THE FLYING SAUCER (1950)

At the beginning of the Cold War, with reports of flying saucer sightings making headlines, the Air Force focuses on reliable sightings in Alaska near the Taku glacier, worried not that the saucers are extraterrestrial but that they are man-made vehicles which could be used for the secretive delivery of an atomic bomb. When they discover that Russian agents are in Alaska looking for the saucer, American intelligence sends playboy Mike Trent (Mikel Conrad) to investigate. The cover story is that he's had a nervous breakdown and is heading up there with a nurse in tow to recover. The nurse is Vee Langley (Pat Garrison), another agent. It takes a while for anything to happen: we see lots of pretty Alaskan landscapes and Mike and Vee wandering around in the woods and eventually smoochin’ on each other a bit. However, their caretaker Hans is pretty suspicious, and, as it turns out, up to no good. He is in cahoots with the Russians, and at one point attempts to shoot Vee though a bear scares him out of it. Meanwhile, Mike goes to Juneau to do more digging, gets a little drunk and a little beaten up, and soon finds out that the saucer is the invention of a Dr. Lawton. Turner (Denver Pyle), Lawton's assistant, is trying to get his boss to sell the saucer to the Russians, and when Mike discovers where it's hidden (in an isolated valley beyond the glacier), fisticuffs, explosions and an avalanche are in store.

This was the first movie to capitalize on the flying saucer sighting phenomenon of the late 40s and early 50s. Through the years, many more movies would come, but this stands out not just because it's the first but also because it's not really science-fiction, as the possibility that the saucer is of alien origin is never seriously entertained by any of the major characters. The film winds up being a fairly run-of-the-mill B-spy thriller. The star, Mikel Conrad, also directed and produced and co-wrote the screenplay, and perhaps wore one hat too many. His acting is acceptable, though he is rather unappealing and charmless (the actor and the character). His leading lady, Pat Garrison, is fairly bland and has no more major film credits, and there is no chemistry between the two leads. The narrative runs in fits and starts; once the action moves to Alaska (with actual location filming), things slow down as we get big chunks of what amounts to travelogue footage. Some of it, as in a scene where Mike flies over the glacier, is impressive but still goes on a bit too long, as though Conrad the producer didn't want to waste anything that Conrad the director had filmed. Conrad the director also has an inflated idea of how good Conrad the actor is, and lets him do some unwarranted showboating. There are some reliable character actors here, such as Russell Hicks and Frank Darien; the biggest name in the cast is probably Denver Pyle with over 150 TV credits including Uncle Jesse on The Dukes of Hazzard. Somewhat surprisingly, the saucer effect, both in the distance and up close, is very good. This is fun to watch as a historical novelty, as long as you don’t expect much more. [YouTube]