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The First UFO Documentary Ever Made (1956)

UFO (1956) aka Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers (1956) is a semi-documentary about the development of the UFO phenomenon in the United States. Clips from the documentary have often been used in other UFO documentaries and television episodes related to UFOs.

This film opens with a provocative statement:

"Many times in the history of our civilization the introduction of a new thought has brought skepticism, even ridicule. Despite this, there always has remained the duty and inalienable right to tell the people the truth. The Motion Picture you are about to see is true. It is not fiction. Much of the information in it has never been told. You will see it here for the first time."

The documentary starts in 1947, with the first widely publicized UFO sightings in the United States, including recreations of the Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting, the Mantell UFO incident, and the Gorman Dogfight. It then traces the development of UFOs as both a popular fad and a serious concern for the US Air Force. The history of Project Sign, the first Air Force study of the UFO phenomenon, is discussed.

The documentary then focuses upon protagonist Albert M. Chop, who is assigned as the public information officer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, in the late 1940s. In that position he is required to answer numerous news media queries about UFO sightings and what the Air Force knows about them. Chop interviews a German rocket scientist (formerly of Penemunde's V-2 program) now working for America; the scientist lends credence to the possibility that UFOs exist. Although he is initially portrayed as a UFO debunker, Chop gradually changes his views as the movie progresses, and he comes to believe that UFOs are unknown, and possibly extraterrestrial, aircraft.

By 1952 Chop has moved to Washington, D.C., where he is the press spokesman for Project Blue Book. The documentary analyzes two famous pieces of UFO footage: the Mariana UFO Incident of 1950, in which the manager of the Great Falls, Montana minor-league baseball team claimed to have filmed two UFOs flying over the local baseball stadium, and the 1952 UFO film taken near the Great Salt Lake in Utah by a US Navy photographer, Delbert Newhouse. The documentary concludes with the famous 1952 Washington, D.C. UFO incident, in which Albert Chop played a central role. The documentary recreates Chop's experiences during the incident, and at the end of the documentary Chop states his belief that UFOs are a "real", physical phenomenon of unknown origin.