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Rating:  -
This is an old classic sci-fi flick I remember as a child. I found myself checking the back of my parents neck for an alien implant..it really scared me as a child...watching it again as an adult, brings back memories... at which now I can laugh..great flick..
Rating:  -
INVADERS FROM MARS is another great old sci-fi film that I remember from my youth. I could only grant the film three stars today but would have gladly rated it four stars as a child of the 50's. This film had outstanding screen images, interesting sound effects, great music, wonderful sets, and a basic theme which would be frightening to any kid who remembers desperately trying to convince "grownups" of anything.
Memorable screen images included: the classic saucer shape descending out of a dark stormy sky towards the earth, the scary looking fence on the hill out back, the green mindless slaves and the "head man" of Mars. The music was haunting, including the often repeated theme conveyed by vocals and beautiful flutes. Many of the sets were simple but effective, using a good solid dose of forced perspective, color and symbolism. Good vs bad folks were simply represented using black and white for costumes, in the well worn tradition of the American western.
I must agree with one comment made by others about the moderate quality of the DVD transfer. An accurate reproduction was made of every flaw and scratch in the original film stock (along with clear portions of the film). I am surprised a better quality original could not be found for such an important example of early American sci-fi film. However, it did not really interfere with enjoying the movie.
One last comment, the science presented by the local town astronomer, along with the good fiction of the story, was very poor and almost an embarrassment to any fan with a decent high school science education. What the hey, it was only the 50's and the film was mainly for kids.
Think how far we have come from films like Invaders from Mars in the early 50's, 2001 in the late 60's, to the current stock and trade of great sci-fi films having great special effects presented by the current masters of this film genre.
Rating: -
My favorite all-time film brought back to life and better than ever. Nice addition of the British version as well.
Rating: -
(By the way, 3 stars is for the DVD, not the movie. This is a very bad copy of a great film. The picture is grainy and filled with lines.)
Pros:
-This is one of the all time classic sci fi films.
-It starts off with a bang, very similar to Finney's Body Snatchers at first.
-Let's face it, this film is just plain fun.
-Wonderful exemplar of all things that are 50s sci fi!
-I love the Martian! (The little silver guy in the glass ball, not the "Mutants.")
-People getting pulled down through the sand and then later showing up acting different is very creepy stuff.
Cons:
-The "body snatcher" aspect of the story is abandoned too quickly, and was not played up enough.
-The quality of the film's picture is pure rubbish.
-WAY too excessive use of stock footage. You will quickly tire of watching tanks roll around in terrain that isn't even remotely similar to where the main characters are.
-During the climatic underground chase, the same exact scenes get played over and over and over again, as though we're so stupid that we wouldn't notice.
-The ending of the American version of the film is just plain dumb.
Rating: -
The 1938 John W. Campbell novella WHO GOES THERE? introduced American readers to the idea of an alien invader who masquerades as human--and as Cold War paranoias began to drive American pop culture the concept began to re-emerge as a metaphor for communist infiltration.
Very likely influenced by the 1951 Robert A. Heinlein novel THE PUPPET MASTERS, the 1953 film INVADERS FROM MARS is generally regarded as the first film to bring the metaphor to the screen. Independently made but picked up for distribution by 20th Century Fox, it was so successful that it influenced a host of later films, most notably the celebrated INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Today, however, the film is best known as a cult film of "the so bad it's good" variety.
David (Jimmy Hunt) is an eager but level-headed little boy whose father (Leif Erickson) is an engineer on a very hush-hush government project--and when Jimmy swears up and down he saw something in a sandpit behind the house his father is just anxious enough to investigate. Unfortunately, Jimmy was on target: those who visit the sand pit return... changed! Fortunately, Jimmy falls into the hands of Dr. Blake (Helena Carter), who has enough sense to know that something serious is going on.
At the time, INVADERS FROM MARS was considered a bit of shocker, especially for a film that was thought of as kiddie-matinee material: the brain inserts, the sand traps, and the slightly surrealist look of the sets and camera set-ups impressed themselves on the memory of virtually everyone who saw it. Even so, the film was remarkably clunky even for 1953--and even more so by today's standards. The script usually explains instead of shows; there is plenty of stock footage; and for every interesting special effect there are a dozen more painfully incompetent ones.
Fans of the film amuse themselves by jeering at the ka-thunk performances and looking for support wires on the "intelligence" and zippers on the "moo-tant" costumes, but you'll have to look pretty hard to see them in this DVD release. Even though it was filmed in color, INVADERS FROM MARS was essentially filmed as a "C" movie; as such, film quality was never much to begin with, it hasn't been significantly cleaned up, and the film is excessively dark--so much so that it's often hard to tell "moo-tant" from solider in the cave sequences, much less espy a costume flaw. As bonuses, the DVD includes a still gallery, a film trailer--and the British release version, created when English censors deemed the film's conclusion too disturbing for the juvenile audience it targeted.
I personally can't get worked up about INVADERS FROM MARS: I didn't find it clumsy enough to be amusing (as in Ed Wood) or goofy enough to be endearing (as in William Castle.) But with some transfer issues aside, this should please die-hard fans of the film--and bring a smile to the lips of those who first saw the film in their 1950s childhood.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
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