Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) on Netflix
Scientist Dr. Russell A. Marvin and his wife Carol drive to a military base for Project Skyhook. A flying saucer appears overhead, and their tape recorder captures a message from it.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb6.3/1010,357 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes73%
Trailer
Plot summary
Dr. Russell A. Marvin and his wife Carol are driving through the desert to a military base, where Marvin is to send the eleventh rocket of Project Skyhook into orbit. A flying saucer appears overhead, and their tape recorder captures a strange message. At the base, General Hanley, Carol's father, tells Marvin that the first ten satellites have fallen back to Earth. The eleventh falls shortly after launch. When Marvin decodes the recording, he makes contact with the aliens. They are the last survivors of a dead civilization, and they want to meet the world's leaders in Washington in 56 days to discuss an occupation of Earth. Marvin searches for a weapon that can stop their saucers.
Cast
- Sydney Masonas Frank the garage man
Show all 20 cast
- Jimmy Crossas Military Messenger (uncredited)
- Jack Deeryas Military Officer (uncredited)
- Raoul Freemanas Military Official (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Special-effects animator Ray Harryhausen said he consulted the well-known 1950s UFO "contactee" George Adamski about the depiction of the flying saucers in the film, noting that Adamski had become quite paranoid by that time.
- The voice of the aliens was produced by recording Paul Frees, in an uncredited role, on reel-to-reel tape, then rapidly turning the speed control up and down by hand during playback so that his voice wavered in pitch and speed.
- The film's iconic flying saucer design, a stationary central cabin encircled by a rotating outer ring with slotted vanes, matches purported eyewitness descriptions recorded by Maj. Donald Keyhoe in his best-selling nonfiction book about UFOs.
- A scene depicting planes crashing after being hit by an alien ray uses film of a 1944 accident at an airshow near Spokane, Washington, involving military aircraft.
- For the sinking of a destroyer, the filmmakers used real film of the destruction of HMS Barham during World War II.
