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A textbook example of '50s-era science fiction, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers boasts not only a solid script and competent performances, but some genuinely impressive stop-motion effects courtesy of one of the industry's uncontested masters, Ray Harryhausen. Scientist Hugh Marlowe (who faced a more benevolent invader from space five years earlier in The Day the Earth Stood Still) discovers that UFOs are responsible for the destruction of a series of exploratory space rockets launched by his space exploration project. The saucers' helmeted pilots land on Earth and deliver an ultimatum to humanity via Marlowe: fealty or complete annihilation.

Harryhausen's painstakingly intricate saucers and the destruction they wreak (particularly during an assault on Washington, D.C.) are the film's unquestionable highlights, but Marlowe and Joan Taylor (as his wife/partner) are capable leads, and veteran B director Fred F. Sears doesn't let the dialogue and expositional scenes fall apart in between the barrage of effects. Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is a fun and effective slice of sci-fi that should please younger audiences as well as nostalgic return viewers. Sears later reused some of the effects footage for his jaw-droppingly awful 1957 effort, The Giant Claw. --Paul Gaita ... Read more

Reviews (54)

Harryhausen Fun Factor
So far as story goes, the title says it all, and you won't find any brilliant performances, acclaimed writing, high-concept storylines, or big budgets here. But you will find Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion special effects, and that counts for a lot.

This is not among Harryhausen's more elaborate works--those would come a bit later in his career--but even so he creates some very interesting effects. Unlike most sci-fi efforts, including recent ones with computer-graphic effects, Harryhausen's flying saucers actually move in a way completely unlike anything you've seen anywhere, suggesting completely alien intelligence and machinery. In fact, the saucers are so interesting to watch they assume the role of the film's main character!

Kids weaned on Star Wars-style special effects will probably be bored by the film, and the even more forgiving fans of 1950s science-fiction flicks will find the over-all movie tepid. But the Harryhausen fun-factor cannot be denied, and fans of his work won't want to miss this one.

Flying Saucers! Paranoia! Aliens Attack!
_Earth vs. the Flying Saucers_ is vintage sci-fi from 1950s cold-war America. Plotwise, the title says it all.

The film's acknowledged highlights are the impressive special-effects sequences by stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen manages the difficult task of giving these flying saucers a personality of their own. In fact, these spinning machines display more nuance and character than any of the film's human actors. But perhaps that's as it should be. After all, if you plan to watch a film called _Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, you're not really looking for taut psychological drama.

The extras on this DVD are adequate, but no better. Two of the disc's three featurettes have been featured on other Harryhausen discs, so if you already own a title in the "Harryhausen Collection," you'll discover quite a bit of overlap. A photo gallery and some trailers round out the package.

P.S. The flying saucers (along with a good deal of the plot) in Tim Burton's hilarious _Mars Attacks!_ were lifted from this film. See the original first, and you'll get most of the jokes.

Entertaining 50's scifi, with plenty of extras
"Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" is one of those movies that helped define the science fiction thriller of the 1950's. It features a lantern-jawed scientist as hero, his intelligent but doting love interest, and a very straightforward flying saucer invasion.

Like "Independence Day" the movie is a race against time -- the scientists and military must find a way to defeat the aliens before they succeed in their plan to conquer the Earth-- but "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" is a better movie than "Independence Day". It's leaner, meaner and better-written. And Ray Harryhausen's special effects still look great today.

And what a great, great job Columbia did with this disc. The film has been digitally cleaned up and presented in widescreen, and there are some great extras -- Joe Dante interviews Ray Harryhausen about the film, and there is a short promotional film about Harryhausen's Dynamation process. A commentary track would have been welcome, but for a B-movie from the 50's, this is above and beyond. Thanks to everyone at Columbia who made it possible.

One of the movies spoofed by "Mars Attacks"
I went back and forth between 2 and 3 stars on this one. Basically, what this movie has going for it are the special effects by Ray Harryhausen, which were pretty advanced for their time ... but the plot is such a collection of cliches that it's hard to sit through, nearly 50 years out.

If you're a fan of 1950s s-f movies, or just want to see one of the movies that inspired "Mars Attacks," this is worth watching. Otherwise, skip it.

