Retro aircraft in 1955 retro sci-fi movie

[Bernard]

While I was busy to let flying the Stinson at Orcas Island in my previous post, I came across this Stinson repaint called "Meacham".




As I discovered, this model was used in the film "This Island Earth", which was released in 1955. That's what motivated me to pursue this matter.


Very briefly, the film is about aliens who have landed on Earth and need the help of terrestrial scientists. One of these scientists, named Meacham, is flying to his laboratory in a loaned Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star.




Just before landing, the jet's engine fails, but he is saved from crashing by a mysterious green glow that surrounds his aircraft. The scientist is picked up at the fog-shrouded airport by an unmanned, computer-controlled Douglas DC-3 aircraft with no windows.




Landing in a remote area of ​​Georgia, he finds an international group of top atomic scientists already present, including an old flame.






Both flee with a third scientist, but their car is attacked and the third scientist is killed. They could take off with a Stinson 108 single engine aircraft, but their aircraft is then drawn up by a bright green beam into a flying saucer.


(Whereas the other scenes are done as AI flights, this one uses purely static objects)


Shortly, and so much for the scenes with the aviation components The exterior shots of the film were done at Van Nuys Airport. The golf course at Toluca Lake was used as the presumed landing facility in Georgia. There the DC-3 landed on a dirty road. The golf course was then owned by the well-known actor Bop Hope. It is also quite interesting that Amelia Earhart also lived in Tocula Lake in the 1930s to be closer to Burbank and the Lockheed factory.

I was able to find and download the film. The whole plot is very complicated and confusing in my opinion. But I was interested in implementing the three repaints as best as possible into FS9 and at least in the suitable era of mid-fifties.

Bernard


BTW, some original pictures are shown here:

impdb.fandom.com/wiki/This_Island_Earth

[Tom/CalClassic]

Very fun story. I saw this movie years ago, but have forgotten most of it. I also used your link to go to the IMDB page for the movie and watched the trailer. This was only one of four sci-fi movies that were produced in color in 1954 and had a budget of $800,000, a sign the studio had great hopes for the movie. It has a rating of 5.9, somewhat average, perhaps due to the confusing nature of the story, as you say.