Invaders from Mars (1953) User Reviews

Childhood favourite

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 2 September 2013]

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.

nostalgia trip

[rupie · 6/10 · 19 January 2000]

I was seven years old when I was taken to see this movie by my sixty-year old Lithuanian grandmother (to whom it must have made no sense at all). The images in the movie - the big green guys, the melting rock that looked like an explosion in a bubble gum factory, the people falling into the sand pit, the dreaded implant approaching the pretty neck of Dr. Blake, the little silver octopus-like guy in the fishbowl - all replayed themselves in my mind over many nights. I saw it again recently on AMC and can see many of the things that are dated, but can also understand why the movie made such an impact at the time. The concept, especially, of one's parents being taken under the control of evil forces is particularly disturbing to a young child. The music and sound effects, too, are particularly eerie. The almost abstract quality of the set in the police station scene lends it a foreboding quality. I'm ambivalent on how to rate it. It very much shows its age (and they could have shortened the stock army footage of tanks rolling) but has much that gives it a weird sort of drawing power even today. A curiously compelling movie.

The Good & Bad Of 'Invaders From Mars''

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 30 December 2007]

A little boy is the star of this film, and he does a fine job acting. Jimmy Hunt is his name, and he didn't have a big career acting, "retiring" at the end of the following year (1954). He was a decent child actor, as he shows here. He did come back to be part of the remake in 1986, playing the police chief and uttering one ironic and inside-joke line.

I thought the best part of this 1953 sci-fi classic was the beginning where Hunt really took center stage as the kid who saw a Martian UFO crash-land in a nearby area and then saw what the aliens did to his parents and others. I appreciated the fact the film didn't overdo the "we-don't-believe-the-dumb kid-angle. I presumed they were going to go on and on about that, but they didn't. He got a good ally soon and it wasn't too long where people woke up to what was happening. This was made in the era, unlike the last few decades, in which Hollywood portrayed the U.S. military as the good guys.

There is no need to go into story details. The fun of the film is the corny lines here and there and, of course, the horrible special-effects, some of which will make you laugh out loud.

This was meant to scare kids 55 years ago but now, as adults, we just look at these films as "campy" or "cheesy" entertainment to give us laughs, and keep us entertained. For the most part, this film delivered in those areas. You can't take any of it seriously because it's too hokey for that. I was sorry to see them use stock footage. That really wasn't needed because the story and acting were acceptable enough, and the dialog dumb enough to be entertaining. Still, don't expect a "masterpiece," or something that is so bad, it's great. It's kind of somewhere in the middle.

Generally speaking, I enjoyed this film, but after hearing some rave reviews, expected a little more. My major complaint - and it only one - is that it lags halfway through, until the last 20-or-so minutes.

"Invaders", still potent after nearly fifty years.

[Kingkitsch · 25 January 2002]

After reading many of the comments regarding this movie, I am somewhat amused to see how many have forgotten that there was life before CGI computer effects.

"Invaders From Mars" is still potent in the most valuable way, and that's imagination. The storyline, which owes a great deal to "The Wizard of Oz" in it's final moments, has deep psychological effects which still resonate today. If it wasn't so effective, people wouldn't still be discussing it after nearly fifty years.

CGI effects have dumbed down movies to nothing more than computer-effects orgies, relying on a "gee-whiz" factor that ultimately comes up empty in more than a few cases (the big-budget "Godzilla" leaps quickly to mind here). IFM was originally set to be a 3-D movie, which was ultimately scrapped for budgetary concerns. William Cameron Menzies, the director, used the original sets which had been designed to force perspective. The resulting film, which throws the objectivity to a child's point of view has fascinated viewers for years. Menzies did the best with what he could afford, and the visual results are still gripping even today. Yes, the film has it's flaws, but we need to consider the making of IFM in its historical context. Menzies was an Oscar-winning art director (for "Gone With the Wind", no less). Also consider his work on "Thief of Bagdad" with Sabu, one of the most beautiful color films ever made. IFM shows the same visual excitement (referred to by some viewers as "garish"), but rising above it's badly slashed budget to gain a foothold in popular memory.

It's sad to think that the work of a real artist will be dismissed simply because he worked in an era where technology hadn't swallowed vision.

