Screenplay by Frank Telford
Story by Alford Van Ronkle, John P. Fulton
Produced by Charles E. Burns, Jerry Fairbanks
Cinematography: Hal Mohr
Edited by Richard A. Harris
Music by Edward Paul
Production companies: National Telefilm Associates, Jerry Fairbanks Productions
Distributed by World Entertainment Corp.
Running time: 103 minutes
Cast
Dan Duryea as Hank PetersJohn Ericson as Test Pilot Fred Norwood
Lois Nettleton as Anna Karachev
Robert Hastings as Garson
Vincent Beck as Zagorsky
Bernard Fox as Ephram
Robert Dane as Miller
Rico Cattani as Dubovsky
James Hong as Sam Archibald
Bartlett Robinson as Rhodes
Nick Katurich as Gadyakoff
William Mims as Joe Vetry
Nan Leslie as Dorothy Vetry
Andy Romano as Blanchard
Frank Gerstle as control room technician
The 1960s Cold War….
A flying saucer…..
American and Soviet Russian teams in Communist China!
What on earth (if not from Earth) connects these seemingly disparate elements?
Read on for more
Introduction
If you think the times we live in now are tumultuous, then you probably don’t have any memory of the 1960s and of 1968 in particular. It seemed then that the whole world was about go down the toilet with never ending futile wars in South-East Asia, fears of the spread of Communism, Red China joining the nuclear bomb club, civil rights protests, race riots, Soviet Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia and on and on.
By 1968, the deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations resulted in the Sino-Soviet split of the one time ideological allies. Chairman Mao Zedong criticized Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's policies of de-Stalinization and peaceful coexistence with the West, viewing them as a betrayal of Marxist-Leninist principles. The split eventually led China to pursue an independent foreign policy and seek rapprochement with the United States to counter Soviet influence.
For the most part, Sino-U.S. relations were highly strained. Following the Chinese Communist Party's victory in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the U.S. refused to recognize the People's Republic of China (PRC) and instead supported the Republic of China (ROC) government in Taiwan. Tensions over this issue have persisted to the present day. Animosity between the US and China increased as they clashed militarily during the Korean War (1950-1953), along with U.S. imposed trade embargoes and the exclusion of China from the United Nations, where the ROC held China's seat. The Cultural Revolution in China also served to heighten anti-Western rhetoric and attitudes. By the end of the1960s, both nations considered the possibility of rapprochement due to concern over Soviet expansionism.
By 1968 U.S.-Soviet relations were marked by Cold War rivalry and tension with the two superpowers being locked in an ideological and geopolitical struggle. The US and the Soviet Union were engaged in a nuclear arms race, a space race, and various proxy wars and conflicts such as the Vietnam War. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 had brought the world to the brink of nuclear war but in1968, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was signed in the hope of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. However, tensions remained high, especially after the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 to crush the Prague Spring reform movement. The U.S. condemned the invasion but avoided direct military confrontation, instead opting for a balance between competition and cautious diplomacy. History does seem to have a way of playing the same tune with slight variations!
How petty and stupid all this must have seemed to three astronauts on Apollo 8 as they became the first humans to leave their home planet ,the good planet Earth and circle another heavenly body, our moon. All that fussing and fighting reduced to something infinitesimally insignificant in the face of the beauty of earth rise!
Meanwhile down on Earth itself, a test pilot was about to have his perspective on life irrevocably altered as he became one of the “more than 5,000,000 persons who claim to have actually seen unidentified flying objects” and for whom “no explanation is necessary” while “to all others no explanation is possible.”
A TV journalist proclaims to the audience that the roaring sound they can hear is “the sound of hope’’ in the form of Rhodes Enterprises experimental aircraft 109 on its “crucial maiden flight” piloted by test pilot Fred Norwood. This event he optimistically declares “could signal the beginning of a billion dollar air force contract.” Entrepreneur Rhodes hopes to sell the aircraft to the US Air Force and has out-layed 250 million dollars developing the x-109.
Technological know-how combined with private enterprise and military application equals mastery of the heavens and presumably any potential adversary. However, hubris is inevitably destined to take a nose dive at some point…..
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As test pilot Fred Norwood flies the experimental X-109 accompanied by a chase plane, he finds himself being pursued and buzzed by what appears to be a flying saucer . Norwood is soon forced to engage in a series of evasive manoeuvres to avoid danger to himself and the plane. The crew on the ground cannot understand why he is deviating from the flight plan as Norwood is forced to pull out of a dive at Mach 3.12 from 30,000 Feet. Rhodes angrily orders Fred over the radio to throttle down and bring the plane in. Eventually, Fred manages to successfully land the X-109 but will find that he will now have to survive more than just a strange encounter and a wild flight…….
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Fred Norwood is undoubtedly an experienced test pilot who has tested every ship that has been thrown his way. In short, he is deemed to be “a reliable pilot.” So, how to account for his elevated pulse, blood pressure, respiration and skin temperature? Far from being someone who can operate under extreme stresses and pressure, the medical results of the recent flight indicate the “profile of a man losing his head.” According to the hard-headed, fact amd profit motivated Rhodes, “records don't mean a thing... when a man panics.”
