Sci-Fi Film Fiesta, The Swingin' 60s - Volume 2 Far Out Battles Without and Within by Chris Christopoulos - HTML preview

A well-paced Cold War sci-fi action parable of geo-political mutual suspicion and

cooperation with a lesson to be learned.

Directed by Frank Telford

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 Peters

John 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?

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.”

“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”

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…….

“Indications are you saw a mirage”

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;

• Denial

• 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 “the hot test pilot who panics and has hallucinations.” Joe and his wife Dorothy (Fred’s sister) may be somewhat sceptical, 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?

As the saucer appears to black out normal radio and radar communications by means of an ionized cloud it establishes around itself, Fred figures that the laser radar will be able to penetrate it and give them a normal radar blip. The location for the test of this theory will be “a spot on the desert in Nevada” where there's “practically no air traffic” and that “any blip that does show up should be unusual.” If anything does show up Fred hopes to obtain photographic evidence of it.

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” and 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 a 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.”

“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.

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.”

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-fraternising-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

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 scientist, 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?

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 Anerican 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:

1. “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.

2. The absence of gravity couches suggests that “no amount of strapping down

could combat intense speed and quick directional changes.”

3. The craft must “generate its own inner gravitational field that counteracts and

equalizes all g-forces.”

4. The life support is automatically activated by the carbon dioxide exhaled by

whoever enters. The carbon dioxide gas is converted into ozone.

5. 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.

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 hand 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.

“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 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;

1. 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.”

2. The circuitry of the saucer’s controls “properly adjusted block out all

magnetic attractions except the one the pilot wishes to utilize.”

3. 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

4. Implication: “ we could also manufacture one hell of a super weapon.”