Sci-Fi cheapy semi-classic in which a young boy attempts to stop an Alien invasion who take over the minds of the townspeople

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 31 January 2017]

Acceptable , estimable and well-made science-fiction/suspense/thriller in which a kid and military are confronted by an alien invasion . This film , nowadays , has achieved cult stature and with the passing of the years has attained rave reviews . A boy named David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) tries to stop aliens that came from above and attack from below . As the aliens have taken over his town and are attempting to brainwash its inhabitants . As his parents (Hilary Brooke , Leif Erickson) are zapped by the weird and diabolic creatures . He can't convince the townspeople of this invasion because they've already possessed by the outer beings . As the people fall into a sandpit where martian slaves carry on their fiendish work guided by a malicious mastermind . As David is only helped by Dr. Stuart Kelston (Arthur Franz , also narrator) and the sympathetic Dr. Pat Blake (Helena Carter) . Later on , the boy enlists the aid of Col. Fielding (Morris Ankrum) and his U.S. Marines . The soldiers go under the surface where the Marines encounter extraterrestrials in the tunnels , leading to the powerful alien leader .

The earlier first version loosely based on a story by John Battle results to be a potent lesson how to direct a film in low budget and it holds a subtle but efficient intrigue . Gradual as well as notable built-up suspense is quite superb as when the aliens are shown largely at the ending and to create a real menace . This exciting film packs chills , thrills , guessing , paranoia , absence of all characterization and spectacular FX by that time , though today dated . In fact , the sandpit opening and closing was done by cutting a long slit in a piece of heavy canvas and inserting a large funnel . And including stock footage , as it shows tanks being loaded onto train flatcars that were actually WW2 M10 tank destroyers and by the time of this film were superseded by newer models . Chilling tale of an alien invasion , this is a nice thriller/SciFi in its own right , dealing with a saucer descends on earth and takes over human beings when they fall into a sandpit . The story is told from the view point of a kid , including a surprising and unexpected finale . Several actors performed the slaves , working in shifts , which meant each performer who did the "walking" for a Martian needed his own custom-made footwear . It is one of the best of the Cold War allegories and a lot of filmmakers cited the movie as a key , influential film in their lives . Colorful cinematography by John Seitz in garish Cinecolor that gives the movie a distinctive , almost muddy look appropriate in particular to the strange underground atmosphere . This motion picture (1953) was well directed by William Cameron Menzies who shows real skill in the way that everyday things are made to carry a sense of menace . Cameron was one of the best production designers of film history and directed a few movies , such as : ¨The Maze¨ , ¨The Whip Hand¨ , ¨Drums in the Deep South¨ ,¨The Green Cockatoo¨ , ¨Thief of Bagdad¨ , and another classic Sci-Fi : ¨Things to come¨ . In ¨Invaders from Mars¨ Menzies provides a punchy suspenseful Sci-Fi in green-and-gold color about some unwelcome aliens . Although it aroused no great attention in its day and despite its commercial and critical failure , it has become a cult classic .

This oddball vintage 50s SF tale is remade 33 years later with similar plot , as a Martian invasion perceived only by one young boy , being directed by Tobe Hooper again with Jimmy Hunt , who played young David MacLean in the original and the police chief in this remake , and Hunter Carson who is the real life son of Karen Black who plays a hysterical school nurse , Timothy Bottoms , Laraine Newman , James Karen , Bud Cort , Louise Fletcher , Eric Pierpoint . This second high-tech outing pays homage to the first retelling but being really inferior to precedent .

The Martians Are Coming, The Martians Are Coming

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 22 May 2009]

When I was a lad I got to see this one on television fairly early, about five years after it was in theaters. I was pretty taken with the film, I was still in grade school. Seeing it again though I managed to note a lot of the scientific flaws in the film.

I cannot imagine that Arthur Franz who is identified as Helena Carter's favorite astronomer was able to deduce so much about life on Mars from telescope observation. We haven't got that far with the Mars probes we've sent in more recent times. The Martians know plenty about us though, they know exactly where on Earth man is learning about them and they want to do something about it.

This all starts when young Jimmy Hunt sees a flying saucer actually land in a field near his house and bury itself beneath the soil. When his astronomer father Leif Erickson goes out to investigate, he gets caught in some artificial quicksand and when he comes back in the house he's not your typical Leave It To Beaver Hugh Beaumont like dad any more. He's got a little crystal knob sticking out the nape of his neck and pretty soon these start sprouting up on people, like Jimmy's mother Hillary Brooke, the police chief Bert Freed, etc.

Fortunately for the world's sake, young Master Hunt convinces people before Kevin McCarthy did in Invasion Of the Body Snatchers that something ain't kosher out in that field. The armed might of the US Military is brought to bear.

William Cameron Menzies put together some real nice sets and special effects in a film that is before those computer graphic things we're now so jaded with. He also got some convincing performances out of a good cast of character actors, mostly from Jimmy Hunt. The young man got his career role in this film, we see this invasion through his eyes.

Of course there's perfectly logical reason why it is with his eyes which I cannot reveal.

The conception of the Martians when we do meet the invaders could possibly be where the inheritors of Gene Roddenberry got their idea for the Founders and the Jem Hadar. If you see Invaders From Mars, see if you don't agree.

