It was fun seeing Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers again. The movie was originally released in 1956 at the height of the science fiction explosion in cinema during that decade. It has all the hallmarks of films from that era and genre: menacing aliens, flying saucers, the military, a hero scientist, a deep-voiced narrator, and alpha males who draw their guns and start shooting with little thought or strategy. It was released on DVD several years ago, but this recent "double dip" special edition is definitely welcome as it offers a plethora of new features.

Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers is not a movie that's subtle or beats around the bush, and in that sense, it's quite reflective of its title. We're introduced to our two leads right away: Hugh Marlowe plays Dr. Russell Marvin, the requisite scientist hero and a very cute Joan Taylor plays his newlywed wife. Did I say they were newlyweds? Mrs. Marvin reveals they were married two hours ago, and Dr. Marvin is busy transcribing notes in a tape reel machine as she drives them to work. Geez, you just got married - get a room and have a little fun!

In any case, before they arrive at their government station, a flying saucer booms over them and makes an indecipherable noise. We then learn that the Marvins are working for Operation Skyhook, a project launching satellites out into space, satellites that they subsequently lose contact with. Morris Ankrum, who must have starred in dozens of films like this during the 1950s, conveniently shows up as a general and the bride's father. Yep, bad aliens want dominion over our world, but we don't give in without a fight. Flying saucer mayhem, fleeing citizens, and stock military footage proceed.

The cast is uniformly good here. Marlowe and Taylor are likeable leads, with Marlowe playing the quintessential young scientist (who creates new inventions like he was Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four) with aplomb. The special effects spearheaded by the legendary Ray Harryhausen are fun to watch, especially the quickly spinning flying saucers, even if by today's standards they seem quaint and unconvincing. In sum, the movie has just about every 1950s science fiction cliché, but it's all done competently and entertainingly; at 83 minutes, the pacing is quick and efficient. Classic sci-fi fans will enjoy it, but I think general audiences would find a lot to like here too.

The DVD

Video:

The DVD cover proclaims that this is the first time Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers has been presented in color (don't worry - the original black and white is available here too). I've never really understood the need to colorize black and white movies. For one thing, I have yet to see colorization that looks satisfactory. Admittedly the colorization on this movie, comparatively speaking, looks better than most efforts I've seen. However, it's still rather unconvincing, especially with skin tones and outdoor scenes. More importantly, though, there's something about the ambience of films from long ago in black and white that gets distilled when the image is altered.

In any case, the picture quality here is about as good as I'd imagine you'd get from a 1956 production. Kudos to Sony for a special feature called ChromaChoice that allows you to toggle seamlessly between black and white and color by pressing the angle button on your remote. It is kind of fun to go back and forth between the two images for comparison's sake as you watch the movie. Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers has a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation for both versions of the film.

Sound:

The film has 5 audio tracks: English 5.1, English Original Mono, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. The three language tracks are in Dolby Digital 2.0. Given my comments about black and white above, it'll probably come as no surprise that I opted to watch this in the original mono, which if you're in a nostalgic mood is the way to go. The mono sound was crisp with no discernible defects.

Subtitles are available in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Extras:

The major thing to comment upon is the wealth of special features gathered in the two DVDs. Overall, they're quite informative and interesting for fans of this genre. So, without further ado . . .

Disc one has a few extras in addition to the ChromaChoice feature described above, the most notable being a commentary track with Ray Harryhausen, visual effects artists Jeffrey Okun and Ken Ralston, and Arnold Kunert. The track is lively, and the participants discuss the movie in great detail.

There are also trailers for Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Ultimate Edition and Dragon Wars. Curiously, Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers itself is not represented with a trailer, nor is It Came From Beneath the Sea, another Ray Harryhausen-fueled flick re-released on special edition DVD on the same day as this title.

Disc two has the following featurettes:

"Remembering Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers" has Ray Harryhausen discussing the film with several modern day film directors adding their comments. It runs about 21 minutes.

Sadly, one of the writers of Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers, Bernard Gordon, was blacklisted. "The Hollywood Blacklist and Bernard Gordon" goes over the history of this for nearly a half hour. Gordon's name has been reinserted into the film, so Sony provides the "Original Screenplay Credits" feature that has the opening credits from the original cut of the movie.

"Video Photo Galleries" present ad, production, and conceptual art from Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers with dialogue and music from the film as background. These galleries are similar in presentation to the art collections provided on Universal's classic monster legacy DVDs.

"A Present-Day Look at Stop-Motion" has a young film student named Kyle Anderson who goes over stop-motion techniques. This was interesting, but was one of the few featurettes on disc 2 that didn't seem necessary. It runs 11 ½ minutes.

"Interview with Joan Taylor" has the actress talk about her life and career. She seems happy to talk and to be a part of this DVD release. This interview lasts 17 ½ minutes.

"Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen" is a fun, informal chat between the great director and the legendary special effects artist. Film fans would enjoy this feature. They talk for just over 27 minutes.

"Original Ad Artwork": Arnold Kunert shows and talks about promotional art for Harryhausen movies. It runs about 18 minutes.

"David Schecter on Film Music's Unsung Hero" has David Schecter, a soundtrack producer, discussing film composer Mischa Bakaleinikoff's work on monster themes. This was one of my favorite features, as Schecter authoritatively provides a lot of information about how the music in Ray Harryhausen flicks was pieced together from other sources by Bakaleinikoff. It runs a little over 20 minutes.

"The Colorization Process" is about, surprise, the colorization process in these movies. Ray Harryhausen and folks from Legend Films discuss it for about 11 minutes.

The second disc also has some "sneak peek" pages from the "Flying Saucers Vs. the Earth" comic book. You can navigate through the pages using the left and right arrows.

Final Thoughts:

Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers is an entertaining and well-paced example of 1950s science fiction film-making. This special edition re-release is full of insightful extras, and it's worth upgrading if you have the original single disc version from several years ago. Watch it in its original black and white with mono sound for a genuine vintage experience. Highly recommended for both sci-fi fans and general audiences.

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