must see for genre fans are Harryhausen's iconic stop-action flying saucers. The design is classic, the model work excellent, the saucers are well integrated into the live action footage, and the film was one of the first to include the now de rigueur 'alien invasion' motif of trashing national monuments. Typical of Harryhausen projects, if the rest of the movie had been as good as the special effects, it would have been a classic.

While "War of the Worlds" is probably the most heralded of the 1950s alien invasion films, this one is a lot more fun. There are none of the heavy-anded quasi-religious sub-texts that weighed down WOTW. There are no pretensions of any kind. "Earth" gets right down to the business at hand...aliens coming to Earth with the sole purpose of kicking our asses. Throw in the always fun Harryhausen effects, in which real life monuments are destroyed (later incorporated in the equally dumb and equally fun "ID4"), and what's not to like?

Ray Harryhausen developed the flying saucers for this film, and they are worth seeing to be sure. The story is about how a space creature has contacted a professor on Earth, played nicely by Hugh Marlowe, and wants him to talk to his leaders. When there is a communication problem, the aliens destroy a rocket base. In short time, the aliens let the Earth and its people know that their intent is to take over the planet. Marlowe, working in conjunction with the military, develops a machine which renders the space ships incapable of straight flight. The film is a prime example of what good science fiction is all about. It has tension, extraterrestrials, fast pacing, and good special effects for its day. This film is very suspenseful and well worth a look.

As has been pointed out by most reviewers on IMDb, this film has all the perceived elements of cold war-period American cinema. However, what also should be considered is the influence it has had on contemporary SF movies and TV.

Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor and, especially, Morris Ankrum are well-known B-movie actors: they appeared in everything from Westerns to SF, with lots of stops in between. Thus, this film (complete with all the other stalwarts of '50s and '60s "Bs" who appear therein) can be seen as a progenitor of later low-budget productions which rely on a cheap yet capable cast.

At the time it was released (1956), Ray Harryhausen was proving his expertise with stop-motion special effects, later to be given much larger budgets in '60s colour productions. "Gumby" and similar TV items owe much to this man, as does Aardman Productions and, possibly, Dreamworks.

It has already been indicated (by others) that "Mars Attacks" owes its saucers to this film. So, too, "ID4" has a debt, as does "Dr Who"! (Specifically the outfits worn by the aliens - that leaden 'dome' on top of their environment suits belongs to a famous adversary of the good doctor - check out a couple of Tom Baker serials!) Be that as it may, Fred F. Sears does an acceptable job as director; Curt Siodmak supplies a clever screenplay based on Don Keyhoe's book (Keyhoe also wrote 'non-fiction' accounts of UFOs); and some of the dialogue is definitely quotable! IMDb has some ripper examples.

Watch it and enjoy it. Strip some of our contemporary SF of CGI and they really do lack substance in comparison with this entertaining and funny movie. OK. You won't gasp and ooooh. If you have a love of '50s B-movies however, this one is a 'corker'!

Above-average sci-fi which I had missed on its solitary TV broadcast years ago and one that I had been eyeing as a possible DVD purchase for what seems like forever; I'm overjoyed, therefore, that I managed to get my hands on it at long last.

The film is basically an amalgam of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951) – with Hugh Marlowe convincingly making the leap from despicable villain to intelligent hero here – and WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953): even if its outlook is a naïve one (while also displaying something of an obsession with technology) and the plot rather contrived, it is nonetheless generally absorbing and tremendously entertaining along the way. The special effects (by Ray Harryhausen) must have looked spectacular back then but come off as pretty shaky nowadays; still, this takes nothing away from his achievement and doesn't affect one's enjoyment – or involvement – in the film in any way (the design of the aliens' metallic suits and the briefly glimpsed creatures themselves is also quite impressive).

This is actually the first black-and-white Harryhausen film I've watched, and also the only one which doesn't have to do with prehistoric or mythological monsters of some kind; as such, it's not as juvenile as his other work and makes me look forward to the effects wizard's other sci-fi outings – IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955), TWENTY MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957) and FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (1964). The Columbia DVD includes, among other things, an engaging 9-minute featurette on the making of EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS where Harryhausen is interviewed by genre enthusiast Joe Dante (who recalls first watching the film on a double-bill with the obscure THE 27TH DAY [1956]).

Reports of flying saucers start coming in thick and fast until sure enough alien invaders begin to attack the Earth. Focal point of their attack is the U.S. Space Programe, can hero in waiting Russel Marvin conjure up a defence weapon to save the day?

