THE BAMBOO SAUCER - "To Control Its Power Is To Rule The World" (1968)

 There's a hidden flying saucer inside a Catholic church in a remote part of China. The Americans want it, and the Russians want it, and supposedly the Chinese don't even know it's there!

Welcome to a Saturday Night Special in The Dungeon! The star, Dan Duryea was in the "Twilight Zone" episode titled "Mr. Denton On Doomsday!" Dan passed away a couple of months before the movie was released! Lois Nettleton was also in a "Twilight Zone" called "The Midnight Sun!" Lois died in 2008. John (Out There) Ericson stopped acting about 10 years ago, but is still around! The names on this DVD box don't even match the pictures except for Lois, and the action is slightly exaggerated!

 How could there possibly be a 60's Sci-Fi movie I'm not at least vaguely familiar with? Well it's easy, and I'll tell you the reason why............

 "The Bamboo Saucer" is more fact than it is fiction, and it doesn't have one of three essential elements a 60's Sci-Fi movie needs to have to make it interesting! There are no Alien Space Men, no Monsters, and no Robots! WTF!? So what you're left with is a cold war adventure film about the tensions between Russia, China, and the U.S.A.

 Pretty swanky pad!!

 Hot and Cold! It works every time!

 Whoa is right! What you have here might be one of the best reversals of modern times! In a world where half the junk we have is made in China, here's a movie that's supposed to be in China, but is shot in Lone Pine, California instead! Pretty tricky, not made in China!

 If you look close enough, you'll see there's a blonde with her naked back to you in the distance! She's a Russian who is on the same search as the American team!

 First there's a standoff, then there's a truce, then there's betrayal, and the landscape is beautiful! If they had just had a monster, "The Bamboo Saucer" would have cult status today instead of being largely forgotten!

 The flying saucer is pretty cool about half the time like here!

 There's no way in until one of the guy's electric shaver accidentally sends out the correct signal!

 Although appearing solid from the outside, you can see out from the inside like a two-way mirror!!

  I like this shot a lot!

 Here's the closest thing to a hidden horror, or actually a horror of any kind! One of the Russian guys gets fried by the saucer!

The saucer is powered by magnetism, so when it fires up, all the loose tools with iron on them stick to the saucer! It's also quite painful for the Russian guy with steel fillings in his teeth! Here's another missed opportunity! Why just have him hold his mouth and cry out in pain? He should have flown face first into the saucer! SPLAT! Now that would have been some more exciting film making!

 Finally, the American hot shot, and the Russian woman scientist figure out how to get the ship off the ground!

 So they got away with a lot of bullshit before being detected by the Chinese Red Army! Now what? The movie has turned into "The Magnificent Seven" and The Red Army are the Mexican banditos!?

 Now this is an awesome whack job of a shot! They fly the saucer up through the thatched roof of the church! That couple of seconds is almost worth the price of admission!

The flying saucer doesn't usually look quite this cartoonish most of the time, but that cloud looking like it's pooting out of the saucer's exhaust pipe is pretty darn funny! Toot! Toot! "I think I can, I think I can!"

 FINALLY! Some real action for about two minutes!

Yes! Right there! Got it? Look there's almost more writing on this poster than everything I just wrote! I did tell you there were no space men or monsters, right? Why would somebody even try that? It's just not logical! One of the taglines reads "Please...See it from the "Edge of the Seat" beginning to the "Seat Gripping" ending." That's really a lot of ass-clinching thrills! Too bad they don't deliver! I've had spicy Chinese food that was more exciting!