User reviews

When I saw it as a kid, I didn't understand the premise of the story, and as an adult, I still have problem with the premise that a runaway missile from space starts to circle around the earth by sheer chance. I guess that's what makes this movie one of a kind. If you go beyond the incredible coincidence that this missile just happened to find earth and randomly started killing its inhabitants, the movie is pretty good sci-fi from the '50s. They try to make things look factual by using stock military footage, and use pseudonym of actual existing institution like Havenbrook (which is an obvious reference to Brookhaven National Laboratory).

The scary part of the movie is the glow you see over the horizon as the missile approaches, and the sound it makes. The movie is somewhat leaning towards horror genre in this respect, and what happens to the main protagonist as he attempts to stop the runaway missile. If you've seen this movie once, you'll never forget it - which makes this movie one of the sci-fi classics from the '50s.

If you can find it (as it's getting easier with so many posting of old movies on the internet), this movie is worth a glance.

This may be THE sleeper sci-fi film of the 50s. Very imaginative story--plausible & with adult storytelling/writing. Loggia was great. I did find a VHS copy on ebay a few years ago and the story held up very well! And that alien missile looks like it was designed by Giger! ("Alien")

Very, very cheaply made sci-fi thriller from the Golden Age of the 1950s that surprisingly is much better than you might initially expect. Yes, its is undeniably cheaply made. Yes, many of the actors are sub-par. Yes, the story doesn't always make sense nor is it cohesive. Yes, there is plenty of stock footage for a film that isn't even 75 minutes long. What does it have going for it? Well, the story is entertaining as we follow the exploits of a hydrogen missile or some alien missile as it blazes its way from Alaska through Canada on its way to New York City turning everything it passes over nothing more than a burned cinder. Another reviewer noted that the film is not "scared" to kill people. How true and that is something very unique for a film like this and from the 1950s. It is refreshing(in a twisted way I guess). Robert Loggia does a credible job as the lead - an overworked scientist who is married to his job, fallen in love and out of favour with his fiancée Ellen Parker who is his co-worker as well. we get all the stereotypes one might imagine, but loggia nd even Parker show us enough depth of character to care. the scenes with the people huddling together to escape death are oddly convincing and the mood of the film stays tense throughout. this is not a great science fiction film by no means, but it is better than its budget would initially suggest.

I had never heard of this one before it turned up on Cable TV. It's very typical of late 50s sci-fi: sober, depressing and not a little paranoid! Despite the equally typical inclusion of a romantic couple, the film is pretty much put across in a documentary style - which is perhaps a cheap way of leaving a lot of the exposition to narration and an excuse to insert as much stock footage as is humanly possibly for what is unmistakably an extremely low-budget venture! While not uninteresting in itself (the-apocalypse-via-renegade-missile angle later utilized, with far greater aplomb, for both DR. STRANGELOVE [1964] and FAIL-SAFE [1964]) and mercifully short, the film's single-minded approach to its subject matter results in a good deal of unintentional laughter - particularly in the scenes involving an imminent childbirth and a gang of clueless juvenile delinquents!

The Lost Missile is an interesting little film. It is fast-paced, as all the action occurs in a simaculum of real time (at least as real as an hour and a half could feel back in the fifties). It tries for a documentary-feel...but since there is a story going on with characters, it doesn't quite make it.

For all this rapid development, the movie is somewhat dull when viewed nowadays, falling prey to "stock footage syndrome". There is innumerable shots of bombers and fighters taking off...I think more time is devoted to that than dialogue.

The plot is simple...an unknown missle enters the Earth's atmosphere and glides into an orbit 5 miles above the planet, which would normally be fine, but the missile has a field of million degree heat emanating from it, carving a five-mile wide swath of destruction on the ground below whereever it goes. It destroys part of Canada (including Ottawa) and nearly gets New York City except for the heroic sacrifice of Robert Loggia.

With the rapid developments, no effort is made to determine the source of the missile (and probably this would not be able to be done anyway), and this movie seems to be a showcase for the effectiveness of the US early warning system for missle attacks if nothing else (though any defense effort is pretty much pointless against this menace).

Loggia is stoic in his role, displaying feats of emotion that defy his character depth. Still, it's interesting to see him act as a young man, having seen him so often in more mature roles.