Blanchard, the pilot from the chase-plane accompanying the X-107, emerges from the next room and declares to those in the de-briefing room that he had been looking the other way checking out a flash of light which turned out to be sunlight glinting off of a cold air layer or in other words, a temperature inversion which gave the impression of a flying object.
Before Norwood, a trained, experienced and competent pilot has entered the room, his conduct and explanation for that conduct is already predetermined and pre-judged by medical evidence, scientific rationalism and the need for a scape-goat on which to pin the blame for a seemingly failed test of Rhodes’ baby, the X-109 and any potential financial fall-out.
In the face of the mighty forces of scepticism radiating around the uncomfortable atmosphere in the room, Norwood’s explanation, “I was dodging that bogey...the ufo, the flying saucer” comes across as rather lame and bordering on being unhinged.
Norwood goes on to describe the craft as being “maybe 40 feet in diameter, shiny metallic.” Rhodes leaps on the last point by stating that if the object was metallic and of that size, then it would have appeared on radar. The radar operator can offer no solace to Norwood as he claims that all he saw was the 109 and the chase plane until he lost the picture to static.
Added to the claim that the object was solid metal with the sun glinting off it, Rhodes draws everyone’s attention back to Blanchard’s testimony and the meteorologists’ explanation of an inversion layer whereby the sun glinted off the cold air “giving the impression of a flying object.”
Rhodes’ conclusion based on the available evidence of Norwood’s culpability and lack of corroborating evidence for his explanation of what occurred, is that Norwood piloting “an untried aircraft in a condition verging on hysteria” as evidenced by soaring blood pressure and racing pulse, risked destroying the 109 “to avoid collision with a mirage. ”As far as Rhodes is concerned, it is the last time for Norwood in the 109.
Blanchard, the pilot of the chase plane, is the last to exit the room and momentarily halts in front of Norwood in an obviously uncomfortable and nervous state. His demeanour suggests guilt and calls into question the veracity of his account of what happened and what he did and didn’t see. There seems little question that pressure has been applied and the whole proceeding has been a stitch-up.
Up until quite recetly, the historical official approach toward reports of UFOs & Flying Saucers had been as we can see;
Deny
Disprove
Dissemble
Distract
Divert
Denigrate
Later at the house of his friend and fellow pilot, Joe Vetry, Fred sits brooding over the dent to his pride at what he sees as being viewed as “the hot test pilot who panics and has hallucinations.” Joe and his wife Dorothy (Fred’s sister) may be somewhat skeptical, but they declare that they are on his side and are prepared to help him.
Fred takes advantage of this declaration of support by acquiring Joe’s laser radar which he intends to install in a USAF surplus North American P-51 Mustang. Fred also intends to obtain two operators that he’ll pay for out of his own funds. The question is, for what purpose?
If you think the times we live in now are tumultuous, then you probably don’t have any memory of the 1960s and of 1968 in particular. It seemed then that the whole world was about go down the toilet with never ending futile wars in South-East Asia, fears of the spread of Communism, Red China joining the nuclear bomb club, civil rights protests, race riots, Soviet Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia and on and on.
By 1968, the deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations resulted in the Sino-Soviet split of the one time ideological allies. Chairman Mao Zedong criticized Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's policies of de-Stalinization and peaceful coexistence with the West, viewing them as a betrayal of Marxist-Leninist principles. The split eventually led China to pursue an independent foreign policy and seek rapprochement with the United States to counter Soviet influence.
For the most part, Sino-U.S. relations were highly strained. Following the Chinese Communist Party's victory in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the U.S. refused to recognize the People's Republic of China (PRC) and instead supported the Republic of China (ROC) government in Taiwan. Tensions over this issue have persisted to the present day. Animosity between the US and China increased as they clashed militarily during the Korean War (1950-1953), along with U.S. imposed trade embargoes and the exclusion of China from the United Nations, where the ROC held China's seat. The Cultural Revolution in China also served to heighten anti-Western rhetoric and attitudes. By the end of the1960s, both nations considered the possibility of rapprochement due to concern over Soviet expansionism.
By 1968 U.S.-Soviet relations were marked by Cold War rivalry and tension with the two superpowers being locked in an ideological and geopolitical struggle. The US and the Soviet Union were engaged in a nuclear arms race, a space race, and various proxy wars and conflicts such as the Vietnam War. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 had brought the world to the brink of nuclear war but in1968, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was signed in the hope of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. However, tensions remained high, especially after the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 to crush the Prague Spring reform movement. The U.S. condemned the invasion but avoided direct military confrontation, instead opting for a balance between competition and cautious diplomacy. History does seem to have a way of playing the same tune with slight variations!
How petty and stupid all this must have seemed to three astronauts on Apollo 8 as they became the first humans to leave their home planet ,the good planet Earth and circle another heavenly body, our moon. All that fussing and fighting reduced to something infinitesimally insignificant in the face of the beauty of earth rise!
Meanwhile down on Earth itself, a test pilot was about to have his perspective on life irrevocably altered as he became one of the “more than 5,000,000 persons who claim to have actually seen unidentified flying objects” and for whom “no explanation is necessary” while “to all others no explanation is possible.”
