The Flying Saucer (1950)

Cheaply made Z grade science fiction clap trap is part Alaskan travelog and like the title says, a bit of sci- fi. Throw in Russian spies whose house the heroine might have been able to see from her back yard, and it becomes pretty obvious almost immediately where this is going. Yes, the mountainous terrain is gorgeous to look at, but the acting is amateurish at best, with romantic scenes dubbed over with warbling music that sounds like a damaged 78 rpm. This looks like something made for prehistoric TV, obviously released in only the most secondary of neighborhood theaters. This seems to me like a film that started off with a conception but no script, with narration tossed over as a last minute thought, and resulting in a film that never seems to know what direction it is supposed to go in. Allegedly the first film to deal with the subject of U.F.O.'s, it fortunately has been overshadowed by many more. If Ed Wood's "Plan 9" failed badly, this "Plan 1" crashed on landing.

A flying saucer becomes the source of major concern and widespread panic after it lands in the desolate wastelands of Alaska. CIA agent Mike Trent (stolidly played by Mikel Conrad, who also wrote, directed, and produced this clunker) investigates and runs afoul of a group of meddlesome Soviet spies. Sound fun and exciting? Well, it just ain't, thanks to Conrad's flat (non)direction, the painfully talky script, static cinematography, and a meandering narrative that plods along at an excruciatingly gradual pace. The acting ranges from mediocre (fetching Pat Garrison as perky love interest Vee Langley) to quite good (Denver Plye as treacherous traitor Turner, Roy Engel as scientist Dr. Cal Lewton, and Frank Darien as boisterous local drunk Matt Mitchell are probably the stand-outs here). Moreover, there's some decent last reel action, but by then it's way too little far too late to alleviate the overall tedium. Worst of all, the titular flying saucer proves to be a complete cheat at the very end. A real dull chore to endure.

I can't really add much more to what's already been said about this Alaska travelogue, but I will offer some praise to the unknown actress Pat Garrison, who plays the phony nurse Vee Langley. There is one sequence in which she goes swimming in a one-piece bathing suit, displaying an admittedly fine figure (she gets my choice for Anatomy Award Winner). There are some notable actors involved, all of them totally wasted (especially Denver Pyle and Earle Lyon), but veteran Frank Darien (Uncle John in "The Grapes of Wrath") has a better than usual role. Mikel Conrad is a total failure as a dramatic director, the action scenes are ineptly staged in what seems to come across as slow motion, and his own failings as an actor are maximized. He plays a two-fisted drinker who smokes constantly throughout the film (have to ward off boredom somehow), and the success of his secret mission (and the leading lady falling in love with him) boggles the mind; upon meeting the suspicious Russian caretaker for the first time, he blithely inquires as to whether or not he's noticed any Russian spies in the area! "The Flying Saucer" (1949) remains nothing more than a publicity stunt and vanity film for director-producer-star Mikel Conrad, notable chiefly as an historical footnote (being the first saucer movie), but effective only as a showcase for the Alaskan wilderness (I wonder if Sarah Palin ever saw this?)

It takes nerve and deserves credit to write,direct and feature as the lead actor in a film.Unfortunately it also needs talent and the financial backing to smooth over weaknesses in plot,acting,props etc.Conrad does his best, but the number of cigarettes he gets through on screen probably indicates his worries on these aspects.The end result is watchable but not deftly paced ,with too many flat scenes of passing landscape that tell us only that they moved the camera out of the studio.Pat Garrison ,as the romantic interest Vee Langley,is fine-worthy of better dialogue- and her trim figure going for a swim presents a nice contrast to the white Alaskan surroundings.Brrrr!