The special effects are actually pretty good. The missile, though interestingly designed, does appear like something off an episode of Space Patrol. The blending of the missile's fiery effects with the stock footage and city footage is accomplished fairly believably.

I remember watching "Lost Missile" (actually throwing a fit until my brother and several cousins at whose home I was an overnight guest agreed to watch it with me - I was, from time to time, the Eric Cartman of the 1960s - sorry, guys) and being somewhat embarrassed when the sustained wave of million-degree heat emerged as a plot device - even as a second-grader I knew that a mere missile just couldn't carry the energy around for that much heat or devastation over more than the duration and limited radius of a nuclear detonation.

My inflicting that turkey on loving relatives was a self-punishing crime.

The film's production values were very good. The acting isn't bad (apart from the Shatnerism of the actor who played a governor's aide that someone else here mentioned).

But the idea of a missile Easy-Baking the surface of the Earth by means of the heat of its exhaust... no.

How'd the people at "Mystery Science Theater 3000" miss "The Lost Missile," anyway?

It's a great classic of unintentional comedy - watch it if you want something to drink beer to some weekend.

I almost gave this a 7. Call it 6.5 for me anyway. A lot of action shots mixed with a whole lot of stock footage, including some things you almost never saw and now they're obsolete. Aircraft I could I.D.: P-80, F-86, F-100, maybe an FJ2/3, B-36, B-47, B-52. Missile: A Nike Ajax launcher with 4 or 5 missiles. A Nike Hercules (just briefly...I could be wrong about this one. And the old standby, a captured German V-2 or derivative. Aside from that a lot of far more detailed and believable technical stuff than the usual panels with lights and gauges.

Yes, the premise of the movie is its weak point. But aside from that? Not bad, and available on Amazon Prime. Kudos to Amazon for bringing back a lot of these old scifi "classics." And Robert Loggia went on to a pretty decent career.

Really it's a dreadful cheat of a film. Its 70-minute running time is very well padded with stock footage. The rest are non descript exteriors and drab interiors scenes. The plot exposition is very poorly rendered. They are all just perfunctory scenes sort of strung together. There is no attempt at drama in scene selection but rather drama is communicated by the intensity of the actors. Please don't ask.

The plot concerns a rocket radiating a million degree heat orbiting earth five miles up threatening to destroy the earth. It's a real time menace that must be diverted if a custom built H-bomb can be fashioned and placed in an experimental rocket within an hour. Nothing very much here to report except for a mad speech by a scientist against the project because there might be some sort of life aboard and think of the scientific possibilities but this speech made by the obligatory idiot liberal was pretty much passé by then.

What saves this film, somewhat uniquely, IS the stock footage. I've never seen a larger selection of fifties jet fighter aircraft in any other film. This is by no means a complete list but just some of the aircraft I managed to see. There's a brief interception by a pilot flying, in alternate shots, an F-89 Scorpion and an F-86. First to scramble interceptors is the Royal Canadian Air Force in Hawker Hunters and F-86 Sabre Jets (or Canadian built CF-13s) and even a pair of CF-100 Clunks.

Then for some reason there are B-52s, B-47s and even B36s are seen taking off. More padding.

"These Canadian jets are moving at 1200 miles an hour". I don't think so since one of them appears to be a WW2 era Gloster Meteor, the rest F-80s. The Meteors press the attack and one turns into a late F-84F with a flight of early straight wing F-84s attacking in formation.

There's a strange tandem cockpit version of the F-80 that doesn't seem to be the T-33 training type but some sort of interim all-weather interceptor variant with radar in the nose. These are scrambled in a snowstorm.

An angled deck aircraft carrier is seen from about 500 meters. It launches F-8U Crusaders, F-11F Tigers, A-5 Vigilantes and A-3 Skywarriors. The Air Force scrambles F-86s and F-84s and more F-89s then you've ever seen in your life as well as F-100 Super Sabres and F-102 Delta Daggers.

The F-100s press their attack with sooooo much padding. The F-89's unload their rockets in their wingtip pods in slo mo. The F-86s fire, an F-102 lets loose a Falcon, even some F-80s (F-94s?) with mid-wing rocket pods let loose. There is a very strange shot of a late model F-84 (prototype?) with a straight wing early model F-85 above it in a turn, obviously a manufacturer's (Republic Aviation) advertising film showing the differences between the old and the new improved models of the F-84 ThunderJet. How it strayed into here is anybodies guess.