Though the film is dated, positively saturated with Fifties attitudes, Invaders From Mars is still a good source of entertainment and speculation.

Scared the ____ out of me as a kid......

[yachtboy9 · 7/10 · 16 January 2007]

As a kid growing up in 50's I lived on these low budget Sci fi movies. When the Japanese ones started hitting the theaters, ( the mysterians, rodan ) I was in heaven. They terrified me but I couldn't get enough of them. The perfect audience. Anyway, I first saw this on TV, when I was maybe 6 or 7 yrs old.I didn't sleep for a week. I lived near a big lot with sand and all I could imagine was martians coming up thru the sand. A 6 or 7 yr old wasn't looking for a message just to be scared out of his wits on a warm summer night. Our parents could worry about communism, nuclear war and the like. I and my friends scanned the skies for Invaders from Mars.

A sweet little film

[A-Ron-2 · 5/10 · 5 July 2000]

Overall, this film catches every kid's dream of being the one to save the day from the evil (aliens, Russians, whatever... fill in the blank) and have adults genuinely pay attention to them.

It also manages to capture the essence of childhood insecurity (why do you think kids flip out when their mom's leave for 2 seconds?). All of this is so weird, because this film is so ridiculously cheesey and bad (but in a good way). I have always loved this movie, for different reasons, and at different times of my life (I first saw it on the Creature Double Feature when I was a wee lad). I think that it is a great film for kids and tolerable for all but the most dour adults. I would rather have my kid (well, if I had one) watching this, than watching most of the c**p on TV.

Paranoid, Maybe-Serious, Very.

[mplath5 · 10/10 · 30 June 2004]

I saw this movie in it's 2nd or 3rd run, around 1957 I was about 10 years old (same age as David in the movie) and very naive concerning agendas and hidden messages. The hook was the very beginning with a spatial view of the stars, a vocal chorus that sounded 'heavenly' and segued in beautiful fashion. I was a stargazer, thrilled with what was starting to happen in the space race and interested in all things scientific. When you're 10, you don't look for zippers on martian suits, balloons that move when martians go past them, or things like that. What you notice is that some of the people in the movie echo individuals you know in real life. You begin to wonder if people who seem changed in real life have something in the back of their necks. Maybe you look for these markings after you leave the theater?

'Invaders' had a profound effect on me as a child, but then, so did "The Day The Earth Stood Still". I suspect that there wasn't a large budget to make this picture but am moved to say that it accomplished what it set out to do, both in sending a message and being real scary at the time. If you are a real 'Invaders' fan, try to find the 12" laser discs that came out in the late 70s. (2-12" laser disc set) It featured all the trailers and several different endings. I still watch it now and then and hope that I don't wake up in the same dream every day, like David did.

One of the better Sci-Fi alien invader films from the 50's? I'd have said so.

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 7 August 2005]

Invaders From Mars starts at approximately 4.30 a.m. one morning as an alarm clock belonging to a young boy named David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) goes off waking his parents George (Leif Erickson) & Mary (Hillary Brooke) in the process as well. Budding scientist & astronomer David wanted to be up early to witness the clear early morning sky's through his telescope but what David actually sees is a huge flying saucer land in the fields behind his house. David ask's his dad to go & investigate which he does, he however does not come back. It's now morning & the sun is up & George is still missing, worried Mary calls the police. Officers Jackson (Douglas Kennedy, uncredited) & Blaine (Charles Cane also uncredited) turn up & head out back to see if they can find George. Back at the house George walks in & is somehow different, very aggressive & evasive about where he has been. Then the two policemen reappear & they too seem different. David is convinced that aliens have done something to his dad so decides to keep an eye on the field & when he sees a young girl named Kathy Wilson (Janine Perreau) sucked under a stretch of sand he becomes convinced of it. David desperately tries to make someone, anyone believe his story but doesn't get very far until he meets Dr. Pat Blake (Helena Carter) & Professor Stuart Kelston (Arthur Franz) whom become convinced David is in fact telling the truth...

