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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.

Another of the five dubbed UFO compilation films made in the 1970s for the Italian market. This does have a little more coherence than most in that it is mostly focused on the character of Paul Foster but typically for any compilation film made from unrelated TV episodes the narrative is far from seamless.

The official synopsis (translated from Italian) gives a very misleading impression of the film's actual content while showing some inventiveness. It implies that it is about Foster facing charges of treason for allegedly helping an alien on the lunar surface after the latter had attacked Moonbase. In fact this section of the narrative comprises at most three minutes of the entire film. So what does the "film" contain?

It starts with the opening title and credits rolling over footage from "Identified" of Straker and Henderson landing in the UK with the vital evidence of the existence of UFOs and then the Rolls Royce transporting them and a Cabinet minister being attacked by a UFO. We see Straker survive and then jump forward to SHADO in operation and a scene of Straker passing through SHADO HQ taken from "Ordeal". This low-key way of doing the opening title and credits without resorting to new music or new graphics / images (as occurred on ITC's 1980 compilation "Invasion: UFO") is wise. There is a narration in Italian which presumably provides more background and this is the only area where a non-Italian speaker who has seen the original episodes would be at disadvantage.

"Exposed" is the first main selection. This is the episode where the then civilian pilot Paul Foster discovered about UFOs and SHADO and other than "Identified" this is a good episode to introduce these things as well as the character of Foster. After just over twenty minutes the narrative then switches to Moonbase where Foster is now Commander and extensive footage from "Survival". There is nothing to link these two narratives and the new or uninitiated viewer would be very surprised at Foster's remarkable ascent. While the film implies this was almost immediate even within the broadcast series he rose to Moonbase Commander very quickly, just that the gap between episodes might suggest more passage of time. Most of the episode footage is of Foster searching for the alien on the lunar surface and then after an attack and the destruction of his Moonmobile finding himself stranded. It is actually the alien who finds him and with both men stranded they form an unlikely partnership trying to reach Moonbase.

This lasts up to around the one hour mark and then the film turns events on its end. The next clips are from "Court Martial" in which Foster was wrongly accused of leaking SHADO information and sentenced to death. However the blurb on the DVD (less so what is seen on screen) implies that Foster was on trial for treason, accused of helping the enemy by helping the alien. This has no basis in either of the broadcast episodes. It's clear to the viewer in "Survival" that Foster did nothing wrong - initially he was forced at gunpoint to help the alien who later helps him to survive after damage to his oxygen supply and spacesuit. Both men help each other when each would likely have died had they acted alone. There is no suggestion that Foster is trying to undermine SHADO. The motives of the alien are unclear. Were his actions purely altruistic or was he simply acting out of self-preservation, willing to throw himself on SHADO's mercy and in effect become a prisoner of war? Or did he ultimately have sinister motives of posing as a friend in order to infiltrate SHADO? Although this narrative twist has no basis in the original series it's still an intriguing one. Viewers know that Foster is entirely innocent and a victim of circumstances. Foster could explain his predicament but there maybe is the slim possibility that other members of SHADO may believe all is not what it seemed and that the two were colluding in a sinister way or even just that bringing the alien back to Moonbase - which he has already attacked - could be dangerous.

In any event the trial and suspicion of Foster is dispelled extremely quickly. "Normal service" is resumed and we see three UFOs landing in different locations (and from different episodes). For no obvious reason we then switch to footage from "Sub-Smash" and this takes up the remainder of the "film". This is an odd choice because although Foster is present on the beleaguered Skydiver he is far from being the central character. Other episodes could have provided much more focus on him. More couldn't really be shown from "Court Martial" as this would make clear that the charges against Foster had nothing to do with the events in "Survival". "Kill Straker!" would certainly have showcased Foster but again on the wrong side of SHADO. "Conflict" might have been the best choice to show him as a key and valued member of SHADO. Perhaps "Sub-Smash" was chosen just because it's often seen as one of the very best episodes or because its submarine action offered a literal change of scene after excerpts set on Earth and then ones predominantly set on the Moon. The narrative is momentarily broken to show the unrelated UFOs shown earlier being destroyed but otherwise the "Sub-Smash" excerpts play out before a final scene of the Lunar Module returning to the Moon and a final narration in Italian about Paul Foster. The end credits then roll and these include a large number of actors who didn't feature in the "film", mostly playing characters from ""Destruction" and "The Sound of Silence". This may have been a result of confusion with the credits from one of the other compilation movies "Prendeteli Vivi" which did draw on those episodes and was released the same year.

Altogether an intriguing if obviously flawed part of the history of UFO. As always the original episodes are the best way to explore the show but these compilation movies show us how many viewers experienced it all those years ago.