“The sound of hope”
A TV journalist proclaims to the audience that the roaring sound they can hear is “the sound of hope’’ in the form of Rhodes Enterprises experimental aircraft 109 on its “crucial maiden flight” piloted by test pilot Fred Norwood. This event he optimistically declares “could signal the beginning of a billion dollar air force contract.” Entrepreneur Rhodes hopes to sell the aircraft to the US Air Force and has out-layed 250 million dollars developing the x-109.
Technological know-how combined with private enterprise and military application equals mastery of the heavens and presumably any potential adversary. However, hubris is inevitably destined to take a nose dive at some point…..
“I got a bogey here”
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“Indications are you saw a mirage”
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Blanchard, the pilot from the chase-plane accompanying the X-107, emerges from the next room and declares to those in the de-briefing room that he had been looking the other way checking out a flash of light which turned out to be sunlight glinting off of a cold air layer or in other words, a temperature inversion which gave the impression of a flying object.
Before Norwood, a trained, experienced and competent pilot has entered the room, his conduct and explanation for that conduct is already predetermined and pre-judged by medical evidence, scientific rationalism and the need for a scape-goat on which to pin the blame for a seemingly failed test of Rhodes’ baby, the X-109 and any potential financial fall-out.
In the face of the mighty forces of scepticism radiating around the uncomfortable atmosphere in the room, Norwood’s explanation, “I was dodging that bogey...the ufo, the flying saucer” comes across as rather lame and bordering on being unhinged.
Norwood goes on to describe the craft as being “maybe 40 feet in diameter, shiny metallic.” Rhodes leaps on the last point by stating that if the object was metallic and of that size, then it would have appeared on radar. The radar operator can offer no solace to Norwood as he claims that all he saw was the 109 and the chase plane until he lost the picture to static.
Added to the claim that the object was solid metal with the sun glinting off it, Rhodes draws everyone’s attention back to Blanchard’s testimony and the meteorologists’ explanation of an inversion layer whereby the sun glinted off the cold air “giving the impression of a flying object.”
Rhodes’ conclusion based on the available evidence of Norwood’s culpability and lack of corroborating evidence for his explanation of what occurred, is that Norwood piloting “an untried aircraft in a condition verging on hysteria” as evidenced by soaring blood pressure and racing pulse, risked destroying the 109 “to avoid collision with a mirage. ”As far as Rhodes is concerned, it is the last time for Norwood in the 109.
Blanchard, the pilot of the chase plane, is the last to exit the room and momentarily halts in front of Norwood in an obviously uncomfortable and nervous state. His demeanour suggests guilt and calls into question the veracity of his account of what happened and what he did and didn’t see. There seems little question that pressure has been applied and the whole proceeding has been a stitch-up.
Up until quite recetly, the historical official approach toward reports of UFOs & Flying Saucers had been as we can see;
Deny
Disprove
Dissemble
Distract
Divert
Denigrate
“I was responsible”
Later at the house of his friend and fellow pilot, Joe Vetry, Fred sits brooding over the dent to his pride at what he sees as being viewed as “the hot test pilot who panics and has hallucinations.” Joe and his wife Dorothy (Fred’s sister) may be somewhat skeptical, but they declare that they are on his side and are prepared to help him.
Fred takes advantage of this declaration of support by acquiring Joe’s laser radar which he intends to install in a USAF surplus North American P-51 Mustang. Fred also intends to obtain two operators that he’ll pay for out of his own funds. The question is, for what purpose?
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When Fred is in a position to put his clandestine aerial surveillance operation into effect, it isn’t long before he reaches the point of exhaustion, so much so that “he's so groggy he's seeing things.” One night as he sleeps, Joe lets him rest and decides to pilot the Mustang himself. Fred is soon awakened from his slumber with a report that the radar has picked something up but it could prove to be a bad radar return. Annoyed at being left to sleep, Fred along with Dorothy rush to the radar shack and hear a report of a flying object that manoeuvres like nothing anyone is familiar with. Over thr radio, Joe describes the object as having a “flashing red light” and is “like the headlight of a car coming at you at night but it's big, big and it's round.” Joe then decides to close in on the “bogey” as Fred and Dorothy watch the two blips on the radar screen converge. To their horror and grief they then witness Joe's aircraft vanish off the screen.
Later, two Federal Aviation Agency investigators hand over to Fred a part of his helmet with his name on it. This only serves as a poignant reminder of his own sense of responsibility for what happened. The investigators tell Fred that they haven't found the body yet but are “beginning to think it just disintegrated like the plane disintegrated.” It was as if the “plane literally came apart in mid-air like it was disassembled piece by piece.” To Fred’s guilt-riven mind, it was not the UFO that was responsible for Joe’s death. It was he who was responsible.
“If the red Chinese get their hands on it the free world is obsolete”
Fred Norwood is later summoned to Washington D.C. to meet with Hank Peters, who is part of an unidentified US government agency. Peters has been fully appraised of Fred’s claimed encounter with the UFO while flight testing the x-109. He is also aware that the “flight control people said it was a mirage.” Handing Fred a piece of paper, Peters asks him to take note of what it contains. Drawn on the paper is a representation of a UFO just like the one Fred observed. Of particular note is the that the drawing was made by “a peasant who lives in a remote border village of Red China!” Moreover, “the peasant claimed that the sketch is the likeness of a thing hidden in the ruined church” and that “the bodies of two creatures were found nearby: human-like and yet different.” It is conjectured that they died “because they lacked immunity to earth's bacteria but they must have been oxygen breathers” as they “wouldn't have ventured from the ship.” Not much else could be determined as “the bodies decayed very rapidly and the peasants cremated what was left.” Much of the information was obtain second hand by Sam Archibald, an agent in China.
