Another Italian compilation film based on episodes of UFO which was very popular in the nation. While more conventional in some respects it's also more unconventional (or outlandish if you prefer) in others.
Essentially this is based around only two episodes - "The Square Triangle" and "Kill Straker!" - but plenty of clips from other episodes are inserted at various points seemingly to heighten the "drama", increase the action quotient and try to live up to the first part of the "movie" title.
An edited version of "The Square Triangle" starts the film and takes up most of the first half-hour. However even in the lengthy pre-credits sequence footage from "A Question of Priorities" is also inserted to give the impression that there is an extra UFO and alien in the area. As the alien drags a body into his craft a similar image from an unusual angle is included from "The Cat With Ten Lives" and that leads into a bizarre credits and immediate post-credits sequence. Images are optically edited - resembling coloured negatives - creating some strange images as clips from "Flight Path" and "Timelash" are edited together to give the impression that Commander Straker is undergoing a peculiar medical examination and recalling the events to be depicted.
Matters then revert more prosaically to "The Square Triangle". The emphasis is very much on the alien who has landed in the forest and the storyline of the adulterous couple whom he stumbles upon is very much marginalised. For those who have seen the original episode this is strange as that relationship is very much the dominant element and wrapped-up with a memorable moral conundrum but for the sake of this movie with its emphasis on an alien attack it takes second place.
Just before the half-hour there is an abrupt shift to the events of "Kill Straker!". There is no natural linkage between the two episodes so maybe this was inevitable. The great majority of that episode is included here and obviously it links to the movie title. However the producers clearly felt they had to justify the "annihilate SHADO" element so various shots of SHADO bases under attack are included. This extends to the aliens attacking Moonbase at the same time as Foster and Straker are confronting each other in the Control Sphere. This is rather incongruous as Moonbase couldn't coordinate its defence with no-one managing events in Control. This obvious has no basis in the original episode and would have been best avoided given how strong that confrontation between the pair is - there was no need for extra drama. Editing is also used to reframe other events so the attack on Fairfield Tracker Station in "The Psychobombs" is inserted and made to look as if it were by UFO fire and not by a human under alien control. Attention to continuity is abandoned with so many attacks and counter-attacks displayed that it seems like SHADO has far more interceptors, missiles and other means of defence than it really does. Dialogue is even changed at points to justify the altered narrative on-screen. It's all certainly spectacular but any sort of reality is abandoned.
One of the other most distinctive aspects is that most of Barry Gray's original music is replaced or supplemented by other sounds, many it seems by John Barry and his music for James Bond. This isn't as jarring as it could have been given the quality of John Barry's music. This culminates in a curious end sequence. The actual end credits (including the visuals) for "Kill Straker!" conclude the film rather than the cast and crew for the whole "movie". The retention of the original end credit sequence (if not the lack of full credits) is certainly preferable to a new one but unfortunately the original, very unsettling end music is replaced by some rather non-descript piece.
A strange ending to a strange but still engaging film. The best UFO experience is always to watch original episodes but it's worth seeing this at least once just to see how a "movie" might be concocted out of them.