It's easy to see why Ray does not like this movie....
It was a very difficult movie to make as Ray recounts in the making of featurette, He used models that were tedious to move one frame at a time, he was using cameras that could not photograph them correctly, he prefered using cameras with high speed filming abilities but the budget did not allow it. The budget for this movie was actually so low that he had to make all the models with the cheapest of materials. Glue, wood, plastic, and just hope they would last until filming was complete. It was a hard movie and much of this footage was used in later B-movies, a kind of insult to Ray, I belive. It's no wonder that he wanted to move toward making movies on stories on Greek Mythology afterward. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Special-effects legend Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion talents and "Dynamation" (rear-projection) process are the highlights of the '50s-era creature feature 20 Million Miles to Earth. An American spaceship returns to Earth after a mission to Venus and crashes into the sea near Sicily. A sole survivor (William Hopper) is rescued, along with a specimen that quickly grows into a reptilian biped called the Ymir. The being eventually grows to 20 feet high and escapes its confines, whereupon it rampages through Rome before a showdown with the military. Despite lacking much of a personality, the Ymir is a marvelous showcase for Harryhausen's skills. Unfortunately, the rest of the film does not match his level of excellence; direction by Nathan Juran is perfunctory (his later collaborations with Harryhausen, including The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, are more lively), and performances and scripting are flat. Still, Harryhausen fans should enjoy this opportunity to see this phase of his career before he created his most enduring works. --Paul Gaita ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Great Monster Fun, 50s-Style
There's really not much to this one. Earth sends a spacecraft to Venus, it comes back with an alien life form that starts out at six inches high then grows into a 20-foot beast that wreaks havoc on the city, etc., etc. Character depth? Why bother, this monster has a lot of character on its own. Plot intricacies? What the heck for, the monster is on a rampage and has to be stopped, what more do you want?

That's 50s sci-fi for you. No frills storytelling, and it's darn good fun. But what makes this entry especially enjoyable is, you guessed it, the monster itself. The Ymir (curiously, that name is never mentioned in the film) is another in the long list of stop-motion wizard Ray Harryhausen's creations. Unlke many of the mythology-based creatures in his other films, this one was entirely his own design, and let me say this, it looks really great. It's a neat mix of reptilian features reminiscent of the dinosaurs and humanoid form with fully-developed and functional arms (a decidedly non-dinosaur feature). Now that's cool.

I mentioned earlier that the monster has a lot of character. It really does. This isn't your basic carnivorous beast that devours any living thing in its path. It feeds on sulphur (!), and is actually non-aggressive. In one unforgettable scene, the Ymir stops and growls at a grazing sheep, then walks right by, leaving the sheep unharmed. (The growl probably translates roughly as, "excuse me, do you know where I can find some sulphur? You don't? Ok, thank you.")

The problems start when the humans, in their typical fear of what they don't know or understand, set out to destroy the creature. Naturally, it becomes violent. What the humans don't know is, the big guy is really just an unfortunate victim of circumstances that wants to be left alone. But then again, how do you leave a 20-foot Ymir alone?

Speaking of leaving things alone, this was Harryhausen's last black-and-white film. Nobody better even think about releasing a computer-colored version. That would take away so much of the nostalgic enjoyment we classic sci-fi fans get from watching films like this.

The best of Harryhausen's early work
Released in June 1957, "20 Million Miles to Earth" is an important film in the canon of visual effects genius Ray Harryhausen. It was the last of the black and white science-fiction films he worked on during the 50s. It was also the first film based on one of his own ideas. It set the stage for his color fantasy films triumphs that would follow.

Harryhausen had originally developed a story about the frost giant Ymir from Norse mythology. He then changed the creature to a cyclops-satyr mix from another planet who rampages on modern Earth, but still kept the name Ymir. (The Cyclops-satyr would later show up in "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.") When the film finally went before the cameras, the Ymir had become a humanoid-reptilian beast from Venus. Brought to Earth in a crashed rocket, the Ymir emerges as only a few inches high, but starts growing rapidly in the Earth's atmosphere. Originally peaceful, the Ymir is provoked into violence by frightened humans. The movie climaxes in Rome when the captive Ymir bursts loose and starts smashing famous monuments in the Eternal City.

The parallels to King Kong are obvious, and Harryhausen intended the Ymir to also be a sympathetic, misunderstood creature. He succeeded grandly: "20 Millions Miles to Earth" is Harryhausen's best early film. The direction from Nathan Juran and the human actors are perfunctory and clichéd, but the effects are still stunning today, and the Ymir is a superb actor. Designed along human lines, but with dinosaur features, the Ymir elicits strong emotions and exudes tremendous personality. The scene of it hatching from its 'pod' (made of gelatin) and exploring the strange world around it for the first time is one of the high points of Harryhausen's career, and a sequence of which he rightly feels great pride. The scene of the full-sized, fifteen-foot Ymir wrestling an elephant (also animated) is also a stunning piece of work.

