# Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
*Earth vs. the Flying Saucers* is a 1956 American black-and-white science fiction film directed by Fred F. Sears, in which alien survivors of a dying solar system attack Earth in flying saucers and are defeated when a scientist develops a weapon that disrupts their craft's magnetic field. It was produced by Charles H. Schneer for Clover Productions, Inc., distributed by [Columbia Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbia-pictures), and is remembered chiefly for the stop-motion flying saucer effects created by [Ray Harryhausen](https://www.edgepedia.org/ray-harryhausen), which culminate in the saucers laying waste to Washington, D.C.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS) • [2](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/earthvstheflyingsaucers)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | July 1956 (United States); production ran 8 September to 20 September 1955; copyright registered 27 June 1956, LP6612[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS) |
| Format | Black and white, Western Electric Sound System, 1.85:1 widescreen, 82 minutes on 9 reels[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS) |
| Key credits | Director Fred F. Sears; producer Charles H. Schneer; executive producer Sam Katzman; screenplay George Worthington Yates and Raymond T. Marcus from a story by Curt Siodmak[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS) |
| Literary source | Suggested by the novel *Flying Saucers from Outer Space* by Major Donald E. Keyhoe (New York, 1953)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS) |
| Lead cast | Hugh Marlowe as Dr. Russell Marvin, Joan Taylor as Carol Marvin, Donald Curtis as Major Huglin, Morris Ankrum as General Hanley[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/earth_vs_the_flying_saucers) |
| Effects | Technical effects created by Ray Harryhausen; Russ Kelley credited with special effects[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS) |
| Reception | 73% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 15 reviews; 55% on the audience Popcornmeter[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/earth_vs_the_flying_saucers) |
## Spoilers
### Story
Dr. Russell Marvin ([Hugh Marlowe](https://www.edgepedia.org/hugh-marlowe)), a space-exploration scientist working for the Defense Department, and his new bride Carol ([Joan Taylor](https://www.edgepedia.org/joan-taylor)) are working on Project Skyhook, a program that launches artificial satellites into orbit.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS) • [10](https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/gdc/gdcebookspublic/20/20/71/54/77/2020715477/2020715477.pdf) When the satellites come crashing back to Earth and a saucer appears, the military greets the alien fleet with gunfire and the aliens retaliate by destroying the Skyhook facility.[2](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/earthvstheflyingsaucers) • [10](https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/gdc/gdcebookspublic/20/20/71/54/77/2020715477/2020715477.pdf)
A disembodied alien voice explains that the invaders are survivors of a dying solar system who mistook the satellites for weapons, and demands to confer with world leaders; the aliens have already drained the mind of Carol's father, General Hanley (Morris Ankrum), and filed it in their memory bank.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS) Marvin then develops a weapon that uses a high-wave frequency to disrupt the saucers' magnetic field, and in the finale a convoy of these interference units shoots the invading fleet down over Washington, D.C., with the last saucer crashing into the Capitol.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS) When a downed alien's spacesuit is removed, the occupant is revealed to be an ancient humanoid.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS)
## Production
The film was shot in twelve days in September 1955, with production dated 8 to 20 September 1955.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS) The AFI Catalog records three working titles: *Attack of the Flying Saucers*, *Invasion of the Flying Saucers*, and *Flying Saucers from Outer Space*.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS) In a letter held in the film's production file at the AMPAS Library, the blacklisted screenwriter Bernard Gordon stated that he wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym Raymond T. Marcus, sharing credit with George Worthington Yates; Curt Siodmak received story credit.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS) The character actor and voice specialist [Paul Frees](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-frees) provided periodic voice-over narration throughout the story.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS)
The literary source was *Flying Saucers from Outer Space*, a 1953 book by Major Donald E. Keyhoe, a retired Marine Corps pilot who had become a prominent writer arguing that flying saucers were real and that the government was concealing the truth about them.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS) • [4](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/06/government-ufo-conspiracy/686935/)
## Harryhausen's saucers
Ray Harryhausen, the stop-motion animator known for *The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms* (1953) and later *Jason and the Argonauts* (1963), was charged with investing the alien spacecraft with a sense of motion and life.[5](https://www.tcm.com/articles/28072/earth-vs-the-flying-saucers) He rigged the saucer models to fly with wires that he physically hand-painted before exposing every frame, so that the wires would be invisible on screen.[6](https://www.flashfilms.us/Offline_pages/Cinefex_Online_files/Harryhausen.pdf) In a later interview he explained that he animated the crumbling of buildings destroyed by the saucers rather than relying on high-speed photography, and that he kept the saucers in motion because a static saucer floating in the air would not be convincing.[7](https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/ray-harryhausen)
