VividSimon Simply Perfect

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

utgard14 Aliens in flying saucers have been shooting down rockets as fast as human scientists can send them up. But since people aren't getting the message, the aliens come to Earth and kill everyone at a military base. They contact one scientist (Hugh Marlowe) and tell him to set up a meeting with the world's leaders in 56 days to arrange surrender of the Earth to the alien invaders. With a deadline looming, the scientist works on building a weapon to stop the flying saucers.Great sci-fi movie directed by Fred F. Sears and featuring superlative Ray Harryhausen stop-motion effects. The special effects are really the star of this. The way the saucers look and move is pretty impressive. The aliens themselves are leathery-faced creatures hidden behind cool-looking robotic shells. The action sequences where the saucers attack Washington D.C. are a large part of what makes this movie a genre classic. Even the stock footage used is done so in an effective and ingenious way. Hugh Marlowe is the hero of the piece and Joan Taylor is his helpful wife. Morris Ankrum has a good part as the Army general the aliens take under their control. Ankrum had a face that was made for black & white movies and director Sears makes great use of it in some creepy scenes inside the saucer. It's a fun movie from the defining decade for sci-fi films. Many modern viewers won't give it a fair shot, unfortunately, but it's a must-see for all fans of classic sci-fi and Ray Harryhausen effects.

classicsoncall If 1950's schlock sci-fi is your cup of tea, you won't be disappointed here. This is what fans like myself live for and have to wait to see until they're aired in places like Turner Classics or in my case, Antenna TV this morning. Had to set the alarm for a 5:00 AM start too, so that has to tell you something.I don't know if Ray Harryhausen was proud of his special effects work in this; everything is still pretty primitive but for 1956 you probably won't find better up close and personal flying saucer work. Obviously the picture's use of the term 'Air Intelligence Command' can be considered an oxymoron today, but then again, it was explained that the scientists back on Earth hadn't been able to track any of the observation rockets sent into space to set up twelve 'moons' because they blew up and fell back down to terra firma. I don't think I'd want to be admitting that if I was in charge of the space program.Lots of goofy stuff here, one of the first instances was when Dr. Russell Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) and his wife Carol (Joan Taylor) perused the horizon for traces of alien activity and you had both day and night time sky at the same time! Flying saucer continuity took a hit as well, as depending on the scene, weapon fire either disintegrated it's target or blew it to smithereens. And even though they seemed invincible when attacking Washington, D.C., they were rather easily shot down by military rockets on their way there. Similarly, the alien life forms inside were impervious to harm when they weren't otherwise being knocked out by innocuous rifle fire!?!?Well look, you either go for this stuff or you don't. Hard to believe there were some intelligent sci-fi flicks coming out around the same time like "War of the Worlds" and "The Day The Earth Stood Still" that puts pictures like this to shame, but you can have a lot more fun with the silly stuff. For a double header treat, try catching this one back to back with "Teenagers From Outer Space". You'll never be the same again.

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- Earth vs Flying Saucers, 1956. A rocket scientist and his new wife get contacted by extra Terrestrial beings but don't realize it until too late. This starts a war of conquest between the U.S. and saucer people.*Special Stars- Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor, Donald Curtis, Morris Ankrum.*Theme- The Govt is your friend dealing with alien invasions.*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W. Ray Harryhausen's EFX are excellent here. LA's Hyperion Water treatment plant, Ray Harryhausen developed the flying saucers. A saucer attacking jets is actually based on news footage of an air race crash with P-51 Mustangs.*Emotion- Outstanding and well written script that keeps moving in pacing. One of the iconic 50's sci-fi films of the era. Well worth your time to experience it.*Based On- The Cold War invasion and rocket exploration fears.

SnoopyStyle Dr. Russell A. Marvin and his new wife Carol encounter a flying saucer on their way to launch a rocket in Operation Sky Hook. Her father Brig. Gen. John Hanley comes to stop the launch. He's too late, and the rocket is later mysteriously destroyed. When a saucer lands, it is immediately attacked by the military. This starts an all-out fight.The acting is stiff. The dialog is clunky. There are too many scenes with weak actors doing unimaginative work with meandering melodrama and boring lines. The science is a whole lot of non-sense. But I love the 50's style flying saucer FX. It comes 5 years after the iconic 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', but this has more in common with 'Independence Day'. I just wish there was more good saucer action.