Directed by William Cameron Menzies who also acted as production designer I must admit that I have a special place in my heart for Invaders From Mars. It was the first Sci-Fi horror film I can ever remember seeing all those years ago & images from it have always stayed with me. In no small way I would say that Invaders From Mars had a huge influence on the films that I enjoy today & shaping my tastes & I vividly remember it creeping me out big style! The scenes of the sand opening & sucking people in & then closing again literary embedded itself in my mind & genuinely scared me. Looking at it now in the cold hard light of day in August 2005 all these years later as an adult it obviously doesn't quite evoke the fear it once did & to be brutally honest isn't a brilliant film but it is a good one. The script by Richard Blake is a little better than most 50's Sci-Fi, he tries to give the film some sort of story as the Martians are here for a specific purpose rather than to just randomly wipe us out or eat us, it's just a shame that the middle slows down to a virtual stand still with a long drawn out scene in Professor Kelston's office where he explains lots of outdated scientific nonsense & within a few minutes manages to not only figure out where these aliens have come from but why their here. The very fact that Professor Kelston has to use an artist's interpretation of the surface of mars which has greenery on it should give you a clue as to how Invaders From Mars has dated. There is one funny bit where David & Professor Kelston are showing Colonel Fielding (Morris Ankrum) the area by sitting on a house's roof, what's wrong with looking out of the window chaps? I mean it would be a bit safer & less conspicuous wouldn't it? The characters are thin & very 50's in the way they act from the police to the Army, people just wouldn't behave like this these days or at least I hope they wouldn't. Technically Invaders From Mars is pretty good considering the period it was made, most of it was obviously shot in a studio even the exteriors of houses & the like & at one point to signify the Pentagon they show a model complete with toy cars driving along next to it! Shot in colour director Menzies uses some garish colour schemes throughout. The alien ship is alright looking but what stands out for me & another aspect of Invaders From Mars that I have never forgotten are the dark tunnels created by the aliens that run under the sand pit complete with somehow eerie bubbled walls. The main alien 'intelligence' (Luce Potter) actually looks very impressive & again creepy whereas the big servants don't as their obviously just tall guys in green felt costumes & matching goggles, I suppose what I'm trying so say is the Martian Intelligence actually looks alien & the big green things most definitely don't. The acting is pretty wooden as you would expect from a cheap 50's Sci-Fi so no surprises there. Overall I have fond childhood memories of Invaders From Mars so maybe my judgement is clouded but I will openly admit it hasn't dated too well, having said that I throughly recommend it & it's a film I think will stay with me forever. Definitely worth a watch & absolutely essential viewing material for Sci-Fi fans.

Great early sci-fi reflecting the U.S.'s fear of Communism

[tomgillespie2002 · 5/10 · 11 January 2012]

It has been well documented that 1950's science fiction was a reflection of the fears of Communist infiltration of the American way: political difference was something (and still is) that creates gung-ho attitudes towards outside elements - something that the USofA is incapable of accepting, just look at the travesty of the Vietnam war. Invaders from Mars is no different to this trend of political allegory - and was also another way for film makers to make statements about the country that they were living in; through the use of allegory, and using the very visually stunning and populist genre of science fiction.

Young David MacLean (generic 1950's freckly kid, Jimmy Hunt), witnesses what he believes to be a flying saucer land underground at the back of his home. On reporting this to his father, George (Leif Erickson) he decides to investigate the area. What transpires is that people are being sucked into a hole in the sand, and implanted with mind control devices. So, the minds of the local population slowly become slaves to the "martian" ideals, and a bid to stop the production of the atom bomb, which is being developed in the local area. David, being of sound scientific processes, notices the difference in behaviour in his parents, and tries to warn the townsfolk. The nuclear family is destroyed by the alien infiltration, which is precisely what the American people/government believed would occur if Communist ideologies were to get to the American people.

William Cameron Menzies was a production/art director on such classics as Gone with the Wind (1939), and also had uncredited director duties on The Thief of Bagdad (1940), and Duel in the Sun (1946). His eye for detail within the frame is highly evident in this classic of '50's sci- fi. Considering this was a B-movie, that had an incredibly low budget, the visuals of the film, whilst often simple, are absolutely triumphant. OK, so the "martian" silly green furry costumes are laughable, but this does not hinder the enjoyment of the piece, and I hold it in high regard, along with other classics of the decade, such as The War of the Worlds (1953), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).

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The Stuff Nightmares Are Made From

[twanurit · 9/10 · 23 December 2002]

An eerie horror/sci-fi that works even better today: great set design (by the director William Cameron Menzies), script, haunting music, and unforgettable images: the hill-top "sinking sand" set, weird marks on victims' necks, the catacombed alien lair, the tall, green, bug-eyed Martians, the gold-like, tentacled, expressive "head"-intelligence in the globe, the LONG hypodermic needle, much more. Costumes work well too, note the change of the mother (Hillary Brooke) from loose-haired blonde sweetness, to a possessed rigid-hairstyled villainess in black. The doctor-heroine (Helena Carter) is a picture-book beauty of auburn-coiffured refinement and soft-spoken sympathy, clad in a cream-colored dress, with a bright red handkerchief to set it off and two-toned stilettos. Jimmy Hunt is all-American red-headed freckleness, unusual in that the story is told from his point-of-view, a fine performance. Good support from Morris Ankrum, Arthur Franz, and Leif Erickson. The dreamlike nature of the picture is only enhanced by the repeating footage, lots of stock military scenes, the wobbly aliens, etc. Basic plot was re-used for "It Came From Outer Space" (1953), "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956), "It Conquered the World" (1956), many more. Skip the abysmal 1986 remake.

