Invaders from Mars

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Invaders from Mars

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Invaders from Mars

Arthur Franz, Bert Freed, Charles Cane, Douglas Kennedy, Fay Baker

The cold-war paranoia of the McCarthy era had America in its grip when the original Invaders from Mars was released in 1953, and this atmospheric, highly influential science fiction film--the ...( read more  read more... )first of its kind to be filmed in color--was perfectly in tune with the mood of its time. Jimmy Hunt plays the quintessential American boy of the post-war years--a freckle-faced kid named David who's curious, alert, and possibly prone to elaborate flights of fancy. Then, during a midnight thunderstorm, he witnesses the landing of a flying saucer that buries itself underground in a nearby field. David's father (Leif Erickson) indulges his son's urging to investigate... and thus begins a bizarre and chilling story of alien invasion, with David's cries of "Martians!" falling on deaf ears as more and more adults are abducted, probed, and placed under alien control.

Designed and directed by William Cameron Menzies (one of the greatest production designers of Hollywood's golden age, whose credits include Gone with the Wind), this eerie little thriller benefits from Menzies's skill at combining physical settings with psychological undercurrents of paranoid terror and resistance against the alien threat. It's still most effective for younger viewers, with Jimmy Hunt providing the story's youthful point of view. And although the malevolent aliens look campy now, with a leader who resembles a bubble-brained squid in a fishbowl, Invaders from Mars remains one of the seminal science fiction films of its time, paving the way for The War of the Worlds and the rapidly developing trend of alien-invasion thrillers. --Jeff Shannon

Id: 8334377

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Invaders from Mars Recent Reviews
  • SirPant
    September 23, 2009
    SirPant
    My favourite B-movie/ UFO film of the 50's! Cold-war paranoia and western propaganda, sure, but just enjoy it for what it is, a really creepy Sci-fi classic!
  • garyX
    April 8, 2007
    garyX
    Quaintly dated but seminal 50s sci-fi in which a freckle-faced apple pie scoffing yank kid (who clearly deserves a slap) is the only witness to an alien invasion. Like Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, the strength of the premise outweighs the dodgy execution, and as such, it's sti...( read more)ll worth a look.
  • flynnparadox
    September 15, 2006
    flynnparadox
    Certainly the most exciting sci-fi film of the 1950s, Invaders from Mars is fast, fun and brainless with wild, inventive effects and a great look.
  • Hellshocked
    March 12, 2009
    Hellshocked
    "Invaders from Mars" is a mostly typical and stereotypical U.S. science fiction film from the 1950s with a smaller budget than most but a curious eye for occasional beauty amidst the perfunctory genre staples and its own budgetary constraints.

    Predating "Invasion of the Bodysnat...( read more)chers" and "This Island Earth" (and influencing both) and hot on the heels of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (which influenced it), this film may not be in their class but belongs in their universe. While awkwardly written and underfunded, it finds beauty in such things as a particularly well framed and designed recurring shot of a hill with a fence, a swirling sandpit and the (then) newish image of the glass-encased martian leader with an oversized head.

    Not exactly a classic, but certainly a wonderful, innocent, smugness-free nostalgia trip even for those of us who would not be born for several decades after it was released.
  • warpanda
    November 18, 2009
    warpanda
    A young boy named David is awakened during a thunderstorm and sees a flying saucer land in a field behind his backyard. No one believes his story until little by little people in town starting with his parents begin to disappear and then reappearing under some kind of mind contro...( read more)l by these "invaders from mars".
    Arguably one of the best classic sci-fi films ever created. Very outdated and non-realistic by today's standard but surely ahead of it's time, creepy and even somewhat believable for 1953. It belongs in every sci-fi movie lover's DVD library.
  • psyclock7
    August 6, 2009
    psyclock7
    I'm sure this original was much better than the remake. Even though I haven't seen this one"
  • HorrorMovieCinema
    June 15, 2009
    HorrorMovieCinema
    "NATURAL or SUPERNATURAL?"



    One night, young David McLean sees a spaceship crash into a nearby sandpit. His father goes to investigate, but comes back changed. Where once he was cheerful and affectionate, he's now sullen and snarlingly rude. Others fall into the sand...( read more)pit and begin acting like him: cold, ill-tempered and conspiratorial. David knows that aliens are taking over the bodies of humans,

    but he'll soon discover there have been far more of these terrible thefts than he could have imagined. The young doom-monger finds some serious help in a lady doctor and a brilliant astronomer. Soon they meet the aliens: green creatures with insect-like eyes. These beings prove to be slaves to their leader: a large, silent head with ceaselessly shifting eyes and two tentacles on either side, each of which branches off into three smaller tentacles. It's up to the redoubtable earth trio to stop its evil plans.
  • manishboy
    April 24, 2009
    manishboy
    An early Sci Fi classic from 1953. Brilliant!
  • manishboy1
    April 24, 2009
    manishboy1
    A great classic Sci Fi from 1953.
  • malacaynomuerto
    January 22, 2009
    malacaynomuerto
    No espera ver grandes efectos pero si por lo menos una buena historia y de eso tampoco encontré es un mas de marcianos malvados
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