Invaders from Mars (1953)

A young boy learns that space aliens are taking over the minds of earthlings.

Director:

William Cameron Menzies

Writer:

Richard Blake (screenplay)

Stars:

Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Jimmy Hunt

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Helena Carter	...	Dr. Pat Blake
Arthur Franz	...	Dr. Stuart Kelston / Narrator
Jimmy Hunt	...	David MacLean
Leif Erickson	...	Mr. George MacLean
Hillary Brooke	...	Mrs. Mary MacLean
Morris Ankrum	...	Col. Fielding
Max Wagner	...	Sgt. Rinaldi
William Phipps	...	Sgt. Baker (as Bill Phipps)
Milburn Stone	...	Capt. Roth
Janine Perreau	...	Kathy Wilson

Storyline

One night, young David McLean sees a spaceship crash into a nearby sandpit. His father goes to investigate, but comes back changed. Where once he was cheerful and affectionate, he's now sullen and snarlingly rude. Others fall into the sandpit and begin acting like him: cold, ill-tempered and conspiratorial. David knows that aliens are taking over the bodies of humans, but he'll soon discover there have been far more of these terrible thefts than he could have imagined. The young doom-monger finds some serious help in a lady doctor and a brilliant astronomer. Soon they meet the aliens: green creatures with insect-like eyes. These beings prove to be slaves to their leader: a large, silent head with ceaselessly shifting eyes and two tentacles on either side, each of which branches off into three smaller tentacles. It's up to the redoubtable earth trio to stop its evil plans.

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Plot Keywords:

alien | martian | mind control | alien invasion | underground hideout | 

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Taglines:

Murderous Martian creatures from out of space!

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 April 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Invaders

Filming Locations:

Republic Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$290,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Edward L. Alperson Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Supercinecolor) (uncredited)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was shot on the new single-strip EastmanColor negative. Cinecolor Labs then produced the trailers and release prints in the three-color SuperCinecolor process. When Cinecolor went bankrupt, the original elements and printing matrices were seized and sold for salvage.

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Goofs

Zips can be clearly seen on the alien's suits.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: The heavens. Once an object of superstition, awe, and fear. Now a vast region for growing knowledge. The distance of Venus, the atmosphere of Mars, the size of Jupiter, and the speed of Mercury. All this and more we know. But their greatest mystery the heavens have kept a secret. What sort of life, if any, inhabits these other planets? Human life, like ours? Or life extremely lower in the scale? Or dangerously higher? Seeking the answer to this timeless question, forever seeking, ...

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Alternate Versions

Because of pressures from UK censors the original ending of the American version was altered: it was believed that ending was too depressing and a more upbeat coda was appropriate. The British distributor recalled the cast and filmed new sections (with a dramatically older juvenile lead) to serve this purpose. This is the version referred to in a previous "alternate version" post. When Wade Williams obtained rights to "Invaders From Mars" he discovered that the original negative had been cut. For home video release, he constituted a "third" version of the film that contained some of the material from the UK version cut into the original American release, but retained the American ending (the "dream turns into reality" ending).

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Connections

Featured in 100 Years of Horror: Aliens (1996)

User Reviews

nostalgia trip

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.