The original Capitol breach
By Mark Voger, author
‘Zowie! The TV Superhero Craze in ’60s Pop Culture’
There is a compelling reason to watch “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers”: the phenomenal animation of Ray Harryhausen. The climactic saucer attack on Washington is utterly convincing in the hands of this master.
Otherwise, you’re looking at another mainstream, militaristic sci-fi movie from the not-always-fabulous Fifties.
Hugh Marlowe is like the twin brother of Richard Carlson in “It Came From Outer Space” (1953). He even puffs thoughtfully on the same pipe.
After a frantic prelude bringing us up to date on the post-war mass hallucination remembered as the “flying saucer scare,” we see newlyweds Russ (Marlowe) and Carol (Joan Taylor) driving a turquoise ’50s “bulgemobile” on a remote desert road. They’ve just eloped, so that first flush of marital horniness has yet to recede.
“I thought intellectual giants were supposed to be backward and shy,” Carol says as Russ gnaws on her. (She’s driving.) Carol finally gets Russ to stop when she warns: “You’re starting something you can’t finish.”
The couple is en route to the base of Operation Skyhook, where they both work. And since the road they’re traveling is completely devoid of traffic, they are the only witnesses when their car is “buzzed” by a flying saucer.
Russ and Carol report their saucer sighting to skeptical science and military personnel. This includes Carol’s father, Gen. Hanley (Morris Ankrum), who joins them for a backyard barbecue. (This was the 1950s, after all, so pass the potato salad.)
But all doubts vanish when a saucer lands at Skyhook, from which three aliens emerge in black metallic suits with helmets that appear to be — I’ll just say it — decidedly phallic. Soldiers kill one alien; the other two aliens collect its body; they take off; abduct Gen. Hanley; and obliterate the Skyhook base with green power rays.
The only survivors? Russ and Carol, of course, or who would wear the bathing suits on the romantic beach date after the aliens are defeated?
Later, a foursome is coaxed into a saucer: Russ, Carol, Maj. Huglin (Donald Curtis) and a random motorcyle cop (Larry Blake). Once inside, the aliens inform the group: “We are the survivors of a disintegrated solar system.”
Yep, the aliens mean to take over the Earth to ensure their continued survival. It’s Fifties Sci-Fi 101.
They also show the group what’s left of Gen. Hanley. He’s a lumbering zombie, now that they’ve gleaned all intelligence from his brain — including answers to trivia questions like: What baseball team won the most World Series?
Once back on terra firma, Russ works feverishly to develop a defense against the saucers. Professor Kanter (John Zaremba) has a brilliant idea: “Instead of trying to duplicate the ultrasonic devices of our visitors, we try to interrupt their magnetic field by projecting a highly …” etc., etc., unpronounceable words, etc.
Although we really don’t follow this pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo, we know from the spirited delivery that it will be how Earth wins.
Full-on war breaks out in Washington, with saucers coming dangerously close to the Washington Monument and landing on the South Lawn of the White House. (We assume that President Eisenhower was earlier whisked to a saucer-proof bunker.) Soldiers in trucks operate the magnetic-field interruptus thingies, making the saucers wobble and then crash. But in crash-landing, one saucer takes out the top of the Capitol dome. (You can’t help but be reminded of the Jan. 6 insurrection.)
Immediately after the dome thrumping, there’s a brief pause. A voice on a loudspeaker then announces: “The present danger is ended.” He says this five times, just to make certain that no one in the audience misses it.
It’s a confusingly “meh” conclusion following Harryhausen’s FX tour-de-force.
Finally, it’s bathing suit time for Russ and Carol. Asks Carol: “Will they come back again?” Answers Russ: “Not on such a nice day.” They then walk hand-in-hand toward the churning ocean. Aww …
P.S.: Director Fred F. Sears also made “The Werewolf” (1956). Producer Sam Katzman also made “The Ape Man” (1943). Story writer Curt Siodmak also scripted “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man” (1943). FX genius Harryhausen also animated the sword-fighting skeletons in “Jason and the Argonauts” (1963). The voice of the aliens, Paul Frees, also narrated Hanna-Barbera’s “The Impossibles” (1966) featuring Coil Man, Fluid Man and Multi Man.
P.P.S.: Oops! I was wrong! The aliens weren’t “decidedly phallic!” My bad!
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