Obviously a template for many an alien invader film since its release, Earth Vs The Flying Saucers never quite reaches the heights that perhaps it should have. Bogged down by maudlin scripting and restricted by its budget, it often hints at what a great picture it could have been. The lead cast are poor and this hurts the film even more, Hugh Marlowe as Russell Marvin bores us with the scientific speak when really he should be fascinating us, whilst scream queen duties fall to poor Joan Greenwood who forgets that she is actually supposed to emit some sort of terror when the alien hordes attack! However, on the plus side the aliens themselves are certainly creepy enough to grab your notice, and Ray Harryhausen's flying saucers animation is of course top dollar for its time, whilst the final battle across Washington DC is classic gold, an all buzzing assault with splurges of death rays at every turn.

An important film in the pantheon of the genre for sure, but it's just a tad too restrained for its own good. 6/10

My sister took me to this movie in 1956 when I was 8. It shocked me. For two weeks I was afraid to go to sleep at night for fear of nightmares. Some years ago I bought a 16mm print and studied it. It has all the right elements for a nerdy kid with glasses: Beautiful Joan Taylor and serious Hugh Marlowe work well together. The lonely laboratory at night is a wonderful location, frightening when attacked. Dr. Russell A. Marvin removing the helmet from the alien is particularly creepy. We know so much more now about outer space, so to appreciate this you have to suspend disbelief and travel back in time when comic books were 10¢. Soon after seeing this movie I was bitten by the movie bug which resulted in a lifelong passion for films and animation, which I have to credit to the intense effect that Earth Vs the Flying Saucers had on my young mind. I still watch this film several times a year and never get tired of seeing it.

Operation Skyhook's (an actual military operation, although the real one dealt with high altitude balloon research) location was at White Sands, New Mexico. Someone here mentioned the aliens "blew up Cape Canaveral" which may be a fun fantasy but the truth be its New Mexico.

I've always liked this movie, maybe because there are so many "flubs" in it. The special effects are really great for the time period, when digital didn't exist and all they had were screen mattes and stop-action photography.

I really get a kick out of the scene where they've just abandoned their laboratory with the new fangled sound weapon. They are running through the woods, in front of a rear projected screen to provide a sense of movement, but they are running at the wrong pace in reference to the projected image.

A model of restrained, professional film making, EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS would be one of the best 50s sci-fi efforts had Columbia studios provided more of a budget. Hugh Malowe plays a scientist attempting to launch earth satellites. After repeated failures, he discovers that flying saucers are destroying his satellites. After the destruction of Cape Canaveral by the "saucermen," Marlowe discovers a method of "toppling" the anti-gravity saucers.

From there the story pretty much unravels. The "saucermen" give Marlowe and his team plenty of time to develop a weapon capable of defeating them. Worse, the final assault on Washington is as senseless and ineffectual as the typical US Presidential debate. The aliens pick virtually no targets of tactical or strategic importance. Ray Harryhausen's flying saucers, the alien's "exoskeletons" and sound effects in this movie are especially standout.

This is a great example of 1950's sci-fi movies and the flying saucer scare craze that was sweeping the nation and of course parallels the cold war threat and the resilience and ingenuity of American science and military might. Retired Major Donald E. Keyhoe was the author of a series of non-fiction books of the era outlining his belief in the reality of flying saucers and this film draws from his book Flying Saucers From Outer Space. Veteran monster movie writer Curt Siodmak adapted a story based on the book for this film and veteran monster movie screenwriter George Worthing Yates wrote the screenplay. Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen supervised the effects and Josh Westmoreland, a sound veteran of westerns and monster movies, provided the sound. B-movie director Fred F. Sears and B-movie cinematographer Fred Jackman Jr. put it all together on the screen. In what would be a foreboding of things to come on 9/11 American monuments are under attack and destroyed. Aliens from a dying planet come to earth to claim it as their own but earth fights back. Hugh Marlow and Joan Taylor star. It's campy but it's still a good flick and a good representative of it's era and genre and I would give it an 8.0 out of 10.

(Some Spoilers) One of the best Sci-Fi movies coming out of post WWII Hollywood "Earth vs. the Flfying Saucers" still holds up today just like it did back in 1956 some fifty years after it was released. Traveling vast distances in space a fleet of alien spaceships reach earth and plan to take over the planet but want to avoid any conflict with earths inhabitants in order not to destroy it.

With their own planet slowly dying the earth is the perfect place for the aliens to live in and they plan to first use persuasion not force but force if necessary if the earthlings dare to resist them. Trying to get in touch with one of the brightest of those on earth to get his government, the US, as well as the rest of the world community of nations to give up peacefully the aliens chose the brilliant Dr. Russell Marvin,Hugh Marlowe, as the person to give their message to.

