Saturday, February 09, 2008

Speaking of "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" . . .

Here's the original trailer. Note the scene with the "orb," possibly based upon pilot encounters with "foo fighters" during World War II.



In an interesting departure from most "invaders from beyond" flicks, humans start the fight in "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" (unless I'm totally misremembering it). The aliens seem congenial enough until we start shooting at them. Then, of course, all hell breaks loose.

The aliens are eventually defeated using some kind of high-tech acoustic ray, which brings to mind rumors that radar interferes with the propulsion systems of "real" UFOs. According to early abductee Herbert Schirmer, an alien told him as much . . . along with much else that goes roundly ignored by "serious" ufologists.

(I'll now pass the mic to Greg Bishop.)

6 comments:

e said...

Release date: 1956.
Cold-War optics, anxiety and hysteria: of course we draw first blood...a derivative observation; flawed and superficial, perhaps - or not?

Anonymous said...

Hah! Now I see where the producers of "Independence Day" ripped off their idea (and even, it looks like, a lot of the basic plot). It also looks like the aliens have the equivalent of kamikaze UFOs, with all that crashing into cherished Washington landmarks. I'm gonna have to rent that puppy. (Missed it first time around....)

Mac said...

Now I see where the producers of "Independence Day" ripped off their idea (and even, it looks like, a lot of the basic plot).

"Independence Day" is indeed a total rip-off. Not in a bad sense, necessarily.

Anonymous said...

Well, the aliens kept shooting down the Project Skyhook satellites so, really, they took the first aggressive act in EVFS. Now, as I recall, we did shoot first when they landed at the Project Skyhook launch site but, as always, they did a lousy jobs of making sure they were actually being understood by us.

S

Anonymous said...

I loved that movie when I was a kid!

In fact, I loved most of those old Cold War Era flicks.

Evil aliens, gotta love it!

Greg Bishop said...

Sorry, I've been out of town and away from any civilization since Friday night.

I can't remember if the Earthlings in EVSTFS started it either, but the Schirmer case remains one of my favorites. One quote which I read once and use as a sort of mantra came from the "alien" leader. Schirmer later recalled this for Dr. Sprinkle I think. It was prescient and alomst Strieberesque: "We want you to believe in us, but not too much."