Captivating movie !

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I was about 9 when this came out at the local theatre. I loved SyFy and horror movies and was expecting a good time. I was very disappointed. No monstrous aliens, no spaceships, no planetary surfaces, not even a clearly evil villain to be rattled by. Other than being fascinated by the ostentatious Greystone Mansion and its immaculate landscaping I was totally bored. I don't really think I understood what was going on at all.Decades later it was showing on some late night TV feature so I stuck in a VHS tape and went to bed. At 50+ years of age I found myself much more appreciative of the quality of this production. Though obviously low-budget with non-existent special effects I recognized that the director had created a superb atmosphere of mystery and fear. As a child I wasn't able to get it, but as an adult I most definitely did. (Interestingly, I was still enthralled by the Greystone Mansion. I have a peculiar romantic taste for such construction.)Though it will never be high on anyone's list of best science fiction movies it deserves far better than the short shrift rendered by my 4th grade analysis. I understand that it is now available on DVD and will definitely give it some consideration.

This movie is about as exciting as watching paint dry.I have watched most of the classic 1950s and 1960s sci fi films. You make allowances for their severely limited budgets. The special effects are usually primitive and the acting always seems to smell slightly of ham". Even the worse of these films seems to have a certain period charm.This movie is NOTHING like that.NOTHING much happens in the first two thirds of the film. The average viewer is likely to fall asleep the pacing is so incredibly slow. I kept wondering if the Martians planned to BORE the Earth to death.If you are having trouble sleeping, then watch this movie.... it is certain to put you to sleep.

Although it has now achieved something of a cult following, this "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" look-alike was completely ignored on its first release. Not even "Variety" bothered to review the movie because the editor felt its prospects were so limited, that no theaters would screen the film even if the exchange made them a gift of a free copy. And some exchanges had the further disadvantage of a cut-down copy which removed some essential background and motivation. I rated this version as less than mediocre. The full version, however, is quite entertaining and whilst the movie doesn't deserve the unstintingly overboard admiration of Maury Dexter's admirers, it's still well worth a look in its original CinemaScope format. Locations are atmospherically utilized, particularly the scenes in Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills.

Just watched this film on TCM. I stayed with it because as the summary above says i am a sucker for old sci-fi films. But I swear over half this movie is long shots of the stars walking thru an estate in dim light. Although it appears to be a beautiful house and gardens, the day for night filter on the camera lens(and perhaps the print quality I saw) made this a less than enjoyable experience. that being said, there are far better "mars invades earth" films from that era and before. As one previous reviewer commented, we should make allowances for the tech available during the 50's and 60's. I do respect that. But a bad movie still stands out whatever it's current technology. This is a bad movie.