It later turns out that Dr. Marvin isn't as bright as the aliens at first thought that he was. Dr. Marvin couldn't figure out that they were trying to contact him even when their space-craft , that was the size of a battleship, was practically on top of his car as he and his newlywed bride Carol, Joan Taylor, were driving in the wide-open California Desert. Marvin finally gets the message from a audio tape-recording that Carol made, by accident, of he incident with the flying saucer.

Trying to get in touch with the earth's governments the aliens who even after destroying the secret US military installation Skyhook, that Dr. Marvin was in charge off,still couldn't convince the US government, and Dr. Marvin, that the earth was under attack from aliens from outer space. Those in charge thought that it, the Skyhook disaster, was some kind of unexplained phenomena.

Dr. Marvin finally realizing at last what was going on, after about a half dozen alien attempts to get his attention, has a secret meeting arranged with the aliens at night by the seashore off Chesapeake Bay. The alien take Dr. Marvin and is wife Carol US Army Maj. Huglin, Donald Curtis as well as motorcycle cop Larry Blake, who just happened to tag along, in their space-craft and give a message to bring back to their leaders: Surrender or Die.

On the space-craft the earth visitors hear and finally meet Carol's father Brig. Gen. John Hanley, Morris Ankrum,who the aliens captured during their attack on Skyhook. It turned out that Gen. Hanley had been lobotomized by the aliens with his brain being stored in the flying saucer as an information data-bank. Hanley just walks around aimlessly with a brainless and zombie-like stare and later together with highway policeman Blake, who also was lobotomized by the aliens, is thrown out the space-craft in mid-flight as if they were yesterday's garbage.

Making their stand in the US capital, Washingtn D.C, against the fleet of alien flying saucers the US military, with the help of Dr. Marvin,found the aliens weak-point. With the use of ultra-high frequency sounds the US military knocked out the entire alien fleet of flying saucers but only after the city of Washington was destroyed by them.

One of special-effect expert Ray Harryhausens best work with the footage of the movie used in dozens of Sci-fi films all throughout the 1950's and 60's. Remade in 1996 as "Inependance Day" but the original is still far better even though it didn't have the spectacular computer generated special effects that it's remake had.

I always wondered how they managed to pick the name of the main character in this movie (Dr. Russell A. Marvin). That is my name, and it is very uncommon. When I saw the credits in the IMDB, I realized the answer. The inspiration for this movie was a book by Donald E. Keyhoe, who was consulted on this film. In 1956, Keyhoe started an organization called NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena). In 1956, I was a real flying saucer enthusiast, and was one of the very first people to join NICAP. I believe that they picked my name off of Keyhoe's membership list. I was 14 years old at the time. Anyway, it's a good flick with some great special effects (done the old fashioned way) by the legendary Ray Harryhausen.

This was fairly interesting and nicely low-key for a 1950s sci-fi flick....which usually means one thing: hysterical women shrieking and screaming. Well, there's none of that nonsense here. Ray Harryhausen's special-effects were lauded and justifiably so for his era, but you can imagine how they look today 50 years later! They look pretty primitive.

The acting is respectable considering the three stars - Hugh Marlow, Joan Taylor and Donald Curtis - are anything but "stars." I do think the story could have used a bit of humor to spice it up a bit, but you can't always get everything.

At least this one was one "flying saucer movie" that had some intelligence. It might have had too much, because it had very little excitement.

A classic '50s sci-fi B-movie, this early film stands as a template on which later science fiction movies were to be based. Despite working on a low budget, the cast and crew manage to make this one a roaring success. Forget friendly aliens, while these extraterrestrials firstly appear to be nice, they soon reveal their evil plan to colonise earth and destroy mankind! The cast go through the expected motions - there's the typical bunch of tough military guys who just want to blast the aliens away, plus the compassionate scientist hero and his young girlfriend (the age difference is very noticeable between this pair, it always amuses me how middle-aged/old men supposedly appeal to young girls). Marlowe and Taylor may look good as the leads, but they inject little charisma into their roles.

Everybody involved knows that the real stars of the film are the aliens themselves, and pretty good they are too. While looking like 'Greys' inside their costumes, on the outside they have a full suit of protective body armour, which makes them look like wandering automatons. They also shoot a ray from their hands which makes their enemies disappear into thin air, like the Martian rays from WAR OF THE WORLDS (an obvious influence). This effect may be a little cheesy but it's all good fifties fun.

