The Day Mars Invaded Earth (1963)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

Maury Dexter

Writer:

Harry Spalding (writer)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Strange Invisible Astro-Energy Unleashed Leaves Mankind A Human Shell As It Destroys His Body And Brain!

Plot:

Martians replace scientist & his family to pave way for invasion. |

Plot Keywords:

Martian | Scientist | Alien | Christmas | Mars

Cast

Kent Taylor	...	Dr. David Fielding
Marie Windsor	...	Claire Fielding
William Mims	...	Dr. Web Spencer
Betty Beall	...	Judi Fielding
Lowell Brown	...	Frank Hazard
Gregg Shank	...	Rocky Fielding
Henrietta Moore	...	Miss Moore
Troy Melton
George Riley

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Greystone Park & Mansion - 905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills, California, USA

Company:

Associated Producers (API)

Low budget suspense

This film was a pleasant surprise and reminded me of "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers" and "The Shining" both in plot content and, more particularly, the methods used to build atmosphere and suspense.

The film struggles to overcome its budgetary constraints and suffers from some rather wooden performances from the limited cast. It is unfortunate that when dealing with such a small cast a below par performance is a great deal more obvious than it would be in most films. A case of not enough flowers to hide the weeds.

I was surprised to see comments from another viewer who attributed this film to the UK, as far as I can see there are no links to the UK. The writer was Canadian and the cast, director, studio and locations all American.

It's certainly worth 70 minutes of your time to give this production a chance, if nothing else it is a refreshing change from the hideously unconvincing "rubber monster" flicks that were so prevalent in this genre.