'The Thing': new featurette

Silver Screen Saucers

Contains new footage and interviews with the stars...

'Invaders from Mars': UFO acclimation movie?

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers



Invaders from Mars: UFO acclimation effort?



In 1953, director William Cameron Menzies gave the world Invaders from Mars – a fascinating if typically clunky addition to what was then the burgeoning UFO subgenre. The movie did what it said on the tin: there were invaders, and they were from Mars, and – aside from the film’s none-too-subtle communist invasion allegory (then obligatory for movies of its ilk) – that was pretty much it. Yet Invaders from Mars bears closer scrutiny from a UFOlogical perspective, with one scene in particular screaming out for analysis. 

The scene in question sees the film’s hero – an implausibly square-jawed astronomer – declare the Martians’ arrival as no surprise. He explains that the government has been studying the saucers for a number of years and is well aware that they are extraterrestrial in origin.

In the fashion of a public service announcement, the astronomer goes on to describe various real-life cases catalogued by the Air Force’s “Project Saucer” (officially named Project Sign), including the UFO-related death of Captain Thomas Mantell in 1948 and the “Lubbock Lights” of 1951. The astronomer illustrates his eight-minute lecture with genuine news-clippings and UFO photographs: “Life can, and does, exist on other planets,” he intones, before displaying scale models of the multiple saucer types he says are known to exist by the Air Force.

This lengthy scene clearly was devoid of narrative function and it did not appear in the US theatrical cut of the film. That it was scripted and shot at all raises questions about the possibility of subversive government involvement in the filmmaking process – a notion that cannot easily be dismissed in light of the US government's documented historical efforts to manipulate the content of Hollywood's UFO movies. Such efforts typically were geared towards debunking the UFO phenomenon; in a few select cases, however, the objective apparently was to acclimate the public to the notion of UFO reality (with the Robert Emenegger case of the early 1970s standing as perhaps the best example of this approach).

Watch the Invaders from Mars scene (as well as the rest of the movie) and see if you're not intrigued...

NOTE: This article was originally posted on Silver Screen Saucers in March 2011.

‘The Thing’ prequel: news round-up

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

A new Russian poster for the 2011 prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 sci-fi horror The Thing offers a glimpse of the craft that brought the alien beastie to Earth...

Also, a new clip of the movie reveals yet more mimicry of John Carpenter’s original...

Meanwhile, writing for the UK Guardian, Ben Child does not have high hopes for the prequel, noting that the director, Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., “hardly has the pedigree of a The Thing-era Carpenter, being best known as a director of car commercials,” adding, “Hollywood is not quite what it was in 1982.”

Considering 1982 gave us not only The Thing, but also E.T. and Blade Runner in the sci-fi genre alone, it’s hard to disagree.

Spielberg's UFO movies: from regular 8 to 'Super 8'



The proud director: Spielberg in 1964

By Robbie Graham

In anticipation of the June 10 release in America of the Spielberg-produced UFO movie Super 8 - which draws considerable inspiration from Spielberg's early work in the sci-fi and adventure genres - I thought it might be fitting to take a brief glance back to a time and place of considerable significance in the history of Hollywood's longstanding love affair with aliens; specifically, to 1964, when, at the Phoenix Little Theatre, in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona, a 17-year-old Steven Spielberg premiered his first-ever UFO movie - the 8mm Firelight. 

The film cost Spielberg $500 to produce and, having managed to sell an impressive 500 tickets for the premiere at $1 each, it was his first commercial success (it made a profit of $1 dollar: "I think somebody probably paid two dollars," Spielberg later surmised).

Since Firelight, Spielberg has helped to push the idea of alien visitation into the heart of popular culture like no other filmmaker with movies such as (as director): Close Encounters of the Third Kind, ET: The Extraterrestrial, War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, (and as producer) Batteries Not Included, the Men in Black franchise and the Transformers franchise; and with TV series such as Taken.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

ET: The Extraterrestrial (1982)

War of the Worlds (2005)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

   

This summer, audiences will receive a triple dose of Spielberg's aliens on both the big screen and small with movies Super 8 and Cowboys and Aliens and the TV series Falling Skies.