Three possibilities remain:
1. “It could be a hoax.”
2. The alleged saucer “could be so scientifically advanced as to make our technology obsolete.”
3. “If the Red Chinese get their hands on it the free world is obsolete.”
What to do?
Send in a team to investigate and destroy the saucer. Fred is to accompany the infiltration team in order to obtain intelligence on how the saucer operates. Having agreed to accept his role in the mission, Fred meets two other members of the infiltration team who will be accompanying him: Jack Garson “electronics wizard” and Dave Ephram, “master metallurgist.”
After parachuting onto the Chinese drop zone, the team is met by American-Chinese agent, Sam Archibald. Sam informs them that their objective is about 75 miles due west to a catholic church that had been gutted by the Red Chinese who had also murdered the priest about five years previously. The local peasants hated the Red Chinese for what they did and so when they found the saucer in the church the village leader got word to Sam and he drew the sketch from memory.
The team will have to traverse territory which is heavily patrolled by the Red Chinese army. As the ant-religious communists would normally shun a catholic church, it is likely they don't even know the saucer exists.
While making their way to their destination, the team has to try and evade units of the People's Liberation Army. At one point they stop to rest and replenish their water supplies. As Fred fills the canteens, he is startled by a scream. He turns to catch sight of a half naked woman bathing in the pool behind him. Just as surprising is that she is Caucasian, blond and damn easy on the eye. Why on earth she screams rather then silently slinking off which only serves to alert Fred to her presence is beyond me. Despite that, we know fully well there’s potential love interest here.
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It turns out that the woman is scientist Anna Karachev who is part of a team of Russians led by Dubovsky. It is almost as if potions of Barbara Eden and Yvette Mimieux were mixed together to produce her! When the two groups meet the initial reaction is to shoot first and ask questions later but it is soon realized that “any more shooting will attract the Chinese soldiers if it hasn't already.” It is therefore agreed that the tow sides will “parlay.”
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Anna acts as translator and conveys to the Americans what amounts to a bluff by stating “if you are found by our friends and allies the soldiers of Chinese Socialist Republic you will be shot. We urge you to go back where you come from and we will not inform our allies that you were here.”
After a brief confab with his team, Peters decides to call the Russians’ bluff by stating, “we know you're here on the same mission that we are. We know you entered the country without permission and that you're just as afraid of the Chinese Reds as we are.”
With the rapid approach of a Chinese patrol plane, the tension mounts as the two teams wait to see who will be the first to blink. It isn’t long before the pretence is dropped and the Russians scramble for cover from their Chinese ‘allies’ along with their Western opponents. It is plain that both teams are on the same mission, with the same objective and facing the same perils.
So what to do? A kind of detente is established whereby it is decided that “the important thing is to get to the saucer without drawing a thousand Chinese Reds around our necks” and then “after that, we'll play it by ear.”
As the teams make their way toward their destination, there’s the usual Soviet commie-non-fraternisingg-with-the-enemy edicts being issued. During one fraternisation episode Anna and Fred converse and during the banter there’s the expected references to female qualities and attributes versus intelligence, gender roles in respective societies, bourgeois society and so on. There’s even a frisking or patting down of Anna by Fred to determine if soviet women are no different than men. Well don’t panic as she at least she did give her permission! And yes, they are different. Well, fancy that!
After arriving at the church containing the saucer, both teams stand transfixed and awestruck before the wondrous stationary craft. How to proceed? Anna proposes that both teams agree to share this great discovery and work together as a unified scientific team to exploit it before later announcing their discoveries to the world.
Peters however is distrustful and raises objections about people working with guns strapped to their hips. Reason in the form of one of the Russian scientists, Zagorsky intervenes with a proposal for both teams to put their guns away leaving only each team leader being armed. With little choice left, both teams are forced to trust each other for now and work together. But is life ever that simple?
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The next task for the now united team is to work out a way to enter the craft, the entire exterior surface of which “is completely unbroken” with “not a sign of a door a porch or nothing.” A door is eventually discovered under the saucer but the problem remains as to how to open it. The answer comes in the form of Jack Ephram’s electric razor which operates on the frequency needed to open the door of the saucer.
Having figured out the means of entering the craft, there’s a matter of protocol requiring both a Russian and an American to enter. Fred and Anna are eventually selected to perform this momentous task.
Anna and Fred’s examination of the saucer’s interior suggest the following about its construction and functioning:
“It looks like solid metal from the outside” but from inside it's transparent suggesting “it must be some kind of plastic” allowing the occupants to see out but not permitting anyone outside to see in. The absence of gravity couches suggests that “no amount of strapping down could combat intense speed and quick directional changes.”The craft must “generate its own inner gravitational field that counteracts and equalizes all g-forces.” The life support is automatically activated by the carbon dioxide exhaled by whoever enters. The carbon dioxide gas is converted into ozone. Who ever piloted the saucer are oxygen breathers.When Anna and Fred attempt to exit the saucer, they find the door closed and so try to open it using the electric razor. However, the frequency of the razor only serves to activate the gravitational field within causing Anna and Fred to feel the crushing effects of the magnetic force being created.
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After a bit of luck and guess work, Anna and Fred locate the likely panel that might control the gravitational field and then take a calculated risk by activating a relay (Fred’s index finger gripped and guided by Anna’s firm grasp) that might open and close the electric circuits. Fortunately, their luck has held out and they now know what regulates the saucer’s gravitational field. They also now know that a simple previously unnoticed electric eye activates the saucer’s door.
During another interlude between Fred and Anna, we see Anna administering antibiotics to a Chinese baby. Here we have representatives of two competing powers united in forming a bond of love between them while also uniting to provide help to those unfortunates who are presumably not being adequately catered for by the system they live under.
There then follows a critique of the Soviet system in which someone like Anna who wanted to study medicine discovered that the year she started school the quota was unfilled for electronics majors with the result that the commissar of education decided that area was to be her field of employment. After all, in the Soviet system “the state must decide these things.” As if on cue, the staunch representative of that system, Dubovsky once more issues his edit against fraternisation. Nyet! Nyet! Nyet!
The examination of the saucer continues which reveals that;
This craft is repelled or attracted by universal lines of magnetic force.” For instance, “if it wants to go up, it fastens on to the magnetic attraction of say the sun if the sun is out of zenith or any other star that's in that position of the heavens at that time of day.” To achieve horizontal flight “it just beams on to the magnetic attraction of any star or planet that's on or near the horizon.” The circuitry of the saucer’s controls “properly adjusted block out all magnetic attractions except the one the pilot wishes to utilize.”Implication: “if we could utilize this principle we could exploit literally limitless fields of energy - we could irrigate deserts, dissolve oceans, increase production of food of everything one hundred fold.” OR.,....“ We could also manufacture one hell of a super weapon.”BUT: “what would the world want with weapons if every country was rich and prosperous?”
Three possibilities remain:
1. “It could be a hoax.”
2. The alleged saucer “could be so scientifically advanced as to make our technology obsolete.”
3. “If the Red Chinese get their hands on it the free world is obsolete.”
What to do?
Send in a team to investigate and destroy the saucer. Fred is to accompany the infiltration team in order to obtain intelligence on how the saucer operates. Having agreed to accept his role in the mission, Fred meets two other members of the infiltration team who will be accompanying him: Jack Garson “electronics wizard” and Dave Ephram, “master metallurgist.”
“There's gonna be a long hard journey”
After parachuting onto the Chinese drop zone, the team is met by American-Chinese agent, Sam Archibald. Sam informs them that their objective is about 75 miles due west to a catholic church that had been gutted by the Red Chinese who had also murdered the priest about five years previously. The local peasants hated the Red Chinese for what they did and so when they found the saucer in the church the village leader got word to Sam and he drew the sketch from memory.
The team will have to traverse territory which is heavily patrolled by the Red Chinese army. As the ant-religious communists would normally shun a catholic church, it is likely they don't even know the saucer exists.
While making their way to their destination, the team has to try and evade units of the People's Liberation Army. At one point they stop to rest and replenish their water supplies. As Fred fills the canteens, he is startled by a scream. He turns to catch sight of a half naked woman bathing in the pool behind him. Just as surprising is that she is Caucasian, blond and damn easy on the eye. Why on earth she screams rather then silently slinking off which only serves to alert Fred to her presence is beyond me. Despite that, we know fully well there’s potential love interest here.
.jpg)
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With the rapid approach of a Chinese patrol plane, the tension mounts as the two teams wait to see who will be the first to blink. It isn’t long before the pretence is dropped and the Russians scramble for cover from their Chinese ‘allies’ along with their Western opponents. It is plain that both teams are on the same mission, with the same objective and facing the same perils.
So what to do? A kind of detente is established whereby it is decided that “the important thing is to get to the saucer without drawing a thousand Chinese Reds around our necks” and then “after that, we'll play it by ear.”
As the teams make their way toward their destination, there’s the usual Soviet commie-non-fraternisingg-with-the-enemy edicts being issued. During one fraternisation episode Anna and Fred converse and during the banter there’s the expected references to female qualities and attributes versus intelligence, gender roles in respective societies, bourgeois society and so on. There’s even a frisking or patting down of Anna by Fred to determine if soviet women are no different than men. Well don’t panic as she at least she did give her permission! And yes, they are different. Well, fancy that!
Detente & Cooperation
After arriving at the church containing the saucer, both teams stand transfixed and awestruck before the wondrous stationary craft. How to proceed? Anna proposes that both teams agree to share this great discovery and work together as a unified scientific team to exploit it before later announcing their discoveries to the world.
Peters however is distrustful and raises objections about people working with guns strapped to their hips. Reason in the form of one of the Russian scientists, Zagorsky intervenes with a proposal for both teams to put their guns away leaving only each team leader being armed. With little choice left, both teams are forced to trust each other for now and work together. But is life ever that simple?
