The article below was published in the daily newspaper France Soir, Paris, France, page 6, on November 16, 1954.
|
and Roger Nicolas Will Set Off for Venus
Citizens who suddenly saw their names and photos in the press, along with descriptions they gave of flying saucers they had "seen," are now going from news stars to movie stars.
In "Cigar, Saucer and Co.", director Christian Stengel will show the impact of saucer sightings on the lives of the French.
The script will tell the story of a young journalist eager to win the 10 million promised to whoever brings back a real photo of a saucer. He travels all over France to interview all the "saucer spotters."
He won't discover any Martians, but he will learn his trade, return with a good report—and a fiancée.
Drawing inspiration from real news stories, Stengel will portray the most passionate "saucer people," including the newlywed who interrupted his wedding night to photograph a saucer on his roof, or the man who shot at a friend, mistaking him for a Martian.
To make the film, which will feature scientific figures like Doctors Obrecht [Oberg] and Plantin, the director will spend six weeks touring France to interview, like his protagonist, around a hundred "saucer discoverers."
Director Jean Stelli, meanwhile, is going much further. With "Saucers, heading to Venus", his hero, an average Frenchman, will be abducted by a mysterious saucer pilot and taken to Venus. There, time no longer exists. The Venusians are much more beautiful and stronger than Earthlings. Only the Venusian women are aggressive and determined to bring about the interplanetary traveler's downfall.
Roger Nicolas is being considered for the role. Stelli has had about thirty saucers built, one of which measures fifteen meters in diameter. It will be equipped with an electromagnetic system allowing it to take off and land.
Meanwhile, Alain Resnais and Chris Marker are preparing a short film: "Saucers also die". Their theory: Martians, frightened by the atomic explosions on Earth, are fleeing their planet—which is too close to ours—for another galaxy.
