| Invasion of the Saucermen |
the mad monster maker
This little gem was produced by Barsch.
It's one of the best reproductions I've ever seen of these space
guys. I really loved making this one up, from start to finish. It
has got to be one of my favorites of the B-Rated monsters put
out in the 1950's.
It is done in 1/6th scale.
I completed the model in December of 2003.
Below is someone on the Internet who actually took time from
his life to watch and comment on the original flick. Maybe you
like to read it. If you'd like to read other B-Rated reviews from
this era, just go to: www.atomicmonsters.com
It's one of the best reproductions I've ever seen of these space
guys. I really loved making this one up, from start to finish. It
has got to be one of my favorites of the B-Rated monsters put
out in the 1950's.
It is done in 1/6th scale.
I completed the model in December of 2003.
Below is someone on the Internet who actually took time from
his life to watch and comment on the original flick. Maybe you
like to read it. If you'd like to read other B-Rated reviews from
this era, just go to: www.atomicmonsters.com
Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957)
Webster's Dictionary translates the word “invasion” as anything that enters as an
enemy. So technically, if you were expecting Invasion of the Saucermen to
feature a whole fleet of spaceships (or even two) you'd be wrong. One single
spacecraft ventures to earth apparently for the sole purpose of killing off our
alcoholics and fighting our livestock.
The movie begins with a narration by Artie. He and his buddy Joe (played by
Frank Gorshin, a.k.a. the Riddler from the TV's Batman) are two Brooklyn-
accented drifters who have come to the small town of Hicksburgh to “make a
quick buck” (they never tell us what that means). Anyway, on his way to “pick up
some chicks”, Joe sees a spaceship descend into the woods.
Suddenly, the real villain of this movie, film editor Charles Gross, Jr., takes us to
a diner where three teenage boys see the same UFO. (The editor of this movie is
the reason I'm forced to use the word “Meanwhile” a lot in this review.) When
army lieutenant Wilkens, also at the diner, gets wind of this, he tells his
commander, Col. Armbrose.
Meanwhile, (I warned you) one of the teenagers, Johnny, takes his fiancée Joan
to Lover's Point, which is also the farm of old man Larkin and his bull named
Walt. We know he's an old farmer because he's grumpy and uses strange
profanities like “consarn it!”
Johnny and Joan drive away from Lover's Point with their headlights turned off
because the light was bothering others, forcing one couple to yell, “Hey…cut the
lights! You're crampin' our style!” But their good intentions run awry when they
accidentally run over an alien crossing the road. Recoiling in fear, the couple fails
to notice the alien's hand detach from its grotesque body and crawl around on its
own. Guided by an eyeball located on the back of the hand, it makes its way to
the car tire. Needles then protrude from the alien hand's devilish digits and
puncture Johnny's tire.
Stranded, they decide to go to Larkin's farm for help. When they find no one
home, they wisely decide to break in and use Larkin's phone. Soon, a shotgun-
toting Larkin yelling, “You consarn hoodlums!” comes home and kicks the kids out
of his house.
Meanwhile, the Riddler…I mean drunk Joe…discovers the alien by Johnny's
abandoned car. He too breaks into Larkin's home to use his phone (the old man
is in the pasture talking to his bull) to convince his pal Artie that he's returning
home with an alien corpse. But no sooner does Joe return to the accident site
than he's attacked at the ankles by alien needle-tipped fingers!
Meanwhile, Col. Armbrose has discovered the alien spaceship and contemplates
what to do when faced with the first visitor from outer space. After carefully
weighing all the options, he commands a soldier to shoot at it and then orders
him to cut it open with a blow torch which trips a self-destruct device, thereby
obliterating the greatest discovery of all time. Ah…military intelligence.
Back at Johnny's car, the police have discovered Joe's dead body and assume
the teenagers are responsible for his death. The teens' only shot at innocence is
Joan's father, the city attorney, but he's no help because he thinks Johnny is a
“roughneck”. Johnny and Joan soon escape the police station by leaving through
an open window in the interrogation room (this is some police force and army
operation going on here). They not only break out, but also steal a police car
because Johnny's theory is: Compared to everything else, what's a little grand
theft auto? Good advice for impressionable movie-watching teens!