For a more in-depth look at Spielberg's historical fascination with the UFO phenomenon, as well as details of his intriguing political connections, check out Spielberg's Saucer Secrets.

And so here's to Spielberg's aliens - the good, the bad and the ugly - and to hoping that his extraterrestrial offerings this summer don't disappoint!

Copyright © 2011 Robbie Graham

Guest blogger: Nick Redfern

THE INVADERS:

SUPREME SAUCER-ERA PARANOIA!

By Nick Redfern

Back in 2009, I wrote a book titled Science Fiction Secrets that was a study of how, and under what particular circumstances, the realm of science-fiction (whether in books, on TV, or in big-screen films) had crossed paths with that of high-level government secrecy and conspiracy.

Doing the research for the book was something of a revelation for me: it demonstrated that there does appear to be some form of crossover between science-fiction and governmental shenanigans, suggesting the startling possibility that the world of Hollywood and the secrets of the Pentagon may be closer than we think. They may have even come together on occasion to help instill ideas about UFOs and alien life in the collective mind of the populace.

I elected to keep my own views and opinions out of Science Fiction Secrets, and instead I chose to provide the reader with just the facts. But, it’s fair and accurate to say that my personal interest in science-fiction reflects the kinds of things I wrote about in the pages of my book. I’ll tell you what I mean by that. Frankly, watching endless TV shows or films set in the depths of outer-space, in which laser-gun-wielding good-guys and bad-guys do battle with each other, while huge spacecraft soar across the starry skies, and human-looking aliens run around in silver-suits, bores me rigid. In fact, it bores me beyond rigid!

If I am going to watch (or read) science-fiction, then it has to contain a high-degree of conspiracy and cover-up, such as (a) the excellent 1998 movie Dark City and its attendant, menacing Men in Black-style aliens; (b) The X-Files (of course!); (c) the sadly-short-lived Dark Skies; and (d) David Bischoff’s superb UFO book trilogy of 1990-1991: Abduction, Deception, and Revelation (which, if you haven’t read them, then you really, really should!).

But, for me, my all-time number-one science-fiction/conspiracy product is, without doubt, the classic, paranoia-driven 1960s series, The Invaders, that starred actor Roy Thinnes as the alien-hunting hero of the show, David Vincent.

A great combination of the best parts of The Fugitive, The Twilight Zone, Invaders from Mars, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and The Outer Limits, The Invaders was a show years (actually, decades) ahead of its time, and one that easily eclipsed the simplistic, mindless and cheap to make, “shoot ‘em up”-style science-fiction output that seemed (and still seems) so popular on certain TV channels.

Oozing a high degree of menace, a sinister atmosphere, thought-provoking plotlines, and – at the heart of it all – human-looking, hostile aliens bent upon the infiltration of our society and the ultimate destruction of the Human Race, The Invaders came across rather like a UFO-themed All the President’s Men mixed with The Parallax View, and then given a liberal shot of 24’s Jack Bauer.

I recall first watching the show as a young kid in the 1970s, utterly enthralled by David Vincent’s near-solitary quest to expose to the world the dark truth of the alien threat amongst us – while all the time pursued by definitive Men in Black-style extraterrestrial assassins. I thought: this is great!

The show was then repeated some time in my teens, and prior to recently purchasing the DVD set, I was probably in my late-twenties when I last watched the show. And, I’m pleased to say that, having now devoured the entire DVD collection, The Invaders still stands the test of time, more than 40-years after it first aired (the show actually ran for two-seasons: from January 1967 to March 1968).

It’s a great shame indeed that the show was cancelled before the story reached its conclusion. No: The Invaders did not come to an end because of some high-level conspiracy. Ratings were the culprit. But, that the series still commands a loyal following, that it’s now available for one and all to own, and that its legacy is an immensely notable one makes, in my view, The Invaders the definitive science-fiction work.

