Earth vs. the Flying Saucers

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) — watch online on iFILM. Cold War sci-fi from director Fred F. Sears, and one of the era's most direct expressions of what atomic anxiety looked like when it needed a shape.

Test rockets keep exploding on launch. UFO sightings multiply over the United States. When the extraterrestrials finally make contact, their position is simple: their civilization is gone, and Earth will serve as a replacement. Hugh Marlowe plays a scientist who still believes there's time to negotiate. There isn't. Joan Taylor plays his wife, watching the diplomacy fail from a closer seat than she wanted. What everyone stayed for was Ray Harryhausen animating his hand-built saucers frame by frame until the Capitol dome collapses and the Washington Monument comes down.

Thin plot, Cold War dread, extraordinary effects work for 1956. Watch Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) online on iFILM.