They end up back at the scene of the accident to look for evidence to clear their
good names. Giving up after 10 seconds of searching, they return to the police
car unaware that the severed alien hand has roamed its way to the back seat.
Once on the road, the hand works its way behind Joan's head, ready to strike.
But when Johnny turns the car abruptly, the lurch throws the hand to the back seat
from whence it came. But persistence is this little paw's middle name and it
eventually lumbers back into striking range. This time, Joan notices the frightful
fingers just in time. The kids escape and lock the hand in the car, thereby
obtaining the evidence they need.
Now they have to get Artie to see the evidence. Johnny recalls that Joe's
driver's license said he lived at 121 Maple St. (even though Artie and Joe were
drifters and had never been to Hicksburgh before). After talking with Artie a few
minutes about what they've seen, he is soon completely convinced!!!
Now at this point of the movie, brace yourself perhaps the most bizarre alien
battle of all time. The Saucerman vs Walt the bull! Actually, it's more like a bull
running around with a stuffed alien costume tied to its back. But that's O.K.
because its intermingled with scenes of an alien attacking a fake bull's head and,
the cous de grace, a close-up of a bull horn stabbing the alien's eye!
Meanwhile, back at the police car, the same aliens who have achieved
intergalactic space travel are having trouble prying a locked door open to retrieve
their severed hand. When Johnny, Joan and Artie arrive on the scene, they
discover a camera flashbulb can kill the aliens when bullets to the brain do not.
When his flashbulbs are used up, Artie panics, flees and is quickly killed by the
bigheaded visitors. John and Joan escape however and, having learned a
valuable lesson last time, again break into old man Larkin's home to use his
phone to call the cops. The police inform him that Joe actually died from drinking
too much alcohol.
Acquitted of all charges, J&J are free to fend off the aliens! They return to
Lover's Point to convince the other teenagers to help them wipe out the aliens.
The other couples instantly believe their hastily-explained invasion story and are
only too happy to blow the chance for sex in a jalopy in order to help out good ol'
Johnny! He positions the cars in a circle around the aliens and tells the gang to
turn on their headlights. Soon the area is a giant alien popcorn popper. Alien
bodies exploding all over the place.
To everyone's amazement, the loveable Artie turns out to be alive but drunk. The
kids deduce the aliens inject their prey with alcohol and if you're already drunk,
like Joe was, then you die. This is the defense mechanism of a superior race???
This is how they're going to take over the galaxy? Hope that their opponents on
other worlds are already intoxicated so they can kill them??? I can only assume
that earth was their very first attempt at invading anything and that the rest of the
universe is safe and secure.
Webster's Dictionary translates the word “invasion” as anything that enters as an
enemy. So technically, if you were expecting Invasion of the Saucermen to
feature a whole fleet of spaceships (or even two) you'd be wrong. One single
spacecraft ventures to earth apparently for the sole purpose of killing off our
alcoholics and fighting our livestock.
The movie begins with a narration by Artie. He and his buddy Joe (played by
Frank Gorshin, a.k.a. the Riddler from the TV's Batman) are two Brooklyn-
accented drifters who have come to the small town of Hicksburgh to “make a
quick buck” (they never tell us what that means). Anyway, on his way to “pick up
some chicks”, Joe sees a spaceship descend into the woods.
Suddenly, the real villain of this movie, film editor Charles Gross, Jr., takes us to
a diner where three teenage boys see the same UFO. (The editor of this movie is
the reason I'm forced to use the word “Meanwhile” a lot in this review.) When
army lieutenant Wilkens, also at the diner, gets wind of this, he tells his
commander, Col. Armbrose.
Meanwhile, (I warned you) one of the teenagers, Johnny, takes his fiancée Joan
to Lover's Point, which is also the farm of old man Larkin and his bull named
Walt. We know he's an old farmer because he's grumpy and uses strange
profanities like “consarn it!”
Johnny and Joan drive away from Lover's Point with their headlights turned off
because the light was bothering others, forcing one couple to yell, “Hey…cut the
lights! You're crampin' our style!” But their good intentions run awry when they
accidentally run over an alien crossing the road. Recoiling in fear, the couple fails
to notice the alien's hand detach from its grotesque body and crawl around on its
own. Guided by an eyeball located on the back of the hand, it makes its way to
the car tire. Needles then protrude from the alien hand's devilish digits and
puncture Johnny's tire.