The film was the second of Harryhausen's collaborations with producer Charles H. Schneer, following *It Came from Beneath the Sea* (1955); both used his stop-motion animation.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18631/20-million-miles-to-earth) The climactic destruction of Washington, D.C., in which a wrecked saucer slices through the Capitol dome, has been described as one of the genre's lasting images.[9](https://www.dvdjournal.com/quickreviews/e/earthvstheflyingsaucers.q.shtml)
## Cold War context and reception
The film appeared at the height of American flying-saucer enthusiasm. Reports of "flying saucers" had become an American cultural phenomenon in the 1940s and 1950s, and the Library of Congress cites the poster for *Earth vs. the Flying Saucers* as an illustration of Cold War-era fears in which anxieties about destruction manifested as visions of visitors from other worlds.[11](https://www.loc.gov/collections/finding-our-place-in-the-cosmos-with-carl-sagan/articles-and-essays/life-on-other-worlds/ufos-and-aliens-among-us) The Smithsonian Institution Archives notes that the film was released one year before the launch of Sputnik, when space flight was already on Americans' minds; its trailer showed saucers flying through the towers of the Smithsonian Castle, and the film used the Smithsonian's buildings as backdrops for the invasion.[12](https://siarchives.si.edu/earth-vs-flying-saucers) • [13](https://siarchives.si.edu/history/smithsonian-movies)
In Britain the film was released in August 1956 and, because of the staggered distribution system of the time, circulated in cinemas before, during, and after the Suez crisis, so for some British viewers it was bound up with the events of late 1956.[10](https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/gdc/gdcebookspublic/20/20/71/54/77/2020715477/2020715477.pdf)
Critics have generally treated the film as a genre piece whose effects outshine its script. A contemporary-style assessment in the Dennis Schwartz review calls it a superficial B-movie that becomes mostly a special-effects experience, while a Slant Magazine review places it among 1950s pulp shaped by mounting Cold War paranoia.[14](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/earthvstheflyingsaucers/) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/earth_vs_the_flying_saucers) On Rotten Tomatoes it holds 73% on the Tomatometer from 15 reviews.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/earth_vs_the_flying_saucers) Its standing has endured: the 1996 blockbuster *Independence Day* has been described by its own makers as a spirited throwback to 1950s science-fiction thrillers such as *The War of the Worlds* and *Earth vs. the Flying Saucers*, and the 1996 parody *Mars Attacks!* is frequently compared to it.[15](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/independence-day-at-30-roland-emmerich-and-dean-devlin-talk-blowing-up-the-white-house-and-crafting-a-true-sci-fi-classic-interview) • [16](https://watch.afi.com/movie/earth-vs-the-flying-saucers)
## References
1. [Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/51816-EARTH-VS-THE-FLYING-SAUCERS)
2. [Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Sony Pictures Entertainment](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/earthvstheflyingsaucers)
3. [Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/earth_vs_the_flying_saucers)
4. [The Truth Is Still Out There, The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/06/government-ufo-conspiracy/686935/)
5. [Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/28072/earth-vs-the-flying-saucers)
6. [Cinefex Vault #7: Ray Harryhausen – An Animated Life](https://www.flashfilms.us/Offline_pages/Cinefex_Online_files/Harryhausen.pdf)
7. [Interview with Ray Harryhausen, British Entertainment History Project](https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/ray-harryhausen)
8. [20 Million Miles to Earth, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/18631/20-million-miles-to-earth)
9. [The DVD Journal: Quick Review of Earth vs. the Flying Saucers](https://www.dvdjournal.com/quickreviews/e/earthvstheflyingsaucers.q.shtml)
10. [Science Fiction Cinema and 1950s Britain: Recontextualizing Cultural Anxiety, Library of Congress](https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/gdc/gdcebookspublic/20/20/71/54/77/2020715477/2020715477.pdf)
11. [UFOs and Aliens Among Us, Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/collections/finding-our-place-in-the-cosmos-with-carl-sagan/articles-and-essays/life-on-other-worlds/ufos-and-aliens-among-us)
12. [Earth vs. The Flying Saucers, Smithsonian Institution Archives](https://siarchives.si.edu/earth-vs-flying-saucers)
13. [The Smithsonian in Movies, Smithsonian Institution Archives](https://siarchives.si.edu/history/smithsonian-movies)
14. [Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/earthvstheflyingsaucers/)
15. [Independence Day at 30: Roland Emmerich & Dean Devlin interview, Space.com](https://www.space.com/entertainment/space-movies-shows/independence-day-at-30-roland-emmerich-and-dean-devlin-talk-blowing-up-the-white-house-and-crafting-a-true-sci-fi-classic-interview)
16. [Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, American Film Institute (watch.afi.com)](https://watch.afi.com/movie/earth-vs-the-flying-saucers)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works) › Science fiction and fantasy films before 1970*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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