(Harryhausen's love of the Ymir extended to late in his career. In his last film, "The Clash of the Titans," he used the Ymir as the basis for the design of the multiple-armed monster the Kraken -- the heads and bodies are almost the same.)

The DVD presents the film in widescreen format for the first time since its theatrical release. The image is crystal clear and lets Harryhausen's work shine. There are a few extras. "The Harryhausen Chronicles," a lengthy documentary, does an excellent overview of the man's career. This same documentary appears on most of Columbia's Harryhausen DVDs, so if you're a fan of the animator you've probably seen this before. Also included is a vintage featurette about the animation process, called "This is Dynamation." It was made for the release of "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad," so it actually has nothing to do with "20 Million Miles to Earth."

This is a must-have DVD for any Harryhausen fan and any admirer of 50s science fiction. It's one of the highlights of giant monster cinema.

Definately One of the Best!
Really only one word can describe this film: awesome! Everything about this movie is awesome! And this is no ordinary monster movie from the 50s. Harryhausen and the film crew took very special care in making this film. While it is a B movie, it doesn't seem like it. The story is well written and the Ymir is a monster that you will love and sympathize for rather than hating him. The only complaint I have about the film is that the Ymir didn't get as much screen time as he should have. But the ending of the film is worth it since he is in just about every scene within the last ten or so minutes.
The acting is decent but nothing worth applauding about. A little Italian kid gets annoying during the first half of the movie.
Overall, it's a classic monster film that will really appeal more to die-hard fans of the genre, little kids, and people who grew up watching these movies.

WHEN IN ROME
This 1957 sci-fi thriller is most notable because of the continuing genius of Ray Harryhausen and the remarkable creature he gives us. William Hopper (of Perry Mason fame) is the sole survivor of a Venus expedition which has brough back with it a gellified glob that contains this remarkable creature. The monster is accidentally sold to a visiting scientist by a little boy (Bart Braverman in his first role). Lovely daughter Joan Taylor (Earth vs. the Flying Saucers) happens to be a medical student. The monster hatches, a cute little thing remarkable in its dexterity and in Harryhausens amazing muscular definition. Of course it grows, is captured by the army and sedated in Rome. An electrical malfunction occurs and the now gigantic creature is let loose on Rome. It fights a huge elephant and then meets its end in the Colosseum. Hopper is awful in his role, more artificial than the monster. But it's a fun ride, and what makes this DVD so special is the addition of "The Harryhausen Chronicles" which gives us a blow by blow glance at some of Harryhausen's magnificent creations: the horrifying Medusa in "Clash of the Titans"; the metal colossus in "Jason and the Argonauts"; the crab and bee on "Mysterious Island" and countless others.
Harryhausen was a genius, working pretty much on his own. In today's CGI special effects, it's hard to think of only one person being able to create such marvelous fx.
RECOMMENDED.

Harryhausen's Best B&W Film
After the success of "It Came from Beneath the Sea" and "Earth vs the Flying Saucers", Charles Schneer (producer) and Ray Harryhausen (effects) kept the ball rolling with this top notch sci-fi thriller. A Venus probe returns to earth with an alien egg. Once it hatches, the earth's atmosphere causes the alien to grow to gigantic proportions. Harryhausen's last B&W film contains his best effects up to 1957. The creature is believable and scary, especially in the barn sequence. The combination of animated monster and real backgrounds is impressive, especially when you consider when this movie was made.
Today teams of men and dozens of computers create effects. Back in 1957, Harryhausen alone created amazingly lifelike creatures. When you see one of his films, you'll want to see them all. ... Read more

Description

In the words of Bugs Bunny, "Monsters lead such interesting lives." That they do. And when they're not drinking blood, rising from the dead or trashing Tokyo, they seem to be doing what comes naturally: getting hitched and having a crop of kids. In "Frankenstein's Daughter," the Doctor's grandson continues with his infamous grandad's experiments and creates a hideous she-monster, a cross between a sumo wrestler, a porterhouse steak and the "brain" of a blonde bimbo, complete with a permanent wave down to her toes. An exploitation movie milestone in the monster offspring subgenre, "Frankenstein's Daughter" is the third of four drive-in classics crafted by producer Marc Frederic and director Richard Cunha in their late-'50s moviemaking heyday. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Tell 'em old Frankie is back!
Back in the days when drive-ins still brought in the crowds, you could still make movies for about a buck and a half and have them distributed. Out of that came performers like Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper.

