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Invaders from Mars

Invaders from Mars (1953)

April. 22,1953
|
6.2
| Horror Science Fiction

In the early hours of the night, young David Maclean sees a flying saucer land and disappear into the sand dunes just beyond his house. Slowly, all of the adults, including his once loving parents, begin to act strangely.

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Reviews

SunnyHello
1953/04/22

Nice effects though.

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FuzzyTagz
1953/04/23

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

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Humbersi
1953/04/24

The first must-see film of the year.

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Philippa
1953/04/25

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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Prismark10
1953/04/26

Invaders from Mars is a B film by director William Cameron Menzies the first Oscar winner for art direction.David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) is a 12 year old kid interested in astronomy who sees a flying saucer landing in the sand pit outside his backyard. When his father, George (Leif Erickson) goes out to look he disappears. David's mom, Mary (Hillary Brooke) calls police, but who also submerge into the sand.Some time later the two cops and his father return, but they act differently like they are under a spell. David notices something in the back of their heads.David finally manages to find two people who believe him when others are sceptical and maybe under the influence of an alien entity which by now also includes his mother.Dr Blake (Helena Carter) and Dr Kelston (Arthur Franz) think there is something in David's story and call in the military who discover a Martian spaceship who are controlling people who they think are important or useful.The film taps into the reds under the beds scare of the 1950s and the supposed flying saucer sightings of the era as well. Films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers dealt with the material in a more thrilling and cerebral way.Invaders from Mars views this from a child's perspective. Something unusual is happening outside of the house, his parents have been taken over and there is no one else seemingly to turn to or trust.Some of the visual effects reminded me of the original Star Trek series which again shows the B movie origins of the film. A nice bit of hokum that probably played well in the 1950s than today.

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oscar-35
1953/04/27

*Spoiler/plot- Invaders from Mars, 1953. An overactive 10 years old boy's imagination and dreams take over his waking hours with seeing a flying saucer landing in a vacant lot near his house. The town leaders and military experts need convincing and help in the end. *Special Stars- Arthur Franz, Helena Carter, Jimmy Hunt, Leif Erickson, Hillary Brooke, Morris Ankrum, Milburn Stone, Barbara Billingsley, Robert Shayne.*Theme- The Govt is your friend, not the Martians.*Trivia/location/goofs- Color. Richard (Dick Van Dyke Show) Deacon's first film. Look for zippers on the backs of the mutant's green velor costumes. *Emotion- One of the earliest 50's sci-fi thrillers with a scary ending, so be sure to see the whole film. This film gave plenty of impressionable kids nightmares and time hiding in their rooms. The remakes of this film are terrible.*Based On- The Cold War invasion and rocket exploration fears.

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Brian Baker
1953/04/28

First saw this as an 8 yr. old. Mom dropped me off at one theater showing a 2 western matinée. When she drove off, I went around the corner to the theater showing Invaders from Mars. Scared the (well you know) out of me. Literally had to have the hall light on for a year. Checked my closet floor too! The four scariest aspects of this movie were 1. The thought that your parents could be other than those rocks of Gibralter you always counted on them being 2. That creepy choral music. 3. The surreal aspects(notice the bare, stark police station) and 4. The nightmare quality of running and not being able to escape. Having watched it again recently,I enjoyed it as much as I did 57 years ago. Great flick!

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Leofwine_draca
1953/04/29

This one scared the hell out of me when I first saw it as a kid; I remember them showing it in the evening on BBC2 back in the 1980s. Looks like a lot of other reviewers were similarly traumatised. Watching it now, as an adult, it's easy to laugh at what is a shoddy, low budget production. Scenes are repeated, special effects are wobbly to say the least, the aliens are silly rather than menacing, and the paucity of the production is apparent in every respect.And yet...there's something oddly menacing about this film. It's partly the Cold War paranoia-inspired plot about nice, ordinary people being taken over by a sinister foreign menace. Interestingly, this is the earliest version I've seen on that theme, predating INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS by a couple of years. The paranoia is cloying and really raises the hackles, even as an adult, and even allowing for the cheesy over-acting of the child star.The more overt aspects of the story, which take place towards the climax, are also profound, and in this case the imaginative nature of the production outweighs the budgetary constraints. That alien leader, little more than a head in a goldfish bowl, is oddly disturbing and an image that's stayed with me for my whole life. It's easy to forgive the problems in a film like INVADERS FROM MARS when it contains such classic, timeless material and I do think this is one of those '50s-era B-movie alien invasion classics.

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