Stars:
Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor, and Donald Curtis
Writers:
George Worthington Yates and Raymond T. Marcus
Director:
Fred F. Sears
Feature
length: 83 minutes
Extras:
“The Harryhausen Chronicles,” “This Is Dynamation” Featurette, “The
Making Of Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers” Featurette, Photo Gallery, and
Theatrical Trailers
Languages:
English Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese,
and Thai Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1956/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Ray
Harryhausen wanted to do a “dynamation” effects filled version of H.G.
Well’s “The War Of The Worlds” and even had done some stop motion
animation tests in his early experimental days, but George Pal’s adaptation
beat him to the punch when it was released in 1953. Harryhausen would eventually
do a “dynamation” effects filled adaptation of H.G. Wells’ “First Men In
The Moon” and fulfill one of his wishes to bring one of Well’s stories to
life with his particular brand of special effects. However just because “The
War Of The Worlds” had been produced did not mean that their could not be
another alien invasion motion picture so with producing partner Charles H.
Schneer, Harryhausen bought his distinctive technical wizardry to “Earth Vs.
The Flying Saucers,” which was released only three years after George Pal’s
big screen version of “The War Of The Worlds.”
In
some ways “Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers” is more interesting than “The War
Of The Worlds” with deceitful aliens who seem to exist out of synch with our
own perception of time and space almost suggesting a working example of
relativity. The idea of manipulating solar flares to wreck panic and havoc on
Earth shows that these aliens do not need to resort to violence in order to
effect global domination. The flying saucers were without a doubt an inspiration
for films to come, in particular Tim Burton’s “Mars Attacks,” which was
based on the Topps card series of the same name. The film mixes black and white
stock footage with the dynamation effects to an advantage, giving it higher
production values than the low budget would allow. Harryhausen actually shot
photographs and then painted them over to provide detailed storyboards for the
cast and crew. The destruction scenes are among the best of their type for a
film from the mid 1950s and even with the obvious cold war analogies complete
with the contrived “watch the skies” but “don’t worry be happy” type
ending, “Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers” is still a classic of the genre and I
am very happy that Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment has finally released it
to DVD as a part of their “Ray Harryhausen Signature Collection.”
“Earth
Vs. The Flying Saucers” is presented with a matted anamorphic widescreen
(1.85:1) aspect ratio presentation. There are a few scratches from the source
materials, but the quality improves quickly and overall this definitely beats
any other home video version I have ever seen. The two-channel English Monaural
Soundtrack is clear and free of analogue background noise and English Captions
and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and French, Spanish, Portuguese,
Chinese, and Thai Language Subtitles are encoded on to the DVD as options.
Like
other releases in the “Ray Harryhausen Signature Collection,”
“Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers includes “The Harryhausen Chronicles”
documentary (57:54), which is narrated by Leonard Nimoy and features rare early
footage from Harryhausen’s personal efforts while covering the career of this
genre icon from being inspired by the effects he saw in the original “King
Kong” to receiving an Award from the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And
Sciences® with Tom Hanks serving as presenter. Brief interview clips from the
likes of Denis Muren, George Lucas, and Ray Bradbury illustrate the tremendous
impact Harryhausen has had upon filmmakers, writers, and effects artists alike
among many others I’m sure. Even though we can do wonderful things with a
computer, Harryhausen’s creations have benefited from a human quality and
personality that I just do not feel translates the same even from top shelf
effects companies like Industrial Light & Magic. Sadly there appears to have
been no apprentices to learn directly from Harryhausen the art of
“dynamation” and I fear that when he passes on so will the magic he was able
to create.
“The
Making Of Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers” (8:37) features filmmaker Joe Dante
interviewing Harryhausen about the effects and covers some of the amazing work
that went into animating the saucers to give them a personality. “This Is
Dynamation” (3:27) is a promotional featurette produced for “The Seventh
Voyage Of Sinbad.” A photo gallery as well as (1.33:1) trailers for “Earth
Vs. The Flying Saucers” (2:17), “The Three Worlds Of Gulliver”(3:14), and
a (1.85:1) trailer for “First Men In The Moon” (3:22) wrap up the extra
features included on this DVD. The menus are standard interactive still frames
that are easy to navigate.
“Earth
Vs. The Flying Saucers: Ray Harryhausen Signature Collection” is available on
DVD-Video now from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.