Very Cool!!!

That was an excellent one.

Don't Believe the Hype

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Still get the creeps hearing that eerie music as people get sucked down to the underworld. Telling the story from a child's point of view enhances the horror in Invaders From Mars. It also helps make a simple plot, and the earnestness of the 'good guys'--the doctor, the scientist, and the colonel--more acceptable and believable.The sergeant disappearing into the sand, as he desperately grabs the fence rail and shoots off his rifle, remains one my earliest recollections from classic sci-fi. The dream premise is aptly created by the expressionistic Martian caves and spaceship, as well as the Kafka-esque police station.The ending hints at a further or revolving nightmare, as we're shown that the boy, after his dream, really does see the spaceship. Or is it just a thunderstorm? The taut pacing stirs fear, panic, and a sense of urgency amongst the characters.Having said all that, I came away this time wishing that the Martian scenes had begun earlier. There's plenty going on throughout, but it might have been more interesting to 'drop-in' on the Martians along with their first victims. As many others have noted, Invaders From Mars influenced many subsequent sci-fi films, most obviously Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It could use a few more scenes, but not many films of this type can match the truly alien atmosphere.

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.

Jimmy Hunt plays David MacLean, a young boy who wakes up to see a spaceship land in a nearby sand pit. His father goes to investigate, but returns completely changed, with an unpleasant personality. Others who go investigate return the same way. Turns out they are being taken over by aliens from mars who are determined to conquer Earth, person by person...Though held in high regard for its nostalgia value, by any objective standard this a turgid mess, with silly looking aliens that are an embarrassment to Science Fiction. Some good cinematography can't save it.

This movie follows along the same theme as It Conquered the World. The aliens land and begin to kidnap people and implant devices in them to serve their evil purposes. Only a kid believes and all of the people he speaks to, those in authority, have been controlled. It is not until he speaks to the doctor that she believes him and things begin to happen.Basically the martians are concerned that the Earth is getting too aggressive, especially when they launch satellites that contain missiles that can destroy any target on the Earth. The martians feel threatened so they decide to act first and put an end to this project. They tunnel into the sand and begin taking people in authority and implanting them so that they might stop the work on the rockets.This has two angles, that of the invisible communist takeover, and this movie was made in 1953 during the second HUAC hearings in Hollywood, and also a reaction to increased military spending and weapon development. The martians are threatened by the Earth's ability to launch rockets into space, and this is a feeling that is of concern to us, as it intensifies the cold war and brings the threat of nuclear war ever closer. Launching satellites to fire missiles intensifies the arms race and this is what the movie is drawing out.It more deals with the enemy's reaction to this arms race. They are not saying it is evil, and do not make a moral stance at the end. Instead we have the invisible enemy trying to undermine this. The enemy takes the form of aliens, though it is communism that it is replicating. The enemy uses converted people to perform its operations outside of its land, thus increasing the paranoia. We don't know who is a friend or an enemy, it could be anybody.In the spaceship we see the enemy. It is a head that controls automatons. This possibly also represents communism as everybody in such a nation has no free will. The head is that which rules (Josef Stalin) and everybody else is just his implements. There is not culture, nor free thought within such a state.Invaders from Mars is a fun little movie. As my house mate says, it gets straight into the action and does not bandy around, as many movies seem to do now. Still, it is a little long towards the end, but it is a great example of subtle anti-communist movies.