This is what I call Sci-Fi!
How this movie isn't more recognized than The Day The Earth Stood Still or Forbidden Planet is beyond me.

The military, scientists and doctors are all fighting U.F.O's here, and what B-movie glory it is...
Washington monuments are destroyed here (with animator Ray Harryhausen's help!) and the movie could've been called
WORLD WAR THREE because of it.
Melodramtic, ambitious and somewhat cheesy, it's still a watchable and thought-provoking flick.
The aliens are mysterious masters of magnetism and physics, and they try diplomacy before attacking earth.
See it.
Kubrick no doubt saw this, as I saw elements from it incorporated into Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey.