Rating: 
Summary: This movie still rules.
Review: This is the mother of all invasion movies here. Filmed in gorgeous black and white, and coming out two years before the Technicolor blitzkrieg of War of the Worlds, EVTFS is still superior on just about every level. The special effects, laughable to some who judge only by today's standards, are still eye-popping. The first half of the movie is mostly dialogue driven and is designed to up the suspense ante by stages. The second half is the reason to see it as the flying saucers (and Harryhausen!) pull out all the stops and go whole-hog on the invasion. The painstaking model work is just extraordinary, especially the destruction of the capitol building. Although an obvious product of the coldwar and the McCarthy eras, the movie, with its Us vs. Them mentality, is still very relavant today. You need only look at the headlines about American foreign policy to see this. Although EVTFS may come across as an exercise in coldwar paranoia, I would like to think that it is an exercise in optimism. For anyone living in those times and having to face the fact that almost two thirds of the world was on the way to becoming communist, if not already there, those must have seemed like dark times indeed. Like its modern day version, Independance Day, Earth shows that any problem can be overcome if people just put down their differences and work together. This, I think is the greatest strength Earth vs. The Flying Saucers. It's a good belief-for any time or age.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Best
Review: Years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Ray during a science fiction festival and he was so happy with the way his movie turned out that he responded to me like this, "You know, I made that movie so real that everyone thought I had actually met someone from out in space" I believe he was German and what a nice, humble man. I wonder if he is still living today. Anyway, this is the "best of the best - and it was made at a time when everything was clay-mation, imagine no computers. Now since it is in DVD it will hold the clarity and picture quality needed for this priceless gem.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining 50's scifi, with plenty of extras
Review: "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.
Rating: 
Summary: In its day, a cut above your average flying saucers!
Review: I have heard a few people opine that EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS is their LEAST favorite Ray Harryhausen movie (Ray being the director of special effects). I disagree for one main reason -- I saw this movie on first run, and it was a blast at that time, and at that age. The poster for this movie is now among the most valuable in the world, along with those for KING KONG and FORBIDDEN PLANET -- because, I suppose, the artwork outside the theater promised gaudy, wonderful invasion goings-on inside. The movie delivers flying saucers -- boy, does it. The only saucer ever to come close to these is the one in FORBIDDEN PLANET. It's a testament to the excellence of Ray Harryhausen's effects that the camera lovingly lingers over these magnificent machines, which have spinning internal parts and fly the way saucers should fly -- in formation, at crazy angles, and fast -- up, up and away fast! These are saucers in all their glory. It's no accident that clones of these saucers down to the last detail (except for the landing gear) turn up in MARS ATTACKS. They've never been outdone. As another reviewer put it so succinctly, the saucers are the main character. Oh, Hugh Marlowe (who also appeared in DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL) and the rest of the cast are good, but the point is aliens and saucers, and very little time is wasted on anything else. The other wonderful and fascinating thing about this movie is that Harryhausen chose to set the final battle in Washington, D.C. and have his saucers crashing into the various monuments -- making for some sensational imagery for viewers in 1956. Since the scenes were mostly filmed using Ray's own miniatures, they actually look far better than some of the effects in other films of the period which attempted the same stuff -- the fall of the Washington Monument onto some unlucky tourists is particularly "cool!" This is a personal favorite of mine, despite its silly science and its brevity. Frankly, my own least favorite Harryhausen film is either 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER or even IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA -- which offer less screen time for their special effects. And after all, at a Harryhausen movie, effects are kinda the whole point...! ;^D
Rating:
Summary: Alien brainteasers
Review: Too many rockets seem to be going astray lately. Combine this with mysterious lights in the sky and you have some suspicious scientists. This is explained early on in the movie when recently married Dr. Marvin and Carol Marvin are making thinly valid romantic overtures and they are approached by (you guessed it) a flying saucer. What can this encounter mean? What are the consequences if they do not figure it out soon, as "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers"?
This movie has just about everything you need for a good sci-fi film. It has a 50's feel (probably because it is a 50's movie.) It has Ray Harryhausen effects Vs nondescript CGI. And you recognize Hugh Marlowe from "The Day The Earth Stood Still". At one point you can say don't look up (oops too late). More to the point it is just down right fun to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Good old Science Fiction.
Review: I loved this movie as a kid and I still like to watch it now. I think it had the best flying saucer special effects in it's time. You can see where the movie "Mars Attacks" gets a lot of it's plot from. There are lots of good extras on this DVD including a nice interview with Ray Harryhausen.
Rating:
Summary: Flying Saucers! Paranoia! Aliens Attack!
Review: _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.
Rating:
Summary: Lollapalooza sci-fi thriller
Review: Long before Independence Day a squadron of very cool-looking flying saucers (designed by sfx whiz Ray Harryhausen, the Picasso of the genre) destroyed Washington DC -- one saucer even sliced off the Washington Monument -- ouch! Yes its a B-movie & most of the effects are saved for the last three reels, but you will love them, and the black-and-white photography remains crisp and shiny. A lovable classic about cute little monsters from outer space who travel amongst the planets in style.
Rating: 
Summary: These UFOs are not our friends
Review: Although not one of Harryhausen's best efforts, Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers is better than most films from the same time frame. The script has a number of nice imaginative touches (the alien's are so frail despite their technology that they whither away if their suits are removed; the way they communicate initially with Hugh Marlowe's character is interesting). The effects work is top-notch although not as showy as other efforts (interestingly, when one of the buildings explodes to save money there's a quick cut to a stock shot of the destruction of the Los Angeles city hall from Paramount's War of the Worlds). Harryhausen manages to give the flying saucers character (something that can't be said about the performances by the lead actors). Made after The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and It Came From Beneath The Sea, Earth demonstrated that Harryhausen was ready for something far more ambitious. The script is a bit stodgy and the acting capable if uninspired (Hugh Marlowe's one dimensional acting style fits well into the static direction by b movie vet Fred Sears). Fred Sears' direction does keep the movie moving along. This was just a stepping stone for Harryhausen to his future classic films. The DVD picture is pretty good given the age of the negative and the extras are nice. Harryhausen has wisely chosen not to do an auto commentary as he has always feels it robs a movie of its magic.
Rating:
Summary: Earth vs The Flying Suacers
Review: I thought the DVD was great because with the special features segment you could appreciate the time and effort that went into the special affects of the movie. The reproduction onto DVD was superb and the basic story line kept you focused through the whole movie.
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