Unforgettable memory from my childhood

[robert3750 · 7/10 · 18 April 2017]

One of the most memorable SF films from the 50s. For anyone who was a kid in the 50s or 60s, just say "the movie where people are sucked into the sand", and everyone instantly knows which movie you mean. Those scenes are unforgettable, as are the scenes of the Martian Intelligence, and the image of the nurse about to receive the mind control device. And that haunting, otherworldly choral sound! Probably the most brilliantly eerie vocal sound ever made for a movie. Unfortunately, many people won't be able to look past the low budget 50s production values, but there's some great work here. William Cameron Menzies was a genius at production design. Check out the nightmarish forced perspective of the path leading to the sand pit, and the police station. A must see.

Began well, but really fizzled quickly!

[ksneath · 3/10 · 31 March 2011]

First, let me state that this review is for what I understand to be the British version of the film which takes events at "face value" if you will.

At times I tend to be a bit dubious about being so critical of something that the majority of viewers seem to love; However, I must say that from my perspective, what started out to be an engaging story with some psychological angles pretty quickly turned into little more than a curiosity piece for fans of classic sci-fi.

I enjoyed the way the film began (despite the cheesy effects), with the boy waking up and viewing the saucer land, to his father returning with a glazed, angry demeanor and the "X" scar on the back of his neck (ahead of it's time!), to little David desperate for help at the police station (the surrealism of which would argue more for the American storyline version, btw). I was expecting at this point for the story to be a "boy against the establishment" type of plot, which I was willing to accept -- particularly if told from his point of view.

However, the movie started to lose me pretty fast when the script got just plain silly. First, when Dr. Blake is going to interview David in the cell (in the cell, really??) and they want to be alone -- the police sergeant seems reluctant to leave Miss Blake there and says "If you have any trouble, just yell", as if he was leaving Clarice in the cell with Mr. Lecter or something. Then we move to the observatory where (at least in the version I watch), the movie slows to a crawl, gets very condescending, and the dialog becomes just plain goofy. I did get a great laugh at these lines as Dr. Blake and David are talking w/ Dr. Kelston --

Dr. Blake: "What do you think it's all about, Stew? What David thought it was?" Dr. Kelston: "Possibly." David: "A spaceship?!" Dr. Blake: "From where?" Dr. Kelston (very gravely): "From outer space."

After these scenes, I really couldn't engage myself back in the movie. Watching extended minutes of military vehicles on a train, driving, parking, etc. was obvious stock footage time filler. There is no way the little boy would be around everything, tell the astronomer all the facts, etc. In short, the movie as I watched it started out fairly well, and then really took a turn for the worse, and made it rather unengaging for me.

I streamed this film from Netflix and I wish I could have seen the other version, because from reading some descriptions and comments here, I think I would have liked it a little better (some of the bad dialog and goofiness would have a somewhat plausible explanation). Maybe it would have been a 5 or 6 in that case. My recommendation is to avoid the British version.

Scared the spit out of me when I was a kid!

[MusicalMagpie · 5 August 2005]

I was only a year old when this movie came out, but I saw it on TV when I was around 8 years old, and it made a deep impression on me. In fact, when they brought out that long needle, my sister and I hid behind the couch and screamed for our mother to come turn off the TV! As a result, I did not know how the movie ended until I saw it again as a teenager. The special effects may seem cheesy to the jaded audiences of today, but they were effective enough to give me nightmares for years. (In one dream I am being carried by my own mother, who is walking stiffly, with a fixed smile.) I believe what makes it work is that the entire film is seen from the point of view of the boy. The director capitalizes on the insecurity of young children, and the way they relate to the world around them. All the best horror and science fiction movies succeed not because of CGI, costumes, rubber prostheses and fake blood, but because they focus on basic human fears and insecurities.

"If it's a fight they want they're gonna get it!"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 6/10 · 23 September 2020]

This is a film of two halves. The first is the growing fear of young David MacLean as he realises that after a space ship has landed people, including his beloved parents, are changing and him trying to convince adults of what is happening. This half is very well done with interesting sets and music and a fine performance from Jimmy Hunt as David. The second half is the actions of the adults once they accept the truth about the invaders and action replaces tension, so that the film becomes a bit more routine.

Still it's a good film with some fascinating visuals (the alien in the goldfish bowl!) and a capable cast which includes the ever reliable Morris Ankrum as Colonel Fielding and Hillary Brooke whose change from nice Mary MacLean to controlled Mary MacLean is scary. The ending let the film down a little I felt but an enjoyable alien invasion movie nevertheless.