Suffice it to say, there ain't nothing like them in here.

Frankenstein's Daughter is a very guilty pleasure. Clearly made for the price of dinner for four at Sizzler, this demented flick throws everything it can think of at you- not one, but two monsters, bathing-suit clad teens bopping to the song "stylings" of Page Cavanaugh and his trio, and Harold Lloyd, Jr (who is noted as the liner notes as being a masochist. I heard the boy sing. I am here to tell you, that boy is a sadist.) The idea is that Mr. Frank (enstein, get it?), the infamous doctor's grandson, has weasled his way, lock, stock, and Igor into a plum gig as the assistant for Dr. Morton, who keeps a convenient lab in his west LA home, complete with stadium sized wine cellar and loads of arcing electrical equipment. (The good doc, may not notice all of the bodies being wheeled around behind his back, but won't he notice the Edison bill?) Mr. Frank, you see, is determined to keep up with Grandad's work- he's going to make his own monster, if he can just find a head for it. While he has his version of Igor scuttling about accident sites looking for one, Mr. Frank whiles away the hours by alternately trying to seduce and turing into a monster his employers comely neice. Though the doctor comes across as fey as Liberace, he tries jumping both the niece AND the nieces busty blonde friend. Mr. Frank isn't a guy to take no for an answer- when the niece slaps him, he gives her drugged "fruit punch" turning her into a blue faced unibrowed monster, and when busty rejects him, he mows her down with his car! Making the best of things, he decides to use busty's head to complete his monster, who promptly runs amuk causing much (cheaply done) havok. The Mr. Frank decides the monster can be used to destroy those who oppose him, leading to another one of those "Johnnie, my uncle's been killed by the mad scientist who tried to kill me and killed my best friend who's now a murderous monster and the policemen guarding the house are all missing and the door to the lab is ajar so let's go investigate" Which lets Mr. Frank (now happily calling himself Frankenstein) get to actally say the line "you meddling kids" Which means that he is immediately dispached with a face full of acid- thrown accidentally, of course, so that the monster can mourn his passing (talk about co-dependant!) by catching herself on fire. Which paves the way for another pool party where they can cook more scarily huge kebabs and have a reprise of "Daddy Bird" (aieee!)

These down-at-heel shockers are incredibly fun- innocent, schlocky and hammy, they beat hands-down most of the calculated sceamfests foisted on the screen today. Buy this one right now.

...isn't she lovely?
"Frankenstein's Daughter" is a guilty pleasure of mine. It was shown frequently on the Zacherley-hosted "Chiller Theater" TV show in the early 1960s, and yours truly was actually frightened by it! (I was only about 7 years old at the time) The film is ludricous and cheaply produced, and helmed by Richard Cunha, who also directed "Missile to the Moon" (a remake of "Cat Women of the Moon"), "Giant From the Unknown", and another personal favorite of mine, "She Demons", starring the late Irish "Sheena" McCalla. "Frankenstein's Daughter" has "Oliver Frank", a descendant of Dr. You-know-who, living in southern California! He is assistant to Dr. Carter Morton. Together, they are experimenting with a dangerous drug called DiGenerol. Slimy Oliver uses Morton's niece Trudy as an unwitting guinea pig for the DiGenerol, by way of his homemade "fruit punch". Trudy turns into a crackle-faced demon, prowling around the neighborhood clad in a bathing suit, frightening the neighbors. And that's only the first part of the film! Oliver has also been carrying on in the family tradition, creating his own monster, unknownst to Dr. Morton. All he needs is a brain, and he gets one from Trudy's girlfriend Susie Lawlor, a bleached blonde in a tight black cocktail dress (he runs her over with his car-some date!) The result is the strangest-looking female monster in cinema history. The monster is played by Harry Wilson, who used to bill himself as "The ugliest man in Hollywood". Mr. Wilson's most notable screem appearance (other than this opus) is as one of George Raft's henchmen in "Some Like it Hot" ("Hey! Join us!"). "Frankenstein's Daughter" is typical, 1950s drive-in fare, replete with misunderstood "teenagers", laughable dialogue, tinsel sets, and outrageous monster makeups. The cast is a hoot. Donald Murphy is appropriately smarmy as Oliver (You'd expect to meet him in a "Swingin' Singles" bar), Dr. Morton is floridly overplayed by Felix Locher, father of Jon Hall, Susie is played by Mamie Van Doren clone Sally Todd, Trudy is played by pretty Sandra Knight (the future Mrs. Jack Nicholson), and her boyfriend Johnny is played by the late John Ashley (he was Troy Apollo on "The Beverly Hillbillies", and appeared in numerous beach party flicks). The supporting players include Harold Lloyd Jr., Wolfe Barzell, and Voltaire Perkins (he was the judge on TV's "Divorce Court" in the 1960s). There is also the obligatory "barbecue" sequence, featuring the songs "Daddy Bird" and "Special Date", performed by Page Cavanaugh and his trio. Move over, Bill Haley! The picture quality on the DVD is remarkable, with razor-sharp detail and rich greys (I don't think the restored "Citizen Kane" looks this good!), so you can see the seams in the sets, and the sound is very good. There is also a picture gallery on the disc as an added bonus. "Frankenstein's Daughter" is sweetly dumb, and holds very pleasant memories for me, of a far less complicated, innocent time. A long time ago in a galaxt far, far away...