.jpg)
Having figured out the means of entering the craft, there’s a matter of protocol requiring both a Russian and an American to enter. Fred and Anna are eventually selected to perform this momentous task.
The Saucer
Anna and Fred’s examination of the saucer’s interior suggest the following about its construction and functioning:
“It looks like solid metal from the outside” but from inside it's transparent suggesting “it must be some kind of plastic” allowing the occupants to see out but not permitting anyone outside to see in. The absence of gravity couches suggests that “no amount of strapping down could combat intense speed and quick directional changes.”The craft must “generate its own inner gravitational field that counteracts and equalizes all g-forces.” The life support is automatically activated by the carbon dioxide exhaled by whoever enters. The carbon dioxide gas is converted into ozone. Who ever piloted the saucer are oxygen breathers.When Anna and Fred attempt to exit the saucer, they find the door closed and so try to open it using the electric razor. However, the frequency of the razor only serves to activate the gravitational field within causing Anna and Fred to feel the crushing effects of the magnetic force being created.
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“The State must decide these things”
During another interlude between Fred and Anna, we see Anna administering antibiotics to a Chinese baby. Here we have representatives of two competing powers united in forming a bond of love between them while also uniting to provide help to those unfortunates who are presumably not being adequately catered for by the system they live under.
There then follows a critique of the Soviet system in which someone like Anna who wanted to study medicine discovered that the year she started school the quota was unfilled for electronics majors with the result that the commissar of education decided that area was to be her field of employment. After all, in the Soviet system “the state must decide these things.” As if on cue, the staunch representative of that system, Dubovsky once more issues his edit against fraternisation. Nyet! Nyet! Nyet!
More About The Saucer
The examination of the saucer continues which reveals that;
This craft is repelled or attracted by universal lines of magnetic force.” For instance, “if it wants to go up, it fastens on to the magnetic attraction of say the sun if the sun is out of zenith or any other star that's in that position of the heavens at that time of day.” To achieve horizontal flight “it just beams on to the magnetic attraction of any star or planet that's on or near the horizon.” The circuitry of the saucer’s controls “properly adjusted block out all magnetic attractions except the one the pilot wishes to utilize.”Implication: “if we could utilize this principle we could exploit literally limitless fields of energy - we could irrigate deserts, dissolve oceans, increase production of food of everything one hundred fold.” OR.,....“ We could also manufacture one hell of a super weapon.”BUT: “what would the world want with weapons if every country was rich and prosperous?”
A case of the development of new technology not in itself necessarily being evil, but rather how it is applied or the uses it is put to and for what purpose.
One of the Russian scientists has in the meantime been ordered to test fly the saucer and has consequently paid with his life. His death and subsequent burial raises some interesting questions about what unites human beings as opposed to what divides them. No matter where people live they generally mourn and revere the dead and engage in rituals that suggest some belief in or hope for an afterlife that goes beyond the merely material and rational view of existence.
The Russian scientist’s death also ensures that Fred and Anna will be working together seeing that Fred’s flight engineer earlier had an accident that resulted in a broken wrist.
Peters however is not in favour of such close cooperation and believes that “we're not here to share knowledge with them, we're here to get a monopoly, if possible a monopoly that would make our military position invincible.” Still, the situation will have to dictate what is to happen as the saucer’s controls “are too much for a one-handed man” and the Russians don’t have a pilot. Besides, no-one else is qualified to attempt the take-off.
It is also decided that in the interests of unity in this Russian-American project guns are not longer necessary.” However, the new found feeling of optimism and cooperation is somewhat dampened by Sam’s warning that “Red patrols in the area have been very heavy this morning more so than usual” and that “they've become aware of a kind of a suppressed excitement in the village” resulting in their suspicions being aroused.
It seems that the suspicions of the Russian and American leaders have remained somewhat intact as they have each decided to carry concealed weapons .Dubovsky has meanwhile put his weapon to good use by holding the American team at gunpoint with the intention of getting Fred to fly the saucer to Moscow or he will kill them all.
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After an act of defiance on the part of Anna and a Russian scientist, Zagorsky and a subsequent shoot out, Dubovsky is eventually disarmed and restrained. The question remains as to what to do with Dubovsky and the Russians if they can’t be held as prisoners due to it being impractical and it can’t be risked letting them get the information about the saucer back to Moscow. The notion of loyalty to one’s own side could as implied by Peters dictate eliminating the Russians.
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While they are arguing over what to do, they notice Sam silently watching them. Sam provides the ominous answer to the question of who is to gain if they decide to exterminate one another: “I'll tell you who's to gain - the Red Chinese, that's who.”
Peters and Sam venture outside and spot a group of Chinese PLA soldiers radioing for reinforcements stationed in the nearby village. What the Russians and the Americans can agree on is that the saucer even if it can’t be destroyed, can’t be left in the hands of the Red Chinese. The only option then is to fly the saucer out of the country. But how, with so much still to learn about its functions? Suddenly, like magic, Anna whips out a piece of paper containing crucial calculations needed to get them airborne. All that is needed is 30 minutes to run through the figures.