Invaders from Mars

[jboothmillard · 6/10 · 7 July 2016]

In recent years I have made an effort to find and watch classic films that evoke the time period in which they were made, this is a very good example of one such film, directed by William Cameron Menzies (Things to Come). Basically one night young David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) is awakened by a thunderstorm, then a strange light appears, from his bedroom window he sees a large flying saucer descend and disappear into the sandpit area behind the house. His scientist father George (Leif Erickson) knows that his son is not the sort of child to make up things, so he investigates, when he returns the next morning David notices a strange red puncture on the back of his neck, and his father behaves cold and hostile. David soon realises that something is wrong, he notices certain townspeople with the same mark on the back of their neck and acting the same sort of way, then he witnesses his child neighbour Kathy Wilson (Janine Perreau) disappearing underground walking in the sandpit, she later returns with hardly any emotion at all. David flees to the police station for help, he is placed under the protection of health-department physician Dr. Pat Blake (Helena Carter), who slowly begins to believe his crazy story, and taking David to local astronomer Dr. Stuart Kelston (Arthur Franz), he confirms with the boy and Dr. Blake that there is likely to be an upcoming invasion from the planet Mars. Dr. Kelston convinces the U.S. Army to investigate immediately, and soon enough the Pentagon assembles troops and tanks, command by Colonel Fielding (Morris Ankrum). David and Dr. Blake near the sandpit are suddenly sucked underground, two tall slit-eyed green humanoids have captured them, but Colonel Fielding and some troops find the entrance to the flying saucer. Inside they confront the Martian mastermind: a giant green head with a humanoid face atop a small, green partial torso with several green arm-tentacles, encased in a transparent sphere, it is served by tall, green, silent mutants. The human victims taken have been implanted with mind-control devices, they are attempting to sabotage an atomic rocket, if they are captured the devices implode and cause a fatal cerebral haemorrhage. Dr. Blake and David are rescued, Colonel Fielding and the troops open fire at the pursuing mutants, the army plant a timed explosive charges aboard the saucer. Following a large explosion, David wakes to find himself in his bed, just like at the beginning, his parents are back to normal, he returns to bed assured that he had a nightmare, but then he goes to the window and sees the same flying saucer from his dream descending into the sandpit, it is unclear what happens next. Also starring Hillary Brooke as Mrs. Mary MacLean, Max Wagner as Sergeant Rinaldi, Milburn Stone as Captain Roth, Walter Sande as Police Desk Sergeant Finlay, John Eldredge as Mr. Turner, Robert Shayne as Dr. Bill Wilson, Luce Potter as Martian Intelligence and It's a Wonderful Life's Todd Karns as Jim the Gas Station Attendant. Over the years this film has gained a cult status, its distorted and abstract surrealistic are the big reasons, you can maybe laugh now at the ridiculous of it, especially the low-budget special effects and costumes for the alien creatures, but in a way, that is part of the appeal, and it certainly plays on the paranoia that went on at the time, it could have been less chatty and have more alien stuff, but overall it is a relatively entertaining classic science-fiction thriller. Good!

Stagecraft 101

[paulk190 · 3/10 · 29 March 2004]

If you like stock footage of army tanks being loaded onto a train, or endless shots of guys in green velvet jump suites and ping-pong ball eyes running back and forth, then you'll love this movie. The only interesting scenes are in the police station. Whoever created this set should receive an award. The ceiling appears to be about 30 feet high. There are no pictures or other decorations on the walls anywhere and the jail cell where the boy meets the shrink is about 5 feet deep with the walls, floor, and ceiling tapered to add the illusion of depth. The effect is bizarre since it creates an (unintentional?) forced perspective which makes the boy look huge next to the (not-so) distant back wall when compared to the people in the foreground. It's worth seeing for Milburn Stone who is brilliant as usual.

Deceptively Brilliant Masterpiece.

[Bob-45 · 10/10 · 15 July 1999]

A child astronomer searches the skies with his father. Later the child astronomer wakes to the sound of a flying saucer landing in a sand pit across from his home. The child's father investigates, and returns "transformed." Soon father and mother both seem affected. Child, accompanied by his fetching teacher visits his astronomer friend, whom talks unashamedly about "invaders from Mars."

Within this deceptively simple plotline is a surrealistic masterpiece. With stunning use of color, forced perspective, oversized sets, eerie dreamlike music and carefully mannered performances and plotting, director William Cameron Menzies (an Oscar-winning art director) displays the nightmarish incidents from a child's perspective. Even the typically 50s ending takes on a different perspective. Was it a dream? Was it a foreshadowing of the future? Or is it a recurring nightmare, in a mind gone hopelessly mad.