Stranded, they decide to go to Larkin's farm for help. When they find no one
home, they wisely decide to break in and use Larkin's phone. Soon, a shotgun-
toting Larkin yelling, “You consarn hoodlums!” comes home and kicks the kids out
of his house.
Meanwhile, the Riddler…I mean drunk Joe…discovers the alien by Johnny's
abandoned car. He too breaks into Larkin's home to use his phone (the old man
is in the pasture talking to his bull) to convince his pal Artie that he's returning
home with an alien corpse. But no sooner does Joe return to the accident site
than he's attacked at the ankles by alien needle-tipped fingers!
Meanwhile, Col. Armbrose has discovered the alien spaceship and contemplates
what to do when faced with the first visitor from outer space. After carefully
weighing all the options, he commands a soldier to shoot at it and then orders
him to cut it open with a blow torch which trips a self-destruct device, thereby
obliterating the greatest discovery of all time. Ah…military intelligence.
Back at Johnny's car, the police have discovered Joe's dead body and assume
the teenagers are responsible for his death. The teens' only shot at innocence is
Joan's father, the city attorney, but he's no help because he thinks Johnny is a
“roughneck”. Johnny and Joan soon escape the police station by leaving through
an open window in the interrogation room (this is some police force and army
operation going on here). They not only break out, but also steal a police car
because Johnny's theory is: Compared to everything else, what's a little grand
theft auto? Good advice for impressionable movie-watching teens!
They end up back at the scene of the accident to look for evidence to clear their
good names. Giving up after 10 seconds of searching, they return to the police
car unaware that the severed alien hand has roamed its way to the back seat.
Once on the road, the hand works its way behind Joan's head, ready to strike.
But when Johnny turns the car abruptly, the lurch throws the hand to the back seat
from whence it came. But persistence is this little paw's middle name and it
eventually lumbers back into striking range. This time, Joan notices the frightful
fingers just in time. The kids escape and lock the hand in the car, thereby
obtaining the evidence they need.
Now they have to get Artie to see the evidence. Johnny recalls that Joe's
driver's license said he lived at 121 Maple St. (even though Artie and Joe were
drifters and had never been to Hicksburgh before). After talking with Artie a few
minutes about what they've seen, he is soon completely convinced!!!
Now at this point of the movie, brace yourself perhaps the most bizarre alien
battle of all time. The Saucerman vs Walt the bull! Actually, it's more like a bull
running around with a stuffed alien costume tied to its back. But that's O.K.
because its intermingled with scenes of an alien attacking a fake bull's head and,
the cous de grace, a close-up of a bull horn stabbing the alien's eye!
Meanwhile, back at the police car, the same aliens who have achieved
intergalactic space travel are having trouble prying a locked door open to retrieve
their severed hand. When Johnny, Joan and Artie arrive on the scene, they
discover a camera flashbulb can kill the aliens when bullets to the brain do not.
When his flashbulbs are used up, Artie panics, flees and is quickly killed by the
bigheaded visitors. John and Joan escape however and, having learned a
valuable lesson last time, again break into old man Larkin's home to use his
phone to call the cops. The police inform him that Joe actually died from drinking
too much alcohol.
Acquitted of all charges, J&J are free to fend off the aliens! They return to
Lover's Point to convince the other teenagers to help them wipe out the aliens.
The other couples instantly believe their hastily-explained invasion story and are
only too happy to blow the chance for sex in a jalopy in order to help out good ol'
Johnny! He positions the cars in a circle around the aliens and tells the gang to
turn on their headlights. Soon the area is a giant alien popcorn popper. Alien
bodies exploding all over the place.
To everyone's amazement, the loveable Artie turns out to be alive but drunk. The
kids deduce the aliens inject their prey with alcohol and if you're already drunk,
like Joe was, then you die. This is the defense mechanism of a superior race???
This is how they're going to take over the galaxy? Hope that their opponents on
other worlds are already intoxicated so they can kill them??? I can only assume
that earth was their very first attempt at invading anything and that the rest of the
universe is safe and secure.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the page I made for this model, little
diorama and I hope you check out the other things going on here
at my site.
Until ...
diorama and I hope you check out the other things going on here
at my site.
Until ...
I revised this page on April 17th, 2009.