As to be expected, Cold War calculations suddenly intervene with Dubovski insisting that the saucer be flown to Moscow while Peters is equally determined that it be flown “to the nearest American air base, Formosa.” Once again, what can be agreed is that both sides are equally determined not to allow the Red Chinese to get their hands on the saucer. With that in mind, Peters allows his Russian counterpart to arm himself as the Russians and Americans prepare to exit the church to hold off the PLA soldiers. Meanwhile Anna, Fred and Jack Garson enter the saucer to work on getting it airborne.
The first assault by the Red Chinese soldiers is successfully repelled but the defenders are aware that “they know our position and strength” and that “it won't be so easy next time.” With grenades running low, Zagorsky volunteers to go back to the church to get more but is shot in the process. He may have not been as much use there, but the world has now lost a brilliant and talented scientist. Fred then runs the same gauntlet as Zagorsky to bring the supply of grenades to the defenders.
With the Chinese coming at them from both the front and right flanks, Fred returns to the saucer under covering fire while Sam and Ephram make their way to the right flank to cover that approach thereby hopefully enabling them to fall back to the church when the signal is given that the saucer is ready. The plan does in fact prove to be overly optimistic as the overwhelming number of attacking troops proves to be too much for the few defenders and they are all killed in a heroic Alamo-style defence. The one-time implacable enemies, Dubovsky and Peters die fighting side-by-side, both now on the same side as their respective countries had done in a previous war against a common enemy.
The silencing of the gunfire outside informs the others in the saucer about what has taken place. There is nothing for it but to get the saucer operational and leave with alacrity. The intention is to “reset for horizontal flight” but the saucer apparently has other ideas with the result that they have “taken off like a rocket and straight up.” Fred is unable to level off as the saucer has been placed on automatic pilot and is taking its occupants away with it.
With no response from the controls, it has taken just a few moments for the saucer to break free of the earth’s gravity and travel thousands of miles. But how? Anna suggests that they are approaching the speed of light. It also appears that the automatic pilot is locked on to a preset course and that the saucer is being drawn to some magnetic attraction, perhaps a planet or “maybe even some distant star many light years beyond our solar system.” By some happy coincidence, their course takes them right by the moon, then past Mars, just avoiding collision with an angry asteroid and finally heading straight for a strange-looking Saturn that appears to be like a psychedelic lozenge surrounded by an inflated inner-tube.
The occupants of the saucer come to the rather disconcerting realisation that they are heading directly toward Saturn and certain doom. Manual control might be achieved but only by entering the correct sequence of circuit combinations. The problem is that there are an infinite variety of combinations with the ones they do know. Who knows how long that would take and how long they have to do it?
Anna hits on the idea of eliminating some of the permutations mathematically (whatever that means, but it sounds good) and in the meantime running as many combinations as possible.
With time running out and the saucer heading on a dead collision course with Saturn, Fred offers the cheery news that “the weight of Saturn's atmospheres are so immense that long before we hit anything solid this ship will be crushed and compressed to the size of a baseball.” Gee, thanks for that Fred! Oh yes, and on top of that, time has just about run out!
Just in the nick of time, Anna pulls yet another one out of a hat by reducing the problem to four circuits except that she doesn’t know which sequence to enter out of the 24. Oh, come on woman, get your act together! With tension mounting, Anna rattles off the sequences one-by-one as each is entered by one-hand Jack. Just as we are collectively about to pee ourselves with anticipation, they manage to restore manual control and sling-shot around Saturn and find themselves on a course back to earth.
“You're not such a perfect Marxist”
The Russian scientist’s death also ensures that Fred and Anna will be working together seeing that Fred’s flight engineer earlier had an accident that resulted in a broken wrist.
Peters however is not in favour of such close cooperation and believes that “we're not here to share knowledge with them, we're here to get a monopoly, if possible a monopoly that would make our military position invincible.” Still, the situation will have to dictate what is to happen as the saucer’s controls “are too much for a one-handed man” and the Russians don’t have a pilot. Besides, no-one else is qualified to attempt the take-off.
It is also decided that in the interests of unity in this Russian-American project guns are not longer necessary.” However, the new found feeling of optimism and cooperation is somewhat dampened by Sam’s warning that “Red patrols in the area have been very heavy this morning more so than usual” and that “they've become aware of a kind of a suppressed excitement in the village” resulting in their suspicions being aroused.
“You keep wanting to blow each other up”
It seems that the suspicions of the Russian and American leaders have remained somewhat intact as they have each decided to carry concealed weapons .Dubovsky has meanwhile put his weapon to good use by holding the American team at gunpoint with the intention of getting Fred to fly the saucer to Moscow or he will kill them all.
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“We all need each other”
Peters and Sam venture outside and spot a group of Chinese PLA soldiers radioing for reinforcements stationed in the nearby village. What the Russians and the Americans can agree on is that the saucer even if it can’t be destroyed, can’t be left in the hands of the Red Chinese. The only option then is to fly the saucer out of the country. But how, with so much still to learn about its functions? Suddenly, like magic, Anna whips out a piece of paper containing crucial calculations needed to get them airborne. All that is needed is 30 minutes to run through the figures.
