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.

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (both released in 1951) are the two films usually credited for kick-starting the sci-fi craze that dominated much of 1950s genre cinema. But beating both to cinemas by more than a year was this independently- produced film, which also predates the few other sci-fi offerings of its own year by a number of months (it was filmed back in the summer of 1949). In fact, this was the very first feature film ever to involve flying saucers and was clearly made in response to a then-recent surge in reported UFO sightings that were dominating newspaper headlines. It may also be the first of such sci-fi films to infuse elements of the Red Scare into the plot, though unlike later films that hid their true agenda behind metaphor, this one just comes right out and blatantly says it in the very first scene. Unlike most of the later films, it doesn't involve extraterrestrials at all and the saucer featured here is a man-made creation.In Washington D.C., CIA agent Hank Thorn (Russell Hicks) drafts Mike Trent (Mikel Conrad) for a covert mission in Alaska, where there have been recent sightings of flying saucers. The film never really says what qualifications Mike has for such a mission, aside from the fact he's a famous millionaire Playboy and polo player originally from Alaska. Regardless, our government thinks this drunk, chain-smoking, womanizing smart ass is the right man for the job of discovering the secrets of the flying saucers before the Russians do and use them to drop A-Bombs on all of the major American cities. Hank concocts a fake story about Mike suffering from a nervous breakdown to throw off the press, set him up with blonde "nurse" Vee Langley (Pat Garrison), who's actually a secret agent, fly the two of them to Seattle and from there they are off to Alaska on a boat.Upon arrival, Mike and Vee go to their hunting lodge and meet up with the French caretaker Hans (Hantz von Teuffen). Not one to expose their true intention for being there, Mike immediately asks the stranger, "You seen any Russian spies around here recently?" Things are quiet for awhile as Mike and Vee soak up the scenery, go on hikes, go swimming, go on boat rides, encounter wildlife ("I just saw a bear! They're dangerous, aren't they?") and get better acquainted in a romantic sense, but one evening they are disturbed by strange, loud sounds in the sky. A man truly serious about his work, Mike promptly heads into Juneau, goes on a pub crawl and gets wasted drinking rye. What does this have to do with flying saucers, you ask? Well, absolutely nothing, but it sure does help to kill time, right? It's eventually revealed that reclusive scientist Dr. Carl Lawton (Roy Engel) has finished his saucer prototype and has it hidden somewhere in the mountain ice caps with plans on selling the invention to the U.S. military for 10 million dollars. His assistant Mr. Turner (Denver Pyle) betrays him and goes to some Russian KGB agents stationed in Alaska led by Colonel Marikoff (Lester Sharpe) and his right hand man Alex Muller (Earle Lyon). The Russians are all played by American actors and none of them even attempt any kind of accent. The Frenchman is also in cahoots with the Russians but all of his attempts to kill Mike and Vee are botched in one way or another. There are a few poorly-choreographed and unexciting action scenes and lots of time is spent on travelogue footage. The utterly predictable finale takes place in some ice caves beneath a glacier.Aside from decent location filming and some historical importance, this isn't a good film. It's dull, the acting is mediocre at best and it's filled with pointless, drawn-out scenes that exist solely to pad out the running time. Most disappointing of all is that there are just two scenes of the flying saucers in the air; both of which are over in a matter of seconds.

The Flying Saucer was the first movie to deal with this subject and was one of the first sci-fi movies of the 1950's. Despite reading a lot of bad reviews about it, this isn't actually too bad.A journalist and his "nurse" are sent to Alaska to investigate strange sightings of flying saucers over there. His "nurse" is with him because as he is undercover, he is in Alaska "recovering from a nervous breakdown". Not surprisingly, he falls in love with her during the movie. They make a hunting lodge as their home during their stay but the man who suppose be helping them to do odd jobs is actually a Russian spy and tries to kill the woman a couple of times. He has something to do with the saucer, which appears eventually. The spies are caught out at the end and one of them takes off in the saucer, which then explodes into thousands of little pieces.There is some nice scenery in The Flying Saucer and the music score is quite good for a low budget movie.The cast is mostly made up of unknowns with Mikel Conrad and Pat Garrison as the too main stars. Conrad also wrote the story and produced. He also appeared in another sci-fi B movie - Untamed Women in 1952.Though not brilliant, The Flying Saucer is worth having in any sci-fi collection. Enjoyable.Rating: 2 and a half stars out of 5.