However, the really impressive special effects take the form of the flying saucers, portrayed in wondrous stop-motion animation by that king of the genre, Ray Harryhausen. While this was only Harryhausen's second film, the SFX work of the flying saucers is brilliant, and they steal every moment they're on screen. Your eyes won't leave them. Events in the film climax to an excellent battle between Earth and the flying saucers, with rockets having no effect on the alien technology. Still, aside from the exciting finale, there are plenty of other moments to savour. Aliens mercilessly dropping captives from high up in the air, countless explosions, the hero's trip inside the flying saucer itself, the clever way that the aliens live in-between the seconds of our time. EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS is everything a sci-fi B-movie should be, and it does its job admirably.

If you like the title you'll love the film, this was the movie that provided the template for Tim Burton's 'Mars Attacks!' ", and it's influence can be seen in much later sci-fi from 'Captain Scarlet' to 'Planet of the Apes'.

When you've seen Ray Harryhausen's flying saucers laying waste to Washington you'll agree that his subsequent work exclusively creating mythical creatures was a grievous loss to science fiction.

I feel this film has aged well. The spaceship and aliens still hold up and are pretty well made. Plot itself is a little bland but the cast make up for it with good porformances. Its like a black and white indepenance day mixed with dr who. A good watch if you like sci-fi but still felt it was missing something.

Studly Hugh Marlowe ("The Day the Earth Stood Still") is the egghead hero of this classic example of alien invasion sci-fi. He plays scientist Russell Marvin, one of the first few humans to witness extraterrestrial craft in our own atmosphere. It turns out, the creatures are here to colonize our planet - hopefully with our consent, but it's no skin off their "noses" if we don't go with the program. They have advanced weaponry to use against mankind, but they didn't count on Russells' ingenuity.

"Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" is pretty good for a movie of this nature. As was often the case with movies of its ilk, it features a narrator who gives the proceedings a documentary type of approach. It's a reasonably intelligent story (scripted by Bernard Gordon and George Worthing Yates), with an array of engaging characters. Less patient viewers could make the point that it's often more plot and dialogue-based than action-oriented, but it does work its steady way towards some effective scenes of destruction and annihilation. The special effects are fine, but it's the "technical effects" devised by stop-motion legend Ray Harryhausen that do ultimately take centre stage. Fred F. Sears, whose other B credits during this era include "The Giant Claw" and "The Werewolf", capably occupies the directors' chair.

Marlowe, and the very pretty Joan Taylor (also the leading lady in "20 Million Miles to Earth"), are a hero and heroine for whom we can easily root; he possesses a Richard Carlson-like air of sincerity. Donald Curtis ("It Came from Beneath the Sea") is the efficient Major Huglin. Of course, you can't go wrong with character actor Morris Ankrum ("Rocketship X-M") in a key supporting role; he was on hand for a number of these 50s sci-fi flicks, and was always excellent value. John Zaremba ('The Time Tunnel'), Thomas Browne Henry ("Beginning of the End"), Grandon Rhodes ("Detective Story"), Larry J. Blake ("Creature with the Atom Brain"), Clark Howat ("Billy Jack"), and Harry Lauter ("Escape from the Planet of the Apes") co-star, and the great Paul Frees - actor, author, composer, songwriter, and prolific voice-over artist - performs the voice of the alien intelligence.

Good fun, and essential for anybody who enjoys this sort of entertainment; subsequent blockbusters like "Independence Day" may outdo it for sheer spectacle, but this movie isn't nearly as stupid as that one.

Seven out of 10.

I really don't understand most of the praise being given to this movie. True, it is better than most of the low budget alien invasion movies of the 1950s. The special effects are pretty good in places and all other aspects of the movie manage to avoid dropping below some reasonable minimum acceptable level of craftsmanship. But it isn't particularly high praise when the best thing you can say about a movie is that it isn't too terribly awful. Nevertheless, here are 3 good reasons to view this film.

First of all, this is the film which gave us the definitive visualization of flying saucers. It was a major influence on "Mars Attacks", which includes a particularly humorous homage scene. It also has a delightful camp feeling about it while still being quite watchable.

Second, I must guiltily admit to having gotten a kick out watching the destruction of Washington, DC. The demolition of the grand monuments and neoclassical facades of the city created a much greater impression on me then the typical views of tumbling skyscrapers which you see in most other films. Maybe this is just because I'm a lifelong resident of the area, but I think it's something that anyone can enjoy.

Finally, this presents a fascinating study of 1950s sexual repression, cold war paranoia, primitive technology worship rituals, and deference to authority. In the very opening scene, we see a newlywed couple having their marriage consummated by a flying saucer circling their car. The husband is a scientist, so I guess that is supposed to explain it.