Invasion of the Saucer Men

After reading some of the other comments, I must be one of the few who actually liked this movie. Invasion of the Saucer Men can be either enjoyed as a serious movie or a comedy. I like the old style special effects where they have to make a model flying saucer instead of computer generated graphics. Also, this movie may have been the first to depict Air Force coverup of UFOs.

Frank Gorshen (TV's Riddler) and Lynn Oborne (from TV's Space Patrol) are the "adult" leads in the film. As traveling salesmen they find the saucermen and plan to make money by showing them around the country.

There is the "teenage" couple who also find the saucermen but are not believed by authorities. These are the two parallel story lines. This is one of the first movies to use the "teenagers save the world" theme that became popular during this period.

The saucermen makeup is well done by the makeup genius of that period, Paul Blaisdell. His balloon-headed, bug-eyed, mini-martians are still one of my favorites and their photos and other likeness still appear from time to time. Unfortunately, at the time of this review this movie is not available on Video or DVD. But we can hope!

Okay, I could go over a lot of old terrain by telling you about the hokey script, the generally poor acting, and the sophmoric humour laced throughout this picture, and then I could tell you how bad the film was because of said qualities. I could( and did) but will not. Invasion of the Saucer Man is a silly picture that is too silly for its own good. Nonetheless it has some things going for it. The saucer men are incredible creatures. They have huge bulbous eyes on these giant vein-covered egg-shaped heads. Their hands, also covered with veins and the like, can make needles appear readily. Apparently they kill by flooding their victims with alcohol - but only those that have had a drink before die? If that is the case why does Gorshin's character die so early and the bull doesn't at all? Oh well! I digress. The costumes are plainly and simply exquisite and have had a major effect on our cultural visual definition of what "Little, green men" look like. Tim Burton uses them as a model for his silly film Mars Attacks. The film also touches on the way governments hide things from the public. This was a small aspect of the film, yet it was very interesting as a Colonel bulldozes evidence of aliens in the middle of the night to hide information from the public - the same public being terrorized all the while by the aliens he is trying to hide. At one point the colonel address his Lt. and says how wonderful it is being one of only two men that know what is going on. The street savvy Lt. then suggests that there are other such task forces cleaning up other things and possibly even after men such as the colonel. An interesting discussion. Discussions of this nature and great costumes; however, cannot save this picture from its teen against the establishment persona. Lover's Lane is full every night, teens drink heavily, and anyone over their thirties just doesn't understand anything. If I had been a teen when this film came out I would have felt I was being played down too with all its hokey, choking elements. So - my review is a middle of the road one. It's an interesting film for some reasons. One good performance comes from movie veteran Raymond Hatton as a crusty old farmer. He does a fine job with the material he is given.

Invasion of the Saucer Men is just typical of the movies AIP came out with during the 1950's, aliens vs teenagers.

In this one, a young couple accidentally run over an alien but its hand comes alive and terrorises people. The local farmer doesn't like the teenagers using his land for snogging in their cars. More aliens then appear and kill one of the teens with an overdose of alcohol as revenge for their mate being killed. A flying saucer then blows up with the military in attendance and the aliens are done away with at the end by light, their weakness. With a drunken bull.

The best thing about the movie are those alien creatures, with their hideous looking bulbous heads.

The cast is lead by Steven Terrell and is joined by some familiar faces from sci-fi B movies: Gloria Castillo (Teenage Monster), Raymond Hatton (The Day the World Ended), Russ Bender (It Conquered the World) and Ed Nelson (Attack Of the Crab Monsters). With Frank Gorshen (The Ridler from Batman).

Invasion of the Saucer Men is essential viewing for all sci-fi fans, even just for those creatures. Great fun.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.

Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957)

*** (out of 4)

Teenagers Johnny (Steve Terrell) and Joan (Gloria Castillo) are returning from Lover's Lane when they run over something. At first they fear they've ran over a human but when they get out of the car they see a little green man. They go to tell the police and other adults but no one believes them so they must gather up their friends and try to defeat the aliens.

INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN is without question one of the better "B" science fiction movies of the 1950s. The decade offered up so many awful "B" movies that were thrown into drive-ins that it's almost easy to forget that there were some pretty good ones made. I think most people are going to remember this film thanks in large part to the terrific posters, which proudly show off the terrific looking aliens.

As far as the film goes, I think it's a lot better than it actually gets credit for. Most of the science fiction from this period was either dead serious, downright bad or so bad it's campy. INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN tried to be campy on purpose and it's actually quite funny. The film manages to show the frustration of the teenagers because of being around adults who never believe anything they say. There's also some humor with a local farmer and his beloved cow. And lets now forget a couple out-of-towners seeking ladies with a very funny sequence inside a café.

The comedy works just well but I also found the death scenes to be effective too. When it comes time for an alien attack director Edward L. Cahn goes 100% serious and the scenes are very effective. The performances are about what you'd expect from a film like this but the two leads at least manage to carry the film nicely. With all of that said, there's no question that it's the aliens that are the highlight. Their terrific large heads and bugged eyes are just downright neat to look out and they certainly add most of the fun.