Nevertheless he's prone to scouring the heavens in the wee hours of the morning, young David Maclean

(Jimmy Hunt, the only
member of the cast to put in an appearance in Tobe Hooper's 1986 remake)

spotted something a dab more unusual than
a falling principal the last time he peeked outlying the window. He immediately tells his initiate

(Leif Erickson;

I Saw What
You Did

)

, an architect working on hush-hush projects for the government, that he saw an unusual light mould just
outside. Not belief much of it, George decides to put on his slippers and winnow anyway. He doesn't return, and his
upset wife Mary

(Hillary Brooke;

Frantic Continent

)

has a couple of restricted cops scrub the arrondissement. While
the flatfoots tamper around some sandy hills, George strolls in, nagging coffee. The usually cheerful George is abrasive and
abusive, and David notices almost identical changes in

(and rude nicks on the necks of)

some of the other local
townsfolk that wander too confining to the landing milieu. Not everyone thinks David's story is so far-fetched, and he finds
allies in friendly physician Pat Blake

(the lovely Helena Carter)

and astronomer Dr. Stuart Kelston

(Arthur Franz)

. Stu theorizes that distance from mu-TANTs are fearful of America's budding space program, and they're
manipulating those in power to eliminate any commination that might stand in their way. As the lives of Davey's parents recline in
the rest, the military's called in for an assault on the martians' subterranean fastness.
Along with

It Came From Outer Space

and

The War of the Worlds

,

Invaders From Mars

has prolonged been one of
the movies that instantly springs to mind whenever I think of fifties sci-fi. Although its ripen and inconsiderable budget are
difficult to ignore as cast members cartoