| | | Ray Harryhausen Presents for the First Time in Color...
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), Mono Audio, English, Subtitled, French, Spanish
Relive the exciting days of sci-fi movie matinees with the cult classic Earth vs. the Flying Saucers! Featuring extraordinary visual effects by cinematic genius Ray Harryhausen, the film pits earthlings against alien humanoids in a violent battle for the Earth's survival. When the zombielike aliens arrive at the U.S. Army base in search of help for their dying planet, they try to make friendly contact with scientist Dr. Russ Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) and his recent bride Carol (Joan Taylor). But the military greets their fleet of saucers with gunfire, and the aliens are forced to retaliate. Can Marvin invent the ultimate weapon in a deadly game of beat-the-clock to save the human race? Hold on to your seat for an intergalactic flight into fantasy with Earth vs. the Flying Saucers!
"Literate dialogue, subdued performances and solid Ray Harryhausen effects make this a winner..." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"A great sci-fi alien invasion film..." The Motion Picture Guide
"Superb special effects..." VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever
Editor's Note
Space scientist Dr. Russell Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) and his wife Carol (Joan Taylor) are working on a secret missile project, but every time their rockets are launched, they are intercepted and destroyed by the more advanced technology of mysterious flying saucers hovering near the Earth. The alien race has completely surrounded the planet, giving Earth the sixty days to surrender. The enemy spacecraft appear indestructible, and Marvin sets out to find a weapon that can defeat them. The special effects of stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen are legendary, most notably in the scene in which flying saucers attack the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono | | Featurettes: Ray Harryhausen On Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers, The Colorization Process, The Hollywood Blacklist & Bernard Gordon, David Schechter On Film Music's Unsung Heroes, & A Present Day Look At Stop Motion | | Includes The Original Black-&-White Classic & An Exclusive Colorized Version Of The Film! | | Interactive Menus | | Interview With Joan Taylor | | Original Ad Artwork | | Original Screen Credits | | Photo Gallery | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portugese | | Tim Burton Sits Down With Ray Harryhausen |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Sony Pictures |
| Release Date: 1/15/2008 |
| Running Time: 167 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1956 | | Catalog ID: 22619 | | UPC: 00043396226197 | | Number of Discs: 2 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English, French Dubbed, Portuguese Dubbed, Spanish Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: French, Portuguese, Spanish | | Video: B&W |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew | Donald Curtis | | Hugh Marlowe | | Joan Taylor | | Morris Ankrum | | Bernard Gordon - Screenplay | | Charles H. Schneer - Producer | | Danny B. Landres - Editor | | Donald E. Keyhoe - Based On Book By | | Fred F. Sears - Director | | Fred Jackman, Jr. - Cinematographer | | George Worthing Yates - Screenplay | | Mischa Bakaleinikoff - Original Music By | | Paul Palmentola - Art Director | | Sam Katzman - Executive Producer |
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| | Professional Reviews | Variety 7 of 10
This exploitation programmer does a satisfactory job of entertaining in the science-fiction class. The technical effects created by Ray Harryhausen come off excellently in the Charles H. Schneer production, adding the required out-of-this-world visual touch to the screenplay, taken from a screen story by Curt Siodmak, suggested by Major Donald E. Keyhoe's Flying Saucers from Outer Space...Fred F. Sears' direction mixes the make-believe at a good pace, achieving a neat measure of suspense and thrills as the plot unwinds. Dr. Russell A. Marvin (Hugh Marlowe), space-exploration scientist, interrupts his honeymoon with Carol (Joan Taylor) to find out why the free-flying, artificial satellites he has been launching for the military are being knocked down. Ancient humanoids, manning flying saucers, are the saboteurs and through communication with the hero, advise they intend to take over the earth. Yankee ingenuity comes up with a hastily devised weapon that neutralizes the saucers' magnetic anti-gravity equipment.
DVD Journal 8 of 10
This entertaining antiquity so perfectly captures the spirit and content (good and bad, which can be interchangeable terms here) of 1950s "B" sci-fi cinema that it deserves its own commemorative postage stamp. A small-budget opus, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is an essential treat for fans of vintage genre mileposts or of the stop-motion animation ingenuity of Ray Harryhausen, not to mention anyone who thinks that Independence Day had an original idea in its bloated little head. Earth vs. the Flying Saucers hit the screens in 1956, when Americans were up to their poodle skirts in a UFO craze that impacted pop culture from book shelves to lunchboxes. Certainly, when compared to A-list saucer sagas such as The Day the Earth Stood Still ('51) or Forbidden Planet (also '56), there's no question that this is a modest little pulp potboiler with no pretensions but a good deal of two-fisted rock 'em, sock 'em verve...It's all high goofiness, but as one of Harryhausen's early black-and-white popcorn flicks, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers helped set the table for Jason and the Argonauts, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Mysterious Island, First Men in the Moon and other achievements that solidified his name as a maestro whose influence on fantastical films remains palpable today. - Mark Bourne
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