C\ a confrontation of faith and passion
\ set against a background
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^00 YOU DARP VENTURE mO.
uan* Van Ham/Dally Nebraskan
By Lane Van Ham
Siaff Reporter ____
“Well, well. You’ve got up the
nerve for another venture into the
Video Vault -- or perhaps this is
your first visit.
“If that’s the case, let me intro
duce myself: I am the Oid Flick
Fiend, here today to introduce a
picture truly out of this world.
Keep listening and don’t space out,
because Earth is being invaded! I
hope you’ll blast off then check
this out when you’re done reading
— I’d invite you all over to the Vault
for a private screening, but I’ve
gotta work on my tan for next
week’s feature . . . “
Remember when aliens were
the bad guys?
It’s hard, I know, but try to
forget the image of visitors from
outer space being little wrinkled
guys with glowing hearts who say
"phone home” a lot and imagine
big black suited invaders making
threats, zapping your neighbors,
and doing the same to you if you
say any different.
Yeah, now thats wnai i can
alien invaders. They can be found
3 in Columbia’s 1956 release, “Earth
vs. The Flying Saucers.”
As the rnovie opens, newlywed
scientists Russell and Joan Marvin
are driving to their job at a rocket
test site. As one might imagine, this
f>rovides numerous possibilities
or silly marriage banter, but fortu
nately we are spared by a n exciting
UFO sighting.
being good little skeptics, how
ever, the two decide they have wit
nessed nothing and don’t let it
bother them. Besides, they have to
concentrate on the launching of a
new experimental test rocket.
Interestingly, this is the twelfth
such test. The previous 11 rockets
have all crashed after launch.
Scientists to the core, the
Marvin’s dig into the base’s bunker
for their honeymoon - just in time
to be buried by debris, as aliens
(who are responsible for the crash
of the rockets) invade outside. We
catch a gl i mpse of the al iens in thei r
bulky and rather unimpressive
black suits as they shoot soldiers
and take Joan’s dad captive.
Upon their rescue from the bun
ker, Russell and Joan are put into
government custody for a full in
vestigation. It seems that the invad
ers have selected Russell as their
liaison with Earth, and eventually
contact is made. Russell breaks out
of custody to meet the aliens on a
beach, and is pursued by Joan and
a military officer, who are in turn
followed by a cop on a motorcycle.
This leads to a confrontation on
the beach where the cop stares at
the UFO and threatens, “I’m gonna
phone headquarters.” Once inside
the ship, the earthlings learn,
among other things, that the aliens
wear suits or soiiameu eicciriuiy
and find Joan’s dad, who is, as the
sheriff in “Night Of The Living
Dead” might say, “all messed up.”
The aliens are from “a disinte
grated solar system,” and need a
new place to live.
Discerning viewers will proba
bly note that no one ever wonders
if it might be possible for both
races to inhabit Earth, which might
be a little better than having a war,
but wouldn’t make much of a
movie.
In any case, Russell comes up
with some cool new weapons to
take on the aliens with that posi
tively puts the Strategic Defense
Initiative to shame. First, he de
cides to use a sound weapon to
shatter the invading craft. This
doesn’t work very well, so it’s on to
plan two: disrupting the magnetic
fields which tne aliens use to
maneuver their ships.
At this point, there isn’t a great
deal of difference between this
movie and countless others where
aliens invade and Earth makes a
comeback. But there is one par
ticularly incredible thing about it,
and that’s the special effects of Hay
Harryhausen
Harryhausen did the stop mo
tion animation for movies like
“Jason and the Argonauts” and
“Clash of the Titans,” usually put
ting his talents to use making
monsters and so forth. But in
“Earth vs. The Flying Saucers,”
Harryhausen was faced with an
other task. The producers couldn’t
afford the special effects involved
in creating and destroying mini
ature models, so they got Har
ryhausen to create a similar effect
with stop-motion.
While there is, as critic Jeff Kovin
has written, a “jagged unreality" to
the final product, it’s fun to watch
the aliens mount their final inva
sion and destroy most of Washing
ton, D.C.’s landmarks. Boom, there
goes the Washington monument
Smash, an alien ship crashes into
the Capitol. Neato.
Meanwhile, the rest of the final
battle is comprised of neat slock
footage and an extremely convinc
ing scene of an alien craft shooting
down a jet fighter. Eventually, the
disruption plan works (at the ex
pense of D.C.’s tourist attractions)
and a mass broadcast says, “The
present danger is ended.”
“Earth vs. The Flying Saucers’’ is
no masterpiece, but it’s certainly
not a bad movie either. Mainly it’s
a good example of the alien inva
sion theme, but most people seem
to agree that it’s Ray Harryhausen s
effects that push it out from the
mountains of other invasion mov
ies and make it interesting to
watch.
“Earth vs. The Flying Saucers” is
available at Blockbuster Vigpo
John Bnu c Daih Nihr^sWan