Nick Redfern and alien-hunter David Vincent (otherwise known as Roy Thinnes)

And there’s an afterword to all this: 4 or 5-years ago, I met actor Roy Thinnes while filming a TV show in New York. I’m very pleased to say he was happy to sit and talk with me backstage, while we waited to be called to the cameras. I had a fun 45-minute (or thereabouts) chat with Thinnes about The Invaders, as well as about his starring role in The Norliss Tapes – the 1973 pilot for a planned paranormal-themed series that was sadly never made, but which would have made a fine follow-on from The Invaders.

I’m also pleased to be able to say that Thinnes was refreshingly free of the tiresome egotism that affects so many Hollywood types, was friendly and talkative, and discussed his good memories of working on the show, and his thoughts on the UFO puzzle. As for me, well I knew I was hanging out with actor Roy Thinnes, but a part of me just could not help thinking: Holy Crap, I’m sitting next to alien-hunter David Vincent!

Nick Redfern is the author of numerous books (listed here), including the recently-published Space Girl Dead on Spaghetti Junction, and The Real Men In Black (New Page Books, June 16).

UFO researchers and character assassination through Hollywood

In her recent guest article for Silver Screen Saucers, Linda Moulton Howe described how in 1980 a Hollywood producer had sought to use the title of her animal mutilation documentary – A Strange Harvest – for a big screen adaptation of her work and had even requested the right to lift from her documentary entire excerpts of real witness testimony.

Linda had serious reservations, however, and was concerned that the use of her factual but bizarre animal mutilation information in the context of a "Friday-night sci-fi flick" would not only damage her reputation as a serious journalist, but also the credibility of the mutilation phenomenon itself.

Linda ultimately denied the producer her requests. It was a wise decision, as the resultant movie – Endangered Species (1982) – distorted the facts as documented in A Strange Harvest out of all recognition and effectively pushed the idea of animal mutilations further into the realm of cinematic fantasy. And perhaps that was the point: take a serious and controversial idea, then rubbish it in the public mind through the process of ‘Hollywoodisation.’

Linda’s ‘near-miss’ with Hollywood has clear echoes of a case from the mid-1950s involving Donald Keyhoe – then a jagged thorn in the side of the US government’s UFO secret-keepers. A group of Hollywood producers had approached Keyhoe seeking to buy the rights to his non-fiction book, Flying Saucers from Outer Space (1953), telling him their film was to be a serious documentary about UFOs. Although initially suspicious, Keyhoe eventually went along with the deal. Big mistake. Upon its completion in 1956, the "documentary" turned out to be the schlock sci-fi B-movie Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers. Keyhoe was outraged and demanded that his name be removed from the film's credits, but to no avail.

As suspicious as all of this may sound, it should be noted that - as far as I can tell - there are no clear links to the US government from the producers of either Endangered Species or Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers. The same can be said for the writers and directors of these two movies. It could be argued, however, that if any such links were plain to see, then the government's propagandists would be undeserving of their paychecks. In short, more research is required into not only the backgrounds and professional associations of the key individuals involved in these movies, but also the precise structure and financing of the production companies and studios that backed them. Although I myself am currently engaged in such research, finding satisfactory answers is a laborious process - all the more so considering most of the individuals involved in these movies are either retired or dead, and that their production companies no longer exist. Still, if and when I find anything of note, I'll report it here at Silver Screen Saucers.

More Spielbergian intrigue...

Two new clips of the Spielberg-produced, J.J. Abrams-directed UFO movie Super 8:

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=31009

Needless to say, they don't show much!

Just what the alien (or aliens) in this movie looks like is still anyone's guess. Care to guess, anyone?

UFO movie montage

A huge selection of clips from UFO-themed movies and TV episodes has been put together by a YouTube poster who writes:

"I believe Hollywood and the entertainment industry at large has been instrumental in educating the public with the erroneous idea that Flying Saucers are physical craft piloted by alien beings from other planets. This montage will form part of a larger documentary I am completing exposing that UFOs and the 'alien beings' that pilot them are something entirely different and far more sinister."

... DUN, DUN, DUNNNNN!!!

Sinisterness aside, this seven-part montage makes for fascinating viewing and must have taken ages to compile. Watch it here.