The Bamboo Saucer (1968)

"The Bamboo Saucer" begins with an F-104 fighter jet being chased by a BADLY animated UFO. In the process, the plane crashes and the pilot is killed. Eventually, the eggheads realize that the UFO, oddly, has come from China. Hank Peters (Dan Duryea) leads a small team of agents into China to discover the craft and either destroy or capture it. Soon, however, they are shocked to come upon a group of Russians (complete, of course, with a hot lady) there to do the same and they work together.The film marks a milestone for Dan Duryea. While he was very prolific in films, he died soon after the movie was made...and he was only 61. And, even sadder is that this wonderful character actor chose to be in this dull movie. In addition, the UFO effects were horrible...even by 1968 standards. Compare, for instance, the crappy look of the film to "2001" which came out the following year. While I am not a fan of "2001", it was technically gorgeous and a huge step ahead in special effects. Overall, a film that is very skippable with little to offer for most viewers.

A party of Americans secretly enter Red China in search of a downed flying saucer. The group includes Fred Norwood who is a pilot previously buzzed by a similar saucer. On the way they meet a group of Soviet Russians who are doing the same. The two groups join together to locate the saucer. They find it in an abandoned church and study it. Meanwhile Chinese soldiers are mobilised to find them. Written and directed by Frank Telford this is slow moving until the last half hour when it livens up considerably. In between there is a dull love story between Fred Norwood and the attractive (of course) Russian scientist Anna Karachev. Of the actors Dan Duryea (in his last film) as the grizzled leader Hank Peters and Lois Nettleton as Anna come off best. Good support is given though by Bernard Fox, James Hong and Robert Hastings. A fair adventure story with science fiction trappings done on a low budget.

The fun in this movie is that they made an attempt to be somewhat realistic given the plot. The cold war tensions are not at all exaggerated, the ridicule the test pilot endures when he first reports the thing and the later loss of the P-51 is based on a real incident.In, I believe it was 1947, a flight of military P-51s were inbound for landing {and low on fuel} when one was sent to investigate a UFO. the pilot climbed high and crashed. The military deemed hypoxia due to a malfunctioning O2 system and fuel starvation. In that case, the UFO was believed to one of the early "satellite balloons" the USAF was playing with. They were made to be shiny and glowed very bright in the evening sky.It adds a little "credo" to the he movie when they use a real event to kick off the story even if a few characters and the Russian-American love story are a cliché

The makers of this film put a lot of effort into trying to make an exciting science fiction adventure yarn. However they don't fully succeed because they try to cram too much into the film and the characters never rise above being little more than cliches. But in the end, the film does promote the message of the need for the world to unite, stop fighting and start building a better tomorrow. Deserves points for effort.