There is other great stock footage of Ottawa in the old days when the capital of Canada was a wide spot in the road and especially wonderful footage of New York City's Times Square during one of the Civil Defense Drills in the early 50s.

I think we also have to deal with the notion that this was filmed in Canada with the possible exception of the auto chase seen late in the picture as the Pacific seems to be in the background. The use of a Jowett Jupiter is somewhat mind-boggling and there is a nice TR 3 to be seen also. Canada must have been cheap and it is rather gratuitously used a lot in the background.

As far as the actual narrative of the film there is little to recommend it other than the mystery of just who Ellen Parker is giving the finger to at the end of the picture. And she most definitely is flipping someone off. Could it be, R as in Robert Loggia? The director who dies before this film was released? Her career as this was her last credit?

Its like the newspaper the gift came wrapped in was more valuable than the gift.

Undeniably Tense and Frightening, an Extremely Low Budget Film that is a Clever Combination of Fantastic Air Force and Civil Defense Stock Footage with Effective, Chilling Special Effects. This is quite an Achievement of Creativity Overcoming Limited Resources.

The Movie is a Sleeper. It is Underrated and Ignored. But you could bill this with Dr. Strangelove (1964), and Fail-Safe (1964), and Screened with the Right Attitude it would fit in quite nicely as an example of a Primitive Art Entry in the Doomsday Genre.

This is a Heart Pounding Picture that Pulsates with Despair and a Drumbeat of Dread that is Missing from Most of it's 1950's Sci-Fi/Horror cousins. This is a Dead Serious Scenario that is Creepy and its Pseudo-Documentary Style will have You Diving Under Your Desk as the Radiated Missile makes it's way Around the Earth Destroying Everything in its Path.

There is also an Enormous Amount of some Rarely Seen Stock Footage that has got to be of Iinterest for Military History Buffs. It Lends an Eerie atmosphere of Atomic Paranoia that Persisted in the Early Days of the Cold War that Dissipated Somewhat After the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Almost shockingly dark, apocalyptic 1950s Cold War terror fest. Many films of this era disguised their Cold War paranoia and terror within fantasy science fiction allegories. Alternatively, The Lost Missile is almost literal in its depiction of the nuclear threat.

This dread-laden tone is supported by earnest acting, and, as other reviewers have noted, far better than average integration of stock footage with original material. The movie is also effectively paced to create greater suspense than one would expect from this kind of film, given how poorly executed so many of its counterparts were. Yes there are moments of high melodrama - it is a far from perfect movie - but narratively, and as a cultural artifact of that era, it is an entertaining and fascinating watch. I've actually decided to buy it, and think it would be a worthy addition to any aficionado's 1950s scifi film collection.

Lost Missile, The (1958)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Rarely talked about "scare" film has Robert Loggia playing a scientist who has an hour to try and create something that will stop a runaway missile that is reaching temperatures of one-million. The missile is destroying everything in its path and it's heading towards New York City. I was pleasantly surprised to see how great the actual story of this film was but sadly the budget is just so low that they can't do as much with it as I'm sure they had hoped. The movie contains a great story and one can't help but think this film would have certainly scared people back in the day who feared something like this would happen. The movie, due to its low budget, features a lot of stock footage, which gets old after a while but the movies central story is still top-notch. Loggia does a very good job in his role and it's always great to see this underrated character actor. Ellen Parker is also pretty good in her role of Loggia's fiancé. What really separates this film from plenty of others is that it's not scared to kill people. I won't ruin anything but there are several downbeat moments that you really don't expect to see but this here helps keep the suspense going because you know the film isn't scared to bump someone off. Again, it's a real shame that a major studio didn't pick up this story because with a few more on the budget it could have been something really great. As it is, this remains an underrated "B" movie.

So, Hydrogen Bomb war is about to break out and 1950s heroine/scientist's biggest worry is whether she and her hero/scientist fiancé will finally get married today? Oh well, it was the Fifties, I suppose. At least we get Robert Loggia in an early role. Of course, he isn't onscreen as much as all the stock footage of jets and war rooms and the only thing holding the movie together is an intrusive narration. Still, sci-fi movies of that era are fun as long as you don't think about them too much. And the dialogue is fun, too. A man runs up to our hero and tells him a hotline just opened to the Pentagon "It's a red alert, situation yellow!" Well, that doesn't sound too bad; if it was really bad it would be red-red, right? I liked watching it, but can't give it more than a 4.

