War of the Satellites

Typically fast and cheap early Roger Corman sci-fi epic was put together in a hurry in order to capitalize on the launching of the Soviet satellite Sputnik, and the subsequent efforts of the United States to launch a satellite of their own. Lawrence L. Goldman wrote a script (based on a story by Jack Rabin and Irving Block), about the United Nations repeatedly failing with their space exploration missions. A hostile alien intelligence wants Earthlings to cease and desist with these missions, or else. Our intrepid heroes, naturally, become more determined than ever to succeed, and send a pair of rockets into outer space. But the aliens are ready to sabotage the mission.

The not so special effects and the minimum of sets merely serve to add to the fun factor of this Corman quickie. It sure as hell isn't anything great, but then it doesn't try to be. It's an amusing, fast paced, decently acted Allied Artists production that has a certain charm that often came with the low budget genre movies of this period. It's impossible to dislike, especially considering the way that Corman is slyly injecting some commentary about the Cold War as part of the package. Cormans' constant collaborators during this time, production designer Daniel Haller and cinematographer Floyd Crosby, do the best that they can with their minimal budget, and the music by Walter Greene is highly enjoyable. The acting is pretty good from all concerned: Richard Devon is effective as the determined Dr. Pol Van Ponder, Susan "The Wasp Woman" Cabot appealing as leading lady Sybil Carrington. Eric Sinclair as Dr. Howard Lazar, Robert Shayne as Cole Hotchkiss, Jered Barclay as John Compo, and Bruno VeSota as Mr. LeMoine comprise a fine supporting cast. But the primary appeal of "War of the Satellites" is the opportunity to see the legendary Dick Miller in not just a leading role, but a *heroic* leading role, as brave scientist Dave Boyer.

These 66 minutes go by quickly and engagingly.

Seven out of 10.

Years ago, I remember seeing this movie on a local syndicated TV station. I had completely forgotten about it until I came across a website writing a review about the movie. I tried to find the video but came up empty. After searching for quite awhile, I eventually found a copy. What I can't figure out is that "War of the Satellites" was a project of Roger Corman, a somewhat well known producer and director of low budget sci fi horror films of the 50's and 60's. This science fiction thriller which probably took 2 weeks to make, has a remarkably effective storyline combined with so-so special effects for that time period. This movie is hard to find and if you do happen to locate it, I would suggest getting it because it's not that bad of a rotten tomato.

Famously concocted in 8 weeks after director Roger Corman promised Allied Artists a "satellite' movie in time to cash in on America's fascination with (or fear of ) Sputnik, 'War of the Satellites' really has nothing to do with the cold war or the Russian space program or, for that matter, any other reality. Briefly, Earth's attempts to put people in orbit are met with disaster when the ships approach a mysterious barrier and we are warned by the "Masters of the Spiral Nebula Ghana" that humans have been prohibited from exploring space. To ensure our compliance, the aliens kill the head of the space program, Dr. Van Ponder (Richard Devon), and replace him with a sinister doppelganger. Astronomer David Boyer's (Corman perennial Dick Miller) suspicions concerning his new boss leads to a show-down in outer space, the outcome of which could determine the future of humanity. There are some adequate special effects shots, such as the rocket base or the in-orbit assembly of a space station but other than these, the film is strictly a dime-store production, especially the interiors the space ships (featuring recliner lounges with seatbelts) or the flimsy looking control panel manned by none other than Corman himself). The plot/script makes little sense and, other than Miller and Devon, the acting is underwhelming. Typical for a Corman picture, 'War of the Satellites' turned a profit and remains watchable today (half a century after Sputnik fell out of the sky) in a chintzy sort of way.

In October, 1957, the Soviet Union surprised everyone with the first successful launch and orbit of a spacecraft, a satellite dubbed "Sputnik". That name and the term "satellite" was on front pages of every newspaper in America.

"War of the Satellites" was produced by Roger Corman because he knew he could get a deal (funding) from his distributor by promising a film with the then hot buzz-word, "satellite", on the marquee. His plan worked and the film was rushed together. By then, Corman had a number of capable people he could count on to pull it off. Discount the war-surplus and junkyard props and and the hardly scientific premise and "War of the Satellites" turns out to be fun and a rather credible popcorn epic. It was released on a double bill and the title brought in the expected crowd.

War of the Satellites (1958)

** (out of 4)

American scientists are trying to send a satellite into outer space but they keep running into some sort of force shield that causes the satellite to explode. After the tenth failed attempt the aliens from space grow tired so they kill the scientist (Richard Devon) and take over his body so that they can sabotage any future attempts. It's up to Dave (Dick Miller) and Sybil (Susan Cabot) to try and bring down the alien as well as the deadly satellite shield. I love Roger Corman. I love the films he directed and produced no matter if they were higher quality stuff like the Price-Poe flicks or lower trash like this film here. There's no question that this film belongs in the "so bad it's good" category and I must admit that I'm rather shocked that this film doesn't get called out more than it does. Perhaps because until recently it was hard to see many fans haven't given it the badly made label because if you watch this thing and then watch something from Ed Wood you're going to notice a lot of things in common. As with most of Wood's features, this here features a large amount of stock footage and more often than not it doesn't match up with the "new" footage. Take for example the scene where the aliens try to teach the world a lesson by doing various bad things. We're greeted with all sorts of stock footage with stuff taken from previous movies and it appears one scene showing a full moon was borrowed from one of the Universal werewolf pictures. Another funny bit is when a couple are making out when something crashes and explodes. When we see the explosion it's far away from the kids but the boyfriend goes to look for the item and finds it a few feet from where they were. One, this doesn't match up with what we've seen and if it really was that close then the explosion would have killed the kids. Other funny moments include some really over-the-top performances including one hilarious sequence where the alien/scientist burns himself and the young scientist starts freaking out. The expression on his face as he tries to convince someone else of what he saw is priceless. Dick Miller fans will be happy to see him playing the hero here and it's always nice to see Cabot. WAR OF THE SATELLITES is one of many rips of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Most of the rips are poorly made and boring. This one here doesn't have much quality to it but the thing is never boring and fans of bad cinema should have a good time with it.