This film finds destruction coming from outer space as death comes from above. Special effects maestro Ray Harryhausen animates these interstellar beasties and their spacecrafts as they rain down destruction on us poor Earthlings.
The film starts off with an explanation of what exactly and Unidentified Flying Object is and that many people are seeing them in the heavens these days (1956). Dr. Russell Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) has just married Carol (Joan Taylor). They’re both working on the Skyhook Project that is trying to launch satellites into space. However, they keep disappearing.
The doctor and his new wife are driving back to the project and Russ is dictating his project into a tape player. The happy couple is then buzzed by a flying saucer, which makes a strange noise as it hovers over the car. They’re not sure if they can believe their eyes, but it turns out that the tape player was still recording as the saucer hovered. They return to the lab and launch another satellite, which again is shot down.
The following day the alien’s saucer lands and when the army attacks it retaliates and destroys the headquarters. Russ and Carol are trapped underground in the headquarters’ control room. As the power begins to dwindle down, Russ is committing all they know to audiotape.
In playing it back with the failing batteries, he notices that the strange noise that the alien spaceship made was actually a message from the aliens. They were trying to make contact with him. They are rescued from the bunker, but the aliens again try and contact him but do they want peace or to conquer the planet? I’ll give you a hint – the film is called Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. Does that sound peaceful?
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is another film from the genius of Ray Harryhausen that he’s taken the paint box to and colorized. I again hate to admit it since I’m a “glorious black and white” type myself but this process looks damn good and the uninitiated might even think that it was shot in color to begin with.
Harryhausen and company take destruction to new heights as the spaceships lay waste to Washington D.C. and we get to see things like the Washington monument and Capitol Dome wrecked long before Independence Day blew up the White House. This film also shares something with It Came from Beneath the Sea in that a narrator intones some of the plot points although this one has far less narration than It.
I liked Earth vs. the Flying Saucers a little more than I did It but they’re still both fun rides and feature the effects of Harryhausen even if they’re 1950s “aw shucks” types of films (for being just married Russ and Carol have a seemingly unconsummated relationship).
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.
Disc one contains the colorized and black and white versions of the film and a commentary by Ray Harryhausen, visual effects artists Randall William Cook and John Bruno, and producer Arnold Kunert.
Disc two contains the 21-minute “Remembering Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” which has Harryhausen and some other famous faces talking about the film.
Next is the 29-minute “The Hollywood Blacklist and Bernard Gordon” which talks about how blacklisted screenwriter Gordon got his credit restored anew to the film. They even include the 3-minute “original screenplay credits” in black and white with Raymond T. Marcus replacing Gordon. A 51-minute set of galleries (ad art, production photos, Harryhausen’s artwork) plays with the film’s soundtrack in the background. Next is a preview of the “Flying Saucers vs. the Earth comic and an 11 minute “Present Day look at Stop Motion” with student Kyle Anderson.
The rest are from 20 Million Miles to Earth (and also on Earth vs. the Flying Saucers) including the 17 minute interview with Joan Taylor, the 27 minute “Tim Burton sits down with Ray Harryhausen,” the 17 minute “Original Ad Artwork” featurette, the 22 minute “David Schecter on Film Music’s Unsung Hero,” and the 11 minute “the Colorization Process.”
Those that buy all of the Harryhausen releases might not be happy about the special features repeating, but for those that only buy one title it’s a nice bonus that you get to see these special features.
I do have to commend them in that there are new special features on each disc and not like other releases where each included the vintage “The Ray Harryhausen Chronicles” and “This is Dynamation” again and again. In that tradition, I copied that last list from my other review.
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers seems to borrow from War of the World and Day the Earth Stood Still, but it still offers some fun. Harryhausen’s work is praised again and this two-disc set offers a heaping helping of both old and new special features.
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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