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Harryhausen's painstakingly intricate saucers and the destruction they wreak (particularly during an assault on Washington, D.C.) are the film's unquestionable highlights, but Marlowe and Joan Taylor (as his wife/partner) are capable leads, and veteran B director Fred F. Sears doesn't let the dialogue and expositional scenes fall apart in between the barrage of effects. Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is a fun and effective slice of sci-fi that should please younger audiences as well as nostalgic return viewers. Sears later reused some of the effects footage for his jaw-droppingly awful 1957 effort, The Giant Claw. --Paul Gaita
| ACTORS: | Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor |
| CATEGORY: | DVD |
| DIRECTOR: | Fred F. Sears |
| THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE: | July, 1956 |
| MANUFACTURER: | Columbia Tristar Hom |
| MPAA RATING: | Unrated |
| FEATURES: | Black & White, Closed-captioned, Widescreen |
| TYPE: | Science Fiction |
| MEDIA: | DVD |
| # OF MEDIA: | 1 |
| UPC: | 043396078659 |
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Customer Reviews of Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
Harryhausen Fun Factor So far as story goes, the title says it all, and you won't find any brilliant performances, acclaimed writing, high-concept storylines, or big budgets here. But you will find Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion special effects, and that counts for a lot.
This is not among Harryhausen's more elaborate works--those would come a bit later in his career--but even so he creates some very interesting effects. Unlike most sci-fi efforts, including recent ones with computer-graphic effects, Harryhausen's flying saucers actually move in a way completely unlike anything you've seen anywhere, suggesting completely alien intelligence and machinery. In fact, the saucers are so interesting to watch they assume the role of the film's main character!
Kids weaned on Star Wars-style special effects will probably be bored by the film, and the even more forgiving fans of 1950s science-fiction flicks will find the over-all movie tepid. But the Harryhausen fun-factor cannot be denied, and fans of his work won't want to miss this one.
Enjoyable mid-50s sci-fi flick
Ray Harryhausen did well with his special effects despite the obvious limited budget. The script and setting are typical mid-50s look, but the movie goes along well, particularly in the latter half.
I love these old classics from the 40s, 50s and 60s, and considering all of the blood, gore and shoot-em-up they show today, if I had children, I would much rather have them watch these old movies in the days before Hollywood deemed it necessary to throw about 100 gallons of ketchup per film.
This movie won't win any awards, but it wasn't intended to. It was intended to be entertaining and to make you think "what if," and it does just that.
With all of the corruption going on in Washington today, what happened to it in this movie has probably entered the thoughts of a lot of people in this country.
Entertaining 50's scifi, with plenty of extras
"Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" is one of those movies that helped define the science fiction thriller of the 1950's. It features a lantern-jawed scientist as hero, his intelligent but doting love interest, and a very straightforward flying saucer invasion.
Like "Independence Day" the movie is a race against time -- the scientists and military must find a way to defeat the aliens before they succeed in their plan to conquer the Earth-- but "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" is a better movie than "Independence Day". It's leaner, meaner and better-written. And Ray Harryhausen's special effects still look great today.
And what a great, great job Columbia did with this disc. The film has been digitally cleaned up and presented in widescreen, and there are some great extras -- Joe Dante interviews Ray Harryhausen about the film, and there is a short promotional film about Harryhausen's Dynamation process. A commentary track would have been welcome, but for a B-movie from the 50's, this is above and beyond. Thanks to everyone at Columbia who made it possible.