U.F.O. - The True Story of Flying Saucers (1956)

Unidentified Flying Objects is a 1956 semi-documentary about the development of the UFO phenomenon in the United States. Video clips from the documentary have often been used in other UFO documentaries and television episodes related to UFOs.

In 1952, Hollywood producer Clarence Greene saw an unusual object twisting in the sky. He contacted US Air Force public information officer Albert M. Chop, who was in charge of answering UFO questions from reporters and the public. Intrigued, Greene decided to film a documentary movie about the UFO phenomenon. When Chop told Greene about the existence of video footage of UFOs, Greene obtained the footage for analysis and display in the documentary.

The documentary starts in 1947, with the first widely-publicized UFO sightings in the United States, including recreations of the Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting, the Mantell UFO incident, and the Gorman Dogfight. It then traces the development of UFOs as both a popular fad and a serious concern for the US Air Force. The history of Project Sign, the first Air Force study of the UFO phenomenon, is discussed. The documentary then focuses upon Albert M. Chop and his growing involvement with UFOs. Chop is assigned as the public information officer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, in the late 1940s. In that position, he is required to answer numerous news media queries about UFO sightings and what the Air Force knows about them. Although he is initially portrayed as a UFO debunker, Chop gradually changes his views as the movie progresses, and he comes to believe that UFOs are unknown, and possibly extraterrestrial, aircraft. By 1952, Chop has moved to Washington, DC, where he is the press officer for Project Blue Book. The documentary analyzes two famous pieces of UFO footage: the Mariana UFO Incident of 1950, in which the manager of the Great Falls, Montana minor-league baseball team claimed to have filmed two UFOs flying over the baseball stadium, and the 1952 UFO film taken near the Great Salt Lake in Utah by a US Navy photographer. The documentary concludes with the famous 1952 Washington DC UFO incident, in which Albert Chop played a central role. The documentary focuses upon Chop's experiences during the incident, and at the end of the documentary Chop states his belief that UFOs are a "real", physical phenomenon of unknown origin.

U.F.O. - The True Story of Flying Saucers.mp4

One of many 1970s UFO documentaries, this one from 1979 features lots of still photos of alleged UFOs, some UFO motion picture footage, and the usual stock footage and images acquired from government and military sources. Among the many people interviewed are UFO researchers Stanton Friedman and Ted Phillips, UFO abductees Betty Hill and Travis Walton, optical physicist Bruce Maccabee, and retired U.S. military officers Jesse Marcel and Wendelle Stevens. The documentary supports the view that alien visitors regularly come to Earth and have perhaps done so for centuries. Narrated by Brandon Chase.

UFOs Are Real.mp4

In 1983, Ron Lakis, on behalf of KPIX TV in San Francisco, produced 'The UFO Experience' which, almost 30 years later, still contains some of the best evidence on the subject. J. Allen Hynek, Peter A Gersten, Richard Haines, Bruce Maccabee, Tom Page, and John Scheussler are featured. Betty Cash, Vicky and Colby Landrum, Shannon Davis, Joseph Del Duca, and Carole Del Duca present the evidence. Narrated by Peter Coyote.

This is a good (and pretty rare) UFO documentary which has recently been uploaded to Youtube. It covers quite a few really interesting cases like the Kaikoura, Cash/Landrum, SAC Base Flyover and Tehran incidents, as well as having some interesting interviews with folks such as Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Dr. Bruce Maccabee, Dr. Richard Haines and debunker Philip Klass.

Also mentioned is the investigative work of MUFON and John Scheussler's Project VISIT (Vehicle Internal Systems Investigating Team) as well as an intriguing pilot UFO encounter over California in November 1980 where an unknown object was witnessed in close proximity to an aircraft performing right angle turns.

The UFO Experience.mp4