Corman Cashing In On Sputnik

Ads Make Better Satellite War Than Movie

This was cut-rate fruit from the Sputnik vine. Roger Corman claimed that he got it together within mere weeks of the Russian satellite launch, but release date vs. Sputnik circling indicate months between the two, and besides, there was plentiful product to hook actual events with sci-fi at least roughly on point. Pics that caught Sputnik tailwind included MGM's The Invisible Boy and Enemy From Space from United Artists, both out during Fall 1957 when headlines were hottest, War of the Satellites arriving well after Sputnik re-entry and burnout (January 1958). Distributing Allied Artists pinned a ripe second feature to Satellites which was Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, since an object of cult immortality. I'll bet in fact that auction sales of posters for 50 Foot Woman have well surpassed total receipts AA collected back in 1958. Sci-fi combos, nearly always black-and-white, did a grab-and-run with whatever could be scooped over a week stand at hardtops or (predominantly) drive-ins. Posters did a heaviest lift, and this double-bill had doozy art for both elements, even if frankly lying as to content (ray-gun brandishing space walker against rocket-in-flight background, the 50 Foot giantess plucking cars off a freeway). Truest auteur behind much of 50's sci-fi may have been Reynold Brown and other artists who created stunner bally for otherwise impoverished weirdies.

Once out of theatres, War of the Satellites took lumps from television (so brief at 66 minutes that it was actually padded for tube runs). Roger Corman had charge of the negative and licensed War, plus Attack of the Crab Monsters and Not of This Earth for a DVD triple from the Shout! Factory. I cropped War of the Satellites from full-frame to 1.85 projection and got a nice result. Seeing it like this at least helps the film play better, if not so vivid as under a blanket of 1958 stars or amidst butter corned aroma of a matinee, but that era isn't coming back, so this will do. War of the Satellites is best enjoyed on basis of what remarkable things Roger Corman did with string-bean budget and clocks ticking mightily against him. Being soft for sci-fi helps, and there's sport of ID'ing sound effects and stock footage cribbed from someone else's older movie. A standout visual, shown over, then over, and so on, has elephantine missiles matted behind full-size buildings, a shot too lavish for Corman and staff to have rigged, so I'm wondering where it came from --- looks like pre-dated British sci-fi to me, but would '58 be too soon to borrow from one of the Quatermass thrillers? War of the Satellites is worth the watch where one ponders such issue, and not half-bad for a yarn it spins of alien interference with our space program. Dialogue warns against letting rival planets dictate space policy, a pointed reference to Soviets maybe using orbit as a combat staging area.