Rating: 
Summary: The Best of the SF Mid-50s
Review: Many of the science fiction movies of the 1950s had an effective combination of surprisingly good acting and swift pacing that runs competitively with the big budgeted but far less interesting counterparts of today. In EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS, director Fred Sears manages to use the superlative special effects of slow-motion master Ray Harryhausen as a backdrop for a tale that points the way for such future and similar movies as STAR WARS and STAR TREK. By the the time this movie was filmed (1956), the Second World War had been over for more than ten years, but the movies of this next decade still retained the harsh, documentary film style that demanded a ubiquitous use of soldiers, tanks, and warplanes. Typically, monster films of the 50s required a military type solution to an alien invasion, usually resulting in a reverse storming of the beachhead of Tarawa, with the defenders as the valiant but overmatched earth soldiers. It was just three years earlier that earth's stalwart defenders failed to repel invading Martians in WAR OF THE WORLDS. In EVFS, earth's initial defense is led by a face familiar to science fiction movies of the period--Hugh Marlowe, who had similar such roles in WORLD WITHOUT END and THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Here he plays a scientist whose technical wizardry forms the basis for a defense against an aggressive race of aliens who look like pint sized versions of the robot Gort from THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. The aliens wobble along stiff legged, blasting into smithereens all opposition. One of the most interesting parts had nothing to do with combat but everything to do with what happens when alien and human finally talk face to face. Morris Ankrum, another well-known second banana type of the 50s, plays an army general who is kidnapped so that the aliens can pick his mind apart with a brain scanner. The scene in the saucer in which Ankrum stands before his daughter as a modified zombie is chilling in its intensity. Up til this point, the confrontation between human and alien which had been strictly business morphed to brutally personal. The battle scenes that culminate in the Armegeddon type destruction that lays waste the national capital at Washington still resonate even with a generation that expects the latest cutting edge in computer-assisted special effects. Finally, there is the believable interaction in the love interest relation between Marlowe and the lovely Joan Taylor, who plays his wife-science partner. In judging the relative merit of any movie, the critic ought to focus on how succesfully and seamlessly that movie accomplishes its implied goals. In EVFS, director Sears promised to deliver a thrilling movie that featured terrific special effects, a competent script and acting, and a subtext that suggests that human beings had better co-operate in the face of a common danger. He delivered, and that is why I give it five stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Classic 1950's sci fi effort with memorable finale
Review: "Earth Vs The Flying Saucers" would have to go down as one of the all time classic titles in Science Fiction movie history. Being very much a product of the decade it was made in (1950's) it has everything that a sci fi fan could ask for, gruesome aliens intent upon taking over the world, fantastic space crafts,the essential supporting love story, and a spectacular attack on a well known city or monument. It's all there in this film and it really stands up as one of the very best efforts in this genre from that period. The main attraction in "Earth Vs The Flying Saucers' is undoubtedly the magical special effects work accomplished by that wizard of wonder Ray Harryhausen. An absolute genius in his field who worked without the assistance of all the computer know how employed today,he created one masterpiece after another over many years and here he manages to create breath taking effects that are still wonderous and are the basis from which all modern sci fi story draw their inspiration. His creation of the unforgettable attack by the aliens on Washington DC where all the familiar monuments are destroyed by the space ships has gone down in sci fi folklore and is still as thrilling to watch today as it was when first released. The story of this film is simple and very straight forward. The members of an alien space fleet from a disintergrated solar system attempt to make contact with Earth in their search for help which is mistaken for an attack and results in them attempting to take over by force. Hugh Marlowe is very effective in the lead role of scientist Dr. Russell Marvin and it is to his credit that he delivers a believable performance that doesn't get overshadowed by the spectacular effects . His work with his love interest Joan Taylor is well done and never once gets in the way of the proceedings. Director Fred Sears a well known expert in this type of production keeps the action moving and never allows the action or pace to lag. I guess my only let down in the story is the aliens themselves. When they make their appearance I found their look to be unexciting and stiff. The scenes inside the spaceship where their voices are heard is very effective and extremely creepy however I thought their actual appearance a bit disappointing. Despite this I feel the writers have done well here with their presentation of the aliens technology. The whole concept of them being able to infiltrate the humans minds with a laser beam was an interesting concept and was very eerie in its execution in the film. "Earth Vs The Flying Saucers" is tremendously entertaining and a classic of its kind. Personally I dont think it can compete with my other favourite film on invading aliens, the stunning and quite scary "War Of The Worlds". That film is alot more sophisticated however this production is sure to entertain those who love good old fashioned science fiction told in a straight forward manner with great special effects that still have a heart.
Rating:
Summary: Crop shop?
Review: Good transfer of a favorite film. The new transfer adds quite a bit to the sides of the image (great news!). As another writer pointed out, it also crops the top and bottom a bit. While I lament the loss of that data, I am very happy to see side info that I've NEVER seen. I compared this to the laserdisc fullscreen version to come to these conclusions.
