Just before the Christmas holiday a group of boarding school students are visiting a planetarium. One of the students, Rodney (Fella Edmonds) looks through the giant telescope and sees a flying saucer. No one believes him.
Later all the children leave school to go home for the holidays. All except for two girls Greta (Gillian Harrison) and Sumac (Marcia Manolescue). Since their parents are too far away they remain at school. The only other children still at school are the Head Master’s children Rodney and Adolphus (Andrew Motte-Harrison).
While out playing on a swing Sumac and Greta find an alien sitting in a tree. The alien is about two feet tall and looks like a giant napkin wrapped up like a Muslim Niqab with nothing but two giant eyes and the biggest eyelashes ever. The alien communicates to the girls using mental telepathy and a little eye rolling. He says he is from Venus and has been learning how to fly. He flew so far that he got a little tired. He decided to come to Earth to rest and to visit and see what it is like.
In the meantime the school’s handyman is part of a criminal enterprise that steals whatever they can resell. His code name is Number Thirteen (Tony Lyons). He informs his boss, Number One (Raymond Rollett), that the school’s silver trophies have been put into the school safe. He gives Number One a map of the school that shows where the safe is. He also tells Number One that the Headmaster (Donald Gray) and his wife (Hilda Fenemore) will be out tomorrow night until late. Number One plans on sending a couple minions to steal the trophies at that time.
While they make their plans Sumac and Greta get to know their new friend. They introduce the little alien to Rodney. Rodney says it may be a kind of amoeba. Rodney and the girls decide to call the little alien Meba. Meba has some interesting magic abilities. He can change himself into a flying saucer, he can start fires by thinking of it and he can reverse activity and make people and animals go backward.
Meba likes his new friends and wants to please them. When Greta says she is hungry and wishes she had some sweets Meba goes out and robs a bakery. When the kids realize that Meba stole the food they make him take it back. Then later when Greta wishes she had the money to be able to go home for Christmas Meba goes out and robs a bank. Since aliens are not use to Earth laws Meba has no idea that what he is doing isn’t right. They tell him that they understand he is trying to be helpful but he shouldn’t just take money from the bank. They make him bring it back.
When the bad guys find out that there is a wish granting alien at the school they kidnap the little Meba wanting to use it to commit crimes. They lock him in a little box and take him to their hideout. The kids can hear Meba calling for help in their minds. They waste no time trying to rescue their little friend while trying not to get caught by the crooks.
“Supersonic Saucer” was released in 1956 and was directed by Guy Fergusson. It is a British science fiction movie produced by Gaumont-British Productions in cooperation with Britain’s Children’s Film Foundation. The Children’s Film Foundation makes educational films for children. It was one of the last films produced by Gaumont before it was taken over by Rank Corporation. The story was written by Frank Wells, the son of H.G. Wells. It is quite obscure; however, there are a few sites on-line that will produce it on demand.
The film is only about 50 minutes long, if that. It is a children’s movie with very low production values, even for 1956. The alien is a simple puppet. There is nothing special about this film other than it is meant to teach children that they shouldn’t steal and it’s done in a fun and amusing way. Even the little alien Meba is virtually a child from Venus. The criminals are bumbling idiots. They would have to be for four children to get the best of them. The children aren’t great actors; they are just children that accept a tiny alien that can turn into a flying saucer as if it was as natural as anything else in their life. It’s a charming and harmless little film with a moral.
Many people think that the film may have influenced Steven Spielberg’s “ET: The Extraterrestrial” 1982, however, there is no proof that Spielberg ever saw the film. As far as I know it was sold directly to TV in America but rarely ever run. Other than it having children and an alien, I didn’t see anywhere near enough similarities to cry plagiarism.