Only since this film have widespread reports of alien "abductions" and "alien implants" become a reality. Coincidence?

INVADERS FROM MARS is one of the great fantasy sci-fi films of all time.

First seen on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater in 1966

[kevinolzak · 7/10 · 13 July 2019]

The stuff of childhood nightmares, 1953's "Invaders from Mars" proved far more valuable than just a minor footnote shot at Republic (picked up for distribution by Fox), as maverick production designer William Cameron Menzies ("Chandu the Magician," "Gone with the Wind") doubled as director, and a fine cast of familiar faces put forth a tale of terror through the eyes of a preteen astrologer. Jimmy Hunt's David MacLean is awakened during the night by a curious humming sound, witnessing a spaceship disappear into a sandpit in back of his house, conveniently covering itself up to avoid detection. His father George (Leif Erickson) works at a secret government facility and must investigate anything peculiar, vanishing in the sand before two policemen arrive and promptly follow suit. All three mysteriously turn up later, George now a distant stranger rather than the loving parent from before, and the cops refusing to do their duty and report the disappearance. David then spies a neighbor, Kathy Wilson (Janine Perreau), dropping from sight and informs her worried mother, only for the child to suddenly reappear and cause a fire to burn down her own home (her father, also a government worker, the intended target). The now frantic David is the one witness able to identify those afflicted by a small mark in the back of the neck, with the police chief (Bert Freed) and even General Mayberry (William Forrest) falling victim to the unseen invaders. Luckily the boy has two allies in fellow astronomer Stuart Kelston (Arthur Franz) and psychologist Dr. Pat Blake (Helena Carter), especially since both his parents have become mindless assassins awaiting orders to target certain individuals and sabotage all local areas involving space exploration (it does stretch credulity when Morris Ankrum's Colonel Fielding accepts the outlandish theory straight away). The human drama eventually takes a back seat to the military setup, leading to the final reel discovery of the Martian ship and its disembodied brain working with humanoid robot workers; the finale restores the dramatic intensity of the film's first half, though the British print features additional footage and an entirely different ending. By the 1980s a Tobe Hooper remake was earmarked for Karen Black, casting Jimmy Hunt as the possessed police chief, but in the era of cable and video tapes it just can't compare to the quality of 50s paranoia, essentially a child's version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." The lack of detail in the sets not only make them more psychologically effective they were undoubtedly cheaper to be built, and Menzies continuously works wonders on his modest budget (he went on to direct only one more film, "The Maze," in 3D). Morris Ankrum is fortunately spared from playing villain ("Flight to Mars," "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers"), and former Universal regular Milburn Stone was just two years away from his long running landmark Western GUNSMOKE, playing the amiable hard working Doc. Special mention must go to Leif Erickson and Hillary Brooke as David's parents, as warm and loving as one would expect them to be, until Martian possession make them a pair of traitorous murderers. George Pal's "The War of the Worlds" and Universal's "It Came from Outer Space" may have preceded this particular invasion but it still ranks near the top of that vivid and popular subgenre.

Seminal 50's Sci-Fi from a child's perspective. Great!

[red-74 · 10/10 · 19 April 2000]

Don't be fooled by anyone who dismisses Invaders from Mars as a piece of retrograde schlock.

There may be a visible zipper or two on the monster suits and their weapons will look a little Dr. Seussy compared to a Trekkie phaser, but this movie has a lot to offer, including a completely unique child-driven story line. I can't think of another movie that so successfully captures the terror at the heart of every child's fear that their parents may not be who they say they are; that no one believes them because they're children (how many abused children have been fobbed off by well-meaning adults who should have listened?), or that they're entitled a a perfect, loving father and mother (the nurse and the astronomer), not the ones they've been born to.

Compared to so many of today's Sci-Fi disasters that are long on money and short on everything else, Invaders from Mars relies on atmosphere and expressionist angles, nightmarish sets that are just a little too big, too stark, too skewed (the Police Station is a perfect example).

And instead of Mars Attacks' little green gremlins that take such glee in splattering and fricassing everything in site; the Martians in IoM are insidious; relying on one human to lure another into a sinister sand pit (a metaphor for the threat of communism or the tactics of the House UnAmerican Activities hearings?).

How many future 'alien abductees,' sci-fi plotters and X-files authors have used the conventions here? Tiny implants inserted at the back of the neck. Friends turned into traitorous zombies. Humans kidnapped and set out on slab tables for experimentation? Alien tunnels spread like netting beneath the placid surface of the world's oblivious Earthlings. A hero with the truth that no one will listen to? And how many film makers, even now, would have the skill and the nerve to save the boy, start the ordeal all over again, and make it work? Because, as we all know, the monsters in the closet come back as soon as the light goes out again.