Schlock Cinema 101.
The grandson of Dr. Frankenstein, posing as Dr. Oliver Frank, surfaces in America and carries on the family tradition. The late '50s and early '60s was such a great time for schlock horror flicks. This one is vintage 1958. I find it hard to complete this review because the merits of this film make me misty-eyed with emotion. Frank gives Pearl Pureheart, er, Trudy Morton a drink laced with secret ingredients that temporarily transforms her into a monstrous creature. Frank also needs viable body parts for his secret experiments. Trudy's hot friend, Suzie, catches Frank's eye. The eye of the camera is also captivated and lingers longingly on Suzie's hips as she walks. Frank, however, is more interested in her head. (No pun intended). Due to plot developments beyond our control, Frank grafts Suzie's deformed head to the grotesque body pieced together in his lab. Now, she looks like Rondo Hatton with big scars, wearing a Taliban-style head bandage and a rubber jump suit, complete with slinky curlicue wires. And dig that crazy herky-jerky walk. Hubba, hubba. There are now two "she" monsters on the loose. Sometime teenage heartthrob, John Ashley, tries to look cool and courageous amidst the mayhem. To ease the stress, Page Cavanaugh and the Flattops jive up Judy's backyard barbecue with nifty '50s rock-'n-roll. What's that? You have never heard of Page Cavanuagh? Incredible. The rest of the cast is obscure and undistinguished. Filmed in glorious B&W, this flick meets our low expectations. It deserves a place in the Schlock Horror Hall of Fame. Rank it right along "Teenagers From Outer Space," "The Brain That Wouldn't Die," and "The Attack of the Giant Leeches." Sensible viewers beware! ;-)

Terrific DVD of sleaze classic
One third of Dick Cunha's holy trinity, along with Missile to the Moon and She Demons (we won't talk about Giant from the Unknown), this has been a perennial late-show favorite of mine. Great D-movie cast including Sandra (then Mrs. Jack Nicholson) Knight, prefab whitebread teen idol John Ashley, Bob Dix, terminally wooden Felix Locher, Wolfe Barzell as Elsu, and John (TV's Folgers coffee buyer) Zaremba doing his sensible detective thing. The real treat, however, has to be Donald Murphy in a hilariously over-the-top performance as the lecherous, sociopathic Dr. Frank. Whatta slimeball! Plus you get three (count 'em) great sick/icky Harry Thomas makeups for the price of one, and some cringe-inducing musical numbers provided by lounge maven Page Cavanaugh and His Trio (reportedly one of the Rat Pack's favorite entertainers). True, when finally revealed, the diminutive monster (looking more like an accident victim in a track suit than the traditional Karloffian creation) isn't very imposing, but there is so much ripe cheese on display that bad film aficionados cannot fail to be entertained.
Image gives us what is certainly the definitive DVD of this film. The source print is absolutely superb! There is some very light, occasional speckling, but otherwise it's gorgeous: sharp and detailed, with excellent tonal scale, no annoying jump cuts or other damage. And, in addition to a fairly clean trailer and chapter stops, you get a photo gallery of behind-the-scenes stills from the set of FD (similar to those on Image's Missile to the Moon disc). A pleasantly unexpected bonus for a set like this. If you've been waiting on this one, wondering about the quality, wait no more. It's unlikely to ever get better than this.

Bad horror but great comedy!
This may not be for everyone but for anyone who likes old B-movies this one has it all. Over acting, stupid dialogue (some of the things Dr. Frankenstien says are hysterical). Don't watch it as a horror film but watch it as a comedy. You'll laugh at this one. For a B movie, the picture quality is one of the best transfers I've seen.

Tom Phillips ... Read more