Undeniably tense and frightening, an extremely low budget film that is a clever combination of fantastic Air Force and Civil Defense stock footage with effective, chilling special effects. This is quite an achievement of creativity overcoming limited resources.The movie is a sleeper. It is underrated and ignored. But you could bill this with Dr. Strangelove (1964), and Fail-Safe (1964), and screened with the right attitude it would fit in quite nicely as an example of a Primitive Art entry in the Doomsday genre. This is a heart pounding picture that pulsates with despair and a drumbeat of dread that is missing from most of it's fun and fanciful 1950's Sci-Fi/Horror cousins. This is a dead serious scenario that is creepy and its pseudo-documentary style will have you diving under your desk as the radiated missile makes it's way around the Earth destroying everything in its path.There is also an enormous amount of some rarely seen stock footage that has got to be of interest for military history buffs. It lends an eerie atmosphere of atomic paranoia that persisted in the early days of the cold war that dissipated somewhat after the Cuban Missile Crisis.On a lighter note. There is ONE scene that cannot be forgiven and is a minor flaw in this otherwise attention to detail scare-fest. It cannot be imagined that a Woman would go into labor and give childbirth without her or someone else removing her earrings. Maybe this was left in to give this otherwise incredibly intense movie some levity in a wink, wink, nod, nod kind of way that says this is just fiction. Let's give these filmmakers the benefit of the doubt. They deserve it for this fine effort.

When I saw it as a kid, I didn't understand the premise of the story, and as an adult, I still have problem with the premise that a runaway missile from space starts to circle around the earth by sheer chance. I guess that's what makes this movie one of a kind. If you go beyond the incredible coincidence that this missile just happened to find earth and randomly started killing its inhabitants, the movie is pretty good sci-fi from the '50s. They try to make things look factual by using stock military footage, and use pseudonym of actual existing institution like Havenbrook (which is an obvious reference to Brookhaven National Laboratory). The scary part of the movie is the glow you see over the horizon as the missile approaches, and the sound it makes. The movie is somewhat leaning towards horror genre in this respect, and what happens to the main protagonist as he attempts to stop the runaway missile. If you've seen this movie once, you'll never forget it - which makes this movie one of the sci-fi classics from the '50s.If you can find it (as it's getting easier with so many posting of old movies on the internet), this movie is worth a glance.

Released (some would say "escaped") in 1958, "The Lost Missile" is, de- spite it's many flaws and shortcomings, a fairly interesting tale about a wild missile, apparently of extraterrestrial origin, loose in the Earth's atmosphere and frying everything underneath it with a million-degree exhaust. The biggest problem with this film really isn't the film's fault: it suffers from being rather too ambitious for its budget. While this is true of many fifties sci-fi films, this is not to say that there are other flaws which cannot be so easily dismissed' to wit: the acting. Robert Loggia plays Dr. David Loring, the tragic hero, and turns in a performance that is played with such lethargy and apparent disinterest that it makes you wonder if he was wondering "what was I thinking?" The rest of the cast play their parts like second- or even third-string summer stock. Oh, yeah: there's also the cliche'd frazzeled scientist ("My wife's having a baby, and I can't be with her!!"), lots and lots of stock Dept. of Defense shots of scrambling fighters, and some surprisingly good effects rendered by then-Masterof the Art Jack Glass. By far, the most hilarious performance is rendered by the Governor's aide. This guy looks like he just found out that his wife is cheating, his single daughter is pregnant, his son has the clap, he has prostate cancer, the car needs a new tranny, and the bank is foreclosing on his mortgage. . .all at the same time!!! Coming in a close second is the TV singer. This guy couldn't carry a tune in a semi! Seriously though, while "The Lost Missile" may not be a great film, it isn't quite a bad one, either. It's fast-paced and does hold your interest, which is more than I can say for "Phantom From Space". That one.. .OY!!

This may be THE sleeper sci-fi film of the 50s. Very imaginative story--plausible & with adult storytelling/writing. Loggia was great. I did find a VHS copy on ebay a few years ago and the story held up very well! And that alien missile looks like it was designed by Giger! ("Alien")