It's like the Super 35 problem; two versions of T2, one cropped on the sides, the other cropped on the top and bottom. Sometimes I wish they would just give us the whole enchalada!
Rating:
Summary: It's a classic 'B' sci-fi
Review: I am a fan of the B-scifis of the 50's and 60's, considering its budget it didn't do a bad job. If you enjoy the B movies of that era, you could do a lot worse.
Rating: 
Summary: Something wrong with DVD aspect ratio
Review: This was a favorite movie from my childhood. The Harryhausen special effects were awesome for the time, and are still impressive. However, there is something wrong with a the aspect ratio on this DVD. The actors all have long narrow heads, the cars are short and overly tall, etc. The VHS tape is much better in this regards. The DVD does feature "The Harryhausen Chronicles" which alone is worth the price of this DVD. Too bad they could have made the DVD where people look normal.
Rating:
Summary: I Just Like It
Review: What can I say other than I remember this one from the drive-in
theater. I was enthralled then as a kid and today as I rewatched it once again I became a kid in the back seat of the family station wagon. The special effects by Master Ray Harryhausen make it wonderful fare for a classic Sci-fi buff like myself. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Why this mania for cropping?
Review: We must be glad to have this Harryhausen classic on disc, but the producers have committed the Second Sin. The First Sin is chopping the sides off widescreen film images to make "full-screen" video transfers, during which process we often lose as much as half the picture. The Second - usually less damaging - is to kiss up to (and to deceive) the widescreen TV owners by shaving 1:1.33 images on the top and bottom to make phony "widescreen" images. (Even Criterion has done this with, for instance, "The Blob" and "The Horse's Mouth".) A comparison with the old VHS tape of this film shows considerable (though not catastrophic) loss top and bottom. There must be some avenue by which we could protest this sort of thing. Otherwise, the disc is great: good print, nicely transferred, plenty of extras (though we have seen some of them before on previous Harryhausen re-issues). But really, one would rather see the film - any film - as it was intended to be seen in cinemas originally.
Rating:
Summary: IT GOES AROUND THE WORLD
Review: It has subtitles in the THAI language. I know that is a abrupt way to start a review for such a sci-fi classic making its way onto DVD for the first time, but I can't get around the idea of how interesting it is watching this film with THAI subtitles. It actually adds something to the film, perhaps not in story, but in scope, that EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS has ceased being simply an American film, but now truly belongs to the world. COLUMBIA PICTURES has done right by this sci-fi gem, releasing it with a clean and clear widescreen presentation, excellent sound, and a host of extra's, from a excellent documentary THE HARRYHAUSEN CHRONICALS, a making of feature, and a pop quiz on what "dynamation" is. The photo gallery is a bit small, but does feature one oddball promotional image that will have you doing a double take. The only thing missing here is a commentary track, and while EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS deserves one, it does not really need one... it can speak for itself, in six different languages no less. For fans, EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS is a must, no collection could be complete without it. For those first time buyers to either E.VS.T.F.S. or the works of Ray Harryhausen, this is a solid and entertaining start.
Rating:
Summary: Very good transfer, but not the full picture.
Review: Very good movie. Of course most of the acting is cheesy, but that's one of the reasons I love all those old 50's sci-fi movies. The transfer is very good. If I happen to have a video copy of a movie that I've just bought on DVD, I like to play them at the same time to compare picture quality. It always amazes me how much cleaner and crisper the DVD version is. BUT...as I've noticed on many, many DVDs, this appears to be the common full-screen version--but with black bars superimposed on top of it. Am I missing something in movie-making? I always thought (and you can see it in truly widescreen presentations) that a full-screen cut simply is the widescreen with both ends chopped off to fit the squareness of a TV screen. On a lot of DVDs that I've bought over the past couple of years, the so-called widescreen (compared to a full-screen version) is actually missing portions of the film (the top and bottom). This DVD is the same. The sides of the screen did not yield any extra picture than the full-screen, but images at the top and bottom of the full-screen were now covered by the black bars. If someone can explain this to me other than to say that the studio is leading you into believing that it's widescreen when it actually isn't, please let me know. If not, the only reason I can think of why they do this is to save money. It must be a lot cheaper to take the more common full-screen version and digitally impose black bars on it than it is to dig up the original widescreen and digitally animorph it. I don't know. Otherwise, this is a good movie to add to your sci-fi collection, just don't think that you're seeing it in it's original version.
Rating:
Summary: Very Cool Sci-Fi
Review: Having not seen this movie I didnt know what to expect when i purchased the DVD. I have heard it compared with War of the Worlds, and for pure enjoyment, its in the same league. Although its not in color, the wide screen presentation is wonderful along with good sound quality. If you like the old sci-fi its one of the better of the genre.
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