The Bamboo Saucer

A rather dull cold war drama with hints of science fiction (mainly towards the end) that ends up a big red herring, or should I say a purple one. It's Americans and Russians working together, reluctantly at first, to discover the whereabouts of a spaceship that has been causing military planes to crash. The spaceship is seen coming out of nowhere as one plane descends, and when it's finally discovered, it seems be just a little bit bigger than a Volkswagen bus. This was veteran actor Dan Duryea's last film, and features a good ensemble of familiar faces like Lois Nettleton as a tough member of the Russian group, Bob Hastings, James Hong (I recognized that distinguished voice immediately), Bernard Fox (adding in a British perspective to the goings on) and John Ericson. The international ensemble shows what happens when countries who are usually enemies accomplish when they put away their weapons and especially their mistrudy. There are some intense moments but they are few and far between. Nettleton is very energetic and walks away with the film. It looks rather cheaply made like a TV film shot in color and blown up for smaller movie theaters, and ultimately it seems more talk than action, although one of the plane explosions has eerie elements to it as family members of the pilot realize in horror what's going to happen moments before it does. When the group does end up on the spaceship, it begins to seem like an entirely different film, and 20 minutes of excitement with an hour plus of buildup is a dangerous way to structure a film because some of the audience may have given up before then.

I saw this when younger and it was realistic. It scared me like "The Andromeda Strain" or "Them". It is simple and not spoiled by over the top special effects (as it would be if made today). Watch it late at night.

A pilot is testing out a new aircraft when he spots a flying saucer. Naturally, it jams the radar as all flying saucers do and no one believes him, not even his relatives. So, he uses a laser device that is immune to static to tracking down the saucer. Our government shoves a sketch under his noses for verification. Yep, that is it. It is the height of the cold war, and a downed saucer is found in RED china. So, there is a race between a group of Americans and Ruskies to see who gets there before the Chinese Government finds out. We get all the mix of good guys, and bad guys, nationalists, and individuals. They (and we) must learn what makes the other side tick and to get along on the mission. The American pilot advisor John Ericson runs into the female Russian scientist Lois Nettleton while she is taking a shower. Later he keeps running into her verbally. Eventually, though all the bantering forms, a mutual affection arises. Will they be able to discover the saucer secrets before being found by the Chinese Government? Or will they be able to destroy the almost indestructible machine? Aside from a well-acted film that may have had a few too many clichés, there is something captivating about Lois Nettleton that years later you will say "Now what was that movie I saw her in?" considering she made over 100 TV appearances.

The fun in this movie is that they made an attempt to be somewhat realistic given the plot. The cold war tensions are not at all exaggerated, the ridicule the test pilot endures when he first reports the thing and the later loss of the P-51 is based on a real incident. In, I believe it was 1947, a flight of military P-51s were inbound for landing {and low on fuel} when one was sent to investigate a UFO. the pilot climbed high and crashed. The military deemed hypoxia due to a malfunctioning O2 system and fuel starvation. In that case, the UFO was believed to one of the early "satellite balloons" the USAF was playing with. They were made to be shiny and glowed very bright in the evening sky. It adds a little "credo" to the he movie when they use a real event to kick off the story even if a few characters and the Russian-American love story are a cliché

The makers of this film put a lot of effort into trying to make an exciting science fiction adventure yarn. However they don't fully succeed because they try to cram too much into the film and the characters never rise above being little more than cliches. But in the end, the film does promote the message of the need for the world to unite, stop fighting and start building a better tomorrow. Deserves points for effort.

"The Bamboo Saucer" begins with an F-104 fighter jet being chased by a BADLY animated UFO. In the process, the plane crashes and the pilot is killed. Eventually, the eggheads realize that the UFO, oddly, has come from China. Hank Peters (Dan Duryea) leads a small team of agents into China to discover the craft and either destroy or capture it. Soon, however, they are shocked to come upon a group of Russians (complete, of course, with a hot lady) there to do the same and they work together. The film marks a milestone for Dan Duryea. While he was very prolific in films, he died soon after the movie was made...and he was only 61. And, even sadder is that this wonderful character actor chose to be in this dull movie. In addition, the UFO effects were horrible...even by 1968 standards. Compare, for instance, the crappy look of the film to "2001" which came out the following year. While I am not a fan of "2001", it was technically gorgeous and a huge step ahead in special effects. Overall, a film that is very skippable with little to offer for most viewers.

First, let me reassure you that the saucer in this film is not a cheap, Chinese imitation of a flying saucer. That being said, the special effects are pretty bargain-basement, but the science behind it is really not too bad. Electro-Magnetism is probably how these objects work; at least in part. The acting is not half-bad, even Boris Bendenoff and Natasha are OK. There are no A actors in this film, but who needs them if you have a good story? And this one is a bit far-fetched, but watchable. Have fun for an hour or so, and watch it on a Saturday morning or late Saturday night.

Directed and written by Frank Telford, this starts when test pilot Fred Norwood (John Ericson) is chased by a UAP. The pilot following him says whatever he's told to say by the air force. No one wants to admit that an alien craft could be following our armed forces. He decides to use an old Mustang to track the UFO along with his friend Joe Vetry (William Mims). Vetry is soon abducted or disintegrated by some alien vehicle, which only makes Norwood more invested in finding out the truth. He's contacted by a deep cover government type named Hank Peters (Dan Duryea) who tells him that something that looks just like what he saw has crashed in China. The bodies of the aliens have been burned, but the UAP still exists. When he parachutes down to find it, he comes across a group of Russians with the same plan. They decide to work together and end up in a battle against the Chinese Army that they escape by flying the craft past Saturn. Producer Jerry Fairbanks sent the script to the U. S. Department of Defense and made sure that the CIA was never mentioned and that the Air Force was never near China.

A party of Americans secretly enter Red China in search of a downed flying saucer. The group includes Fred Norwood who is a pilot previously buzzed by a similar saucer. On the way they meet a group of Soviet Russians who are doing the same. The two groups join together to locate the saucer. They find it in an abandoned church and study it. Meanwhile Chinese soldiers are mobilised to find them. Written and directed by Frank Telford this is slow moving until the last half hour when it livens up considerably. In between there is a dull love story between Fred Norwood and the attractive (of course) Russian scientist Anna Karachev. Of the actors Dan Duryea (in his last film) as the grizzled leader Hank Peters and Lois Nettleton as Anna come off best. Good support is given though by Bernard Fox, James Hong and Robert Hastings. A fair adventure story with science fiction trappings done on a low budget.

Dan Duryea is "Peters", and American leading a team racing to beat their Soviet counterparts to a remote "Red" Chinese village where they think there might be a flying saucer that was involved in an incident with one of their fighters. Needless to say, the Chinese are after it too and a combination of circumstances mean that when they find the thing, the rivals must team up in order to avoid capture and to get it airborne. I suppose that by being about a flying saucer in the first place, there is little point is saying how implausibly daft the rest of it is. We start our search with a wonderful child's drawing of a flying saucer that somehow manages to get into the hands of the Americans several thousands of miles away - and that pretty much sets the tone. It's further cluttered up by a bit of an awkward romance between "Norwood" (John Dickson) and the Soviet team member who manages to interpret for everyone "Anna" (Lois Nettleton) and the rest of it is just standard "Outer Limits" fayre with pretty ropey airborne saucer effects and a plot that seems to enable them to activate the auto-pilot as if it were a dishwasher. It is also far too long; we could easily live without much of the first half hour. Pretty poor, sorry.