We never do find out who sent The Lost Missile if it was aliens or some earth power who was utterly mad. Boy would Isis like to get a hold of one of these.

This missile looks like one of your rocketship from some old science fiction movie, only it emanates heat of a million degrees as it passes over the earth destroying all in its path. Imagine an snow covered tundra region burned to a crisp as it passes over. That's what this thing does. No one to contact and reason with about The Lost Missile, humankind must bring whatever scientific knowledge to bear to destroy this thing. It takes out Ottawa in Canada and is heading for New York.

A bigger budget with some nice production values and this could have been a science fiction classic. As it is the best parts are the vignettes of ordinary people trying to cope with a sudden impending catastrophe.

The Lost Missile is worth a look only to see how much it could have been improved.

An unidentified missile from outer space is inadvertently deflected into a 4000 mph, five mile high 'orbit' around Earth, where its million degree exhaust (?) incinerates everything below. The slender plot and meager budget necessitates lots of filler footage, mostly of military aircraft and failed attempts to shoot down the missile, but the novel story (written in part by sci-fi writer Jerome Bixby), OK script, and reasonable production values, makes for an above-average genre picture. Unusually the film was a US/Canadian co-production, so the errant missile gets to scorch a stripe across Canada (including melting the national capitol) on its way to New York City. The plot is in semi real-time as the clock ticks down to the missile's predicted passage over New York City while clever atomic boffin Dr. David Loring (Robert Loggia) tries to jury-rig a nuclear warhead in his experimental rocket for a last minute, Hail Mary attempt at intercepting the rogue missile before it bakes the Big Apple. Loring's increasing desperation, back-dropped by scenes of panic and of attempts to evacuate children from the threatened city, are nicely handled, building tension and leading to a slight twist in an otherwise predictable end. The sense of imminence is well used: one of Loring's colleagues argues that the missile could be of alien origin and may have a crew, but with only days remaining before the cremation of many of Earth's major cities, immediate destruction is the only option. The special effects are limited (a single image of the alien missile seen repeatedly and paintings are used to depict the smoking consequence if its passage) but are sometimes surprisingly effective (for example, the long shot of the 'cherry-picker' lifting Loring the top of his rocket). Not surprisingly, given the budget and genre, there is an incessant, annoyingly, melodramatic voiceover explaining what is going on, but otherwise 'The Lost Missile' is an imaginative example of low-budget science-fiction cinema. Earth again faced a incendiary threat only two years later in the Italian space opera 'Assignment Outer Space' (1960) , which sees last minute efforts being made to destroy an experimental starship returning to Earth on automatic pilot that has a 'photon drive' hot enough to sterilise the planet.

I found it a very interesting film and at the time a bit frightening. Not a dull movie at all, but I would love to see it again to see if I feel the same. I have great appreciation for science fiction and horror films of the 1950s. They show great imagination even without the hype of technological advancement. They are creative because they had to be innovative with what existed at the time. This was a cold-war era film about a missile that got locked into a deadly low earth orbit by the Germans trying to shoot it down at it initial close approach. With the speed the missile was circling the earth at, the shockwave and the frictional activity created air temperatures in excess of one million degrees.

It's not exactly 'The War Game', but 'The Lost Missile' probably put the wind up anyone who saw it in 1958. It begins with an acknowledgement of assistance from the Departments of Defence and the Army, Navy and Air Force, which means that the sometimes disturbing things the film shows received official blessing; and its copious use of stock footage throughout often make it feel like a public awareness film constructed around a fictitious plot.

It's a real curate's egg of a film, lurching abruptly from the clumsy to the highly effective on a scene by scene (and even shot by shot) basis. The actuality footage is frequently fascinating and skilfully edited (with added weight lent by Gerald Fried's stentorian piano score), although the shots of the missile itself look like a drawing. The dialogue is occasionally quite pointed and there is a surprisingly large cast of speaking parts, the quality of whose acting is as variable as the rest of the film. When the scenes involving hero Robert Loggia themselves finally leave the confines of the studio, his final outdoor scenes gain considerably in punch.