| The Flying Saucer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Mikel Conrad |
| Written by | Howard Irving Young Mikel Conrad |
| Produced by | Mikel Conrad |
| Starring | Mikel Conrad |
| Cinematography | Phillip Tannura |
| Edited by | Robert Crandall |
| Music by | Darrell Calker |
Production companies | Colonial Productions, Inc. |
| Distributed by | Film Classics |
Release date |
|
Running time | 75 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Flying Saucer is a 1950 independently made American black-and-white science fiction spy film drama. It was written by Howard Irving Young, from an original story by Mikel Conrad, who also produced, directed, and stars with Pat Garrison and Hantz von Teuffen. The film was first distributed in the U.S. by Film Classics and later re-released in 1953 by Realart Pictures, on a double-bill with Atomic Monster (the retitled-reissue of Man Made Monster, originally released in 1941 by Universal Pictures).
The Flying Saucer was the first feature film to deal with the (then) new and hot topic of flying saucers.[2] Flying saucers or "UFOs", shaped like flying disks or saucers, were first identified and given the popular name on June 24, 1947, when private pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine silvery, crescent-shaped objects flying in tight formation. A newspaper reporter coined the snappy tagline, "flying saucers", which captured the public's imagination.[3] During the 1947 flying disc craze, over 800 'copycat' sightings were reported throughout North America.
The film has no relationship and should not be confused with the later Ray Harryhausen science fiction film Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, released by Columbia Pictures.
- ^ Hale, Wanda (January 5, 1950). "'The Flying Saucer' New at the Rialto". New York Daily News. p. 66.
- ^ Warren 2009, p. 6.
- ^ Wright, Bruce Lanier. "Invaders from Elsewhere: Flying Saucers, Weirdness, and Pop Culture." Strange Magazine. Retrieved: January 8, 2015.