The Flying Saucer

1964's "The Flying Saucer" is a rarely seen Italian comedy from director Tinto Brass, not to be confused with 1949's "The Flying Saucer," starring its director, Mikel Conrad. Alberto Sordi essays four different roles, mainly as the investigating police sergeant who deadpans throughout the film as each 'eyewitness' confesses to seeing something completely different from everyone else. As the telegrapher, he actually spies the saucer (a dead ringer for the Jupiter 2 from LOST IN SPACE), as well as its occupant, a comely Martian female who does little but wander around, mistaken for a Mardi Gras costumer (shades of "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars"). Sordi's priest spends more time in the local saloon than he does in church, and all four wind up in the asylum by film's end, treated by electroshock therapy because no one will believe them. Fans of Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater rang in the new year, Jan 1 1972, with 1963's "Unearthly Stranger," followed by "The Flying Saucer," thematically linked by their attractive female invaders.