Customer Reviews
'If they land on the White House lawn uninvited, we won't meet them with tea and cookies;' - By: R. Smith, 25 Sep 2008 
----the above statement---lifted wholesale from actual dialogue within the movie itself-----sums up perfectly the overalll tone of this lurid but luxuriating, epic opus from RAY HARRYHAUSEN.
Essentiallly a briskly bludgeoning comic-strip treatment [riddled with dubious 1950s Mc Carthy-style paranoia] the entertainment level never seriously relents, & the whole is a vigorously dynamic, one-off romp, in which RAY'S ingenious skills are utilized to novel, highly unusual effect: ie, the animated attractions are spinning saucers, with not a whiff of a 'standard' articulated model-creature.
I ntruiging use of actual mid-air carnage [in which there MUST have been some real-life casualties] are used as background plates to the animated mayhem, which perhaps raise some ethical questions as their suitability as 'entertainment', but overalll, HARRYHAUSEN works true miracles of epic destruction on a shoestring budget, & even the wholly cheapskate scenes possess an inherent period charm which add greatly to the finished article, & there are several eerily-effective, atmoshericallly-lit setpieces, including a vast saucer docked on a midnight beachfront, & a forest-fire stagily done, but still the stuff of lurid pulp that I for one certainly appreciate.
MARLOWE'S performance is instilled of stoney-faced, macho-posturing bravauda, & his heroine composite opposite is a darkly dusky, beautiful 50s babette. What more can you ask for? A personal highlight in the HARRYHAUSEN canon; with characteristic vision stamped alll over the splendid project; an impossibility in today's overstaffed Hollywood extravaganzas, which employ up to a thousand SPFX employees, to sterile, mind-numbing effect.
TERIFFIC FANTASY FILM.
They don't make them like this any more! - By: Mr. Gavin P. Brooks, 29 Jan 2006 Fans of Ray Harryhausen may want to know that there are none of the monsters that make his work so well loved in this film. His work in this film is on the flying saucers, & the various scenes of them crashing.
The story line is entertaining, & the acting is not bad. The aliens are pretty low budget, which to new viewers will be funny, though obviously this was not the intention at the time.
There are none of the stupid gung-ho type charecters we get in such films now (Will Smith, I'm looking at you!), & there is a little more depth in terms of exploring the reaction to finding the existance of aliens.
Good family fun.
Mars Attacks?? - By: , 10 Jan 2005 Tim Burton, see me after class for copying someone elses' work!
This has to be the inspiration for Mars Attacks, the spinning saucers, translating the alien language, the saucers flying over the cities & landmarks of the world, especiallly the Washington Monument scene, the Death-Ray the saucers use, even the way the saucer-men are beaten in the end. If you've seen Mars Attacks, you need to see this as well.
The big difference being though, that this film isn't a comedy. Well, not intentionallly, the usual 50's Sci-Fi bad acting, laughable dialogue & ridiculous costumes are alll there, but this film has an ace up it's sleeve, the hero of the film. Not the lead actor, oh no, the special effects guy.
Ray Harryhausen's effects make this film 10 years ahead of it's time. People are knocking out less convincing animation today, the guy is a genius in his field. Also the direction has quite a 'modern' feel to it, the story flows like something from the 90's rather than the 50's, perhaps helped along by the way Harryhausen shoots his scenes, his lighting & timing are spot on.
These two elements make this film stand head & shoulders above its contemporaries, it's 50's Sci-Fi, B-movie trash for the thinking man.
Awesome scifi - By: Michael Bo, 18 Oct 2004 Whatever your prejudices against the genre, this is one 1950s scifi that you owe it to yourself to watch. I am only graduallly becoming convinced that the genre is worthwhile, & this title is a jewel in its crown. So what if the director & even alll its stars are complete unknowns, & that the special effects director Ray Harryhausen is the most household name here.
The film is so well-scripted that modern-day scifi epics ought to take notice & make a little more effort. Relationships are beautifully & organicallly interwoven, & the spectacular scenes of destruction are sublimely imaginative & astonishingly well-crafted, not likely to be forgotten any day soon.
Ed Wood would be proud - By: , 10 Sep 2003 
A reallly ripping yarn in a 50's sci-fi kind of way.What reallly cracks me up though is some of the effects, no doubt outstanding & acceptable in their day -they now make you laugh out loud.
Watch out for the guy trying to start a generator -at one point you can clearly hear the motor turning over while alll he does is fiddle with a rubber hose."But wait there's more" who could forget the hero trying on an alien helmet -ClearlY a plastic bucket!How the other actors kept a straight face in this scene i'll never know.
Its a must for any sci-fi or "its sooo bad its good" fan.