As to be expected, Cold War calculations suddenly intervene with Dubovski insisting that the saucer be flown to Moscow while Peters is equally determined that it be flown “to the nearest American air base, Formosa.” Once again, what can be agreed is that both sides are equally determined not to allow the Red Chinese to get their hands on the saucer. With that in mind, Peters allows his Russian counterpart to arm himself as the Russians and Americans prepare to exit the church to hold off the PLA soldiers. Meanwhile Anna, Fred and Jack Garson enter the saucer to work on getting it airborne.
“Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes”
The first assault by the Red Chinese soldiers is successfully repelled but the defenders are aware that “they know our position and strength” and that “it won't be so easy next time.” With grenades running low, Zagorsky volunteers to go back to the church to get more but is shot in the process. He may have not been as much use there, but the world has now lost a brilliant and talented scientist. Fred then runs the same gauntlet as Zagorsky to bring the supply of grenades to the defenders.
With the Chinese coming at them from both the front and right flanks, Fred returns to the saucer under covering fire while Sam and Ephram make their way to the right flank to cover that approach thereby hopefully enabling them to fall back to the church when the signal is given that the saucer is ready. The plan does in fact prove to be overly optimistic as the overwhelming number of attacking troops proves to be too much for the few defenders and they are all killed in a heroic Alamo-style defence. The one-time implacable enemies, Dubovsky and Peters die fighting side-by-side, both now on the same side as their respective countries had done in a previous war against a common enemy.
“This ship is running away with us”
With no response from the controls, it has taken just a few moments for the saucer to break free of the earth’s gravity and travel thousands of miles. But how? Anna suggests that they are approaching the speed of light. It also appears that the automatic pilot is locked on to a preset course and that the saucer is being drawn to some magnetic attraction, perhaps a planet or “maybe even some distant star many light years beyond our solar system.” By some happy coincidence, their course takes them right by the moon, then past Mars, just avoiding collision with an angry asteroid and finally heading straight for a strange-looking Saturn that appears to be like a psychedelic lozenge surrounded by an inflated inner-tube.
Anna hits on the idea of eliminating some of the permutations mathematically (whatever that means, but it sounds good) and in the meantime running as many combinations as possible.
With time running out and the saucer heading on a dead collision course with Saturn, Fred offers the cheery news that “the weight of Saturn's atmospheres are so immense that long before we hit anything solid this ship will be crushed and compressed to the size of a baseball.” Gee, thanks for that Fred! Oh yes, and on top of that, time has just about run out!
Just in the nick of time, Anna pulls yet another one out of a hat by reducing the problem to four circuits except that she doesn’t know which sequence to enter out of the 24. Oh, come on woman, get your act together! With tension mounting, Anna rattles off the sequences one-by-one as each is entered by one-hand Jack. Just as we are collectively about to pee ourselves with anticipation, they manage to restore manual control and sling-shot around Saturn and find themselves on a course back to earth.
Points of Interest
This was the final film for actor Dan Duryea who featured in various noir films of the 1940s and 1950s often playing crooked characters who nevertheless seemed to possess redeeming qualities.
In 1954 Jerry Fairbanks was reported as preparing his first theatrical motion picture, titled Project Saucer that was to be filmed in widescreen and color.
In relation to the film’s screenplay, Fairbanks was informed by Assistant Secretary of Defense in response to enquiries made that any references to the CIA should be deleted. There were also objections made as to the accuracy of the the flying saucer investigation as well as to the use of the Air Force in an air drop inside Chinese air space.
With changes made to the screenplay, the film was re-titled The Bamboo Saucer. The film was re-released in 1969 under the title Collision Course with a reduced edited runtime of 90 minutes.
The experimental X-109 aircraft was actually Air Force stock footage of a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter.
Some viewers might raise the point that the film feels more like a throw-back to sci-fi films of the 1950s and compare it unfavorably to such films as 2001: A Space Odyssey. Perhaps, but at least the film has an engaging plot with a good mixture of entertainment, action, pacing, drama and some humor. It doesn’t seem to be laying any claim to being a ‘work of art’ that’s in search of a good story to tell and which could result in audiences nodding off or losing the will to live! And yes, the film is peppered with stereotypical elements in terms of gender and Cold War national and ethnic cliches, but so what? It is easy enough to treat it as a snap shot of a particular time in history and consider whether or not we really have made that much progress in almost 60 years. After all, we yet to “meet them face-to-face!”
FULL FILM LINK
FREE EBOOK LINK
The experimental X-109 aircraft was actually Air Force stock footage of a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter.
Some viewers might raise the point that the film feels more like a throw-back to sci-fi films of the 1950s and compare it unfavorably to such films as 2001: A Space Odyssey. Perhaps, but at least the film has an engaging plot with a good mixture of entertainment, action, pacing, drama and some humor. It doesn’t seem to be laying any claim to being a ‘work of art’ that’s in search of a good story to tell and which could result in audiences nodding off or losing the will to live! And yes, the film is peppered with stereotypical elements in terms of gender and Cold War national and ethnic cliches, but so what? It is easy enough to treat it as a snap shot of a particular time in history and consider whether or not we really have made that much progress in almost 60 years. After all, we yet to “meet them face-to-face!”
FULL FILM LINK
FREE EBOOK LINK
(Big Fat Book of 1950s Sci-Fi Films)
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·