NOTE: the remake is a total waste of time that Tobe Hooper should be mortally ashamed of.

watch it for more than one reason

[markg0514 · 7/10 · 5 August 2003]

A great movie for the time. The ending scared me for years and years. It would be in the same class as "Them". But watch out for that one scene where the "martian" is running through the caves and ..... his zipper is showing.

I worry about anybody over 6 that liked this move

[DragonflyDriver · 2/10 · 23 June 2007]

Oh yeah, this movie is in contention for the coveted "Worst Movie Of All Time". It can't replace "Plan Nine From Outer Space" in that number one position but it comes in darn close. The acting is atrocious, the special effects don't deserve to be called "special", and the screenplay is a disaster. Anybody pick up the back and forth running done by everyone while underground under the sand (which seemed to go on forever)? What they did repeatedly was to reverse the image to make it look as if it were another part of the underground caverns (notice the items on the belts of the soldiers and how they switch sides). They even did this once to the path behind the house leading to the noisy sand (fence on the left of the path, then fence on the right). Speaking of that sound when the sand was opening, yeah, that was really, really scary (rolling eyes). It was made by a choir! I could go on and on about the plot and dialog but I'll just say that if you're really desperate for a sci-fi flick, try something else first.

And a Child Shall Lead Them...

[BaronBl00d · 28 December 2000]

Lots of positive and negative feedback for this film, and I can understand why. Whether we want to admit it or not, nostalgia does have an impact on how we view things. As someone between the two generations(early 30's at this time), I can understand how I have put special importance on things I watched as a child. I know that some of these films were not too good but they mean't a lot to me. I also know that I was the kind of person that watched older films and appreciated them if they were good, and watched newer films and appreciated them if they were good. The biggest problem with many younger viewers today is that they do not look at a film in a context of when it was made, nor do they look at the most important aspect of the film which is what message is the film trying to relate....NOT how does it look in relating its message. We as a society are too caught up with presentation and other superficial things that sometimes we ignore what the core of something is. Anyway...enough philosophizing. This film is a good film period. Yep, it is cheaply made. Yep, it is filled with lots of stock footage, particularly the battle scenes which take place at night but footage takes place during day. Yep, it has mediocre acting. I won't argue those point because they are accurate. But those are only a part of the film...and for this film at least a very small part. This film has style and substance. Director William Cameron Menzies WAS a great director. He directed the science fiction classic Things To Come in the 30's which was a visionary masterpiece. He made this film fun to watch as he incorporated German expressionistic sets into his small-town simple story of a boy that knows aliens have landed on Earth in his back yard. The young boy played by Jimmy Hunt does a fine job in his role. The messages the film relates, however, are for me at least the core of the film....watch out for the ordinary....listen to children.....conformity is dangerous. This film is saying so much...give it a chance without worrying about window-dressing! And a final note...Long Live Morris Ankrum in film...I like him in this movie!

A Flawed and Lame Cult-Movie and Source of Inspiration of a Masterpiece

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 15 January 2011]

The intelligent boy David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) is the son of the Armistead's engineer George MacLean (Leif Erickson), who is the responsible for the secret design of the engine of a powerful rocket that will be launched to Mars. His mother Mary MacLean (Hillary Brooke) uses to say that he will be a scientist like his father is. David frequently uses his telescopic like an astronomer to search the sky. One night, he sees a spaceship landing on the beach nearby his house and he tells his beloved father that promises to investigate in the morning. George goes to the spot and vanishes, and Mary calls the police. The two officers walk to the place and also disappear in the sand. Out of the blue, George returns to his home emotionless and acting in a strange way, and David notes a cut on his back neck. Sooner David learns that the aliens are somehow controlling earthlings and he goes to the precinct to tell to the chief of police that is also under control of the invaders. When Dr. Pat Blake (Helena Carter) interviews the boy in a cell, she concludes that he is scared and telling the truth. She brings David to visit her fiancé, the renowned scientist Dr. Stuart Kelston (Arthur Franz) that calls Colonel Fielding (Morris Ankrum) and the military activates a defense plan against the invaders from Mars.

"Invaders from Mars" is a flawed and lame cult-movie visibly inspired in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) that also became the source of inspiration of masterpiece "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956). In times of Cold War, "Invaders from Mars" is not pacifist like the foregoing 1951 film, but has the clear intention to demonstrate the North-American bellicose military power against aliens and saboteurs that threatens the American Dream represented by the McLean family. The alien abductions and brain implants are frequent theme of sci-fi movies and "X-Files" is the most famous recent example. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Invasores de Marte" ("Invaders from Mars")

Note: On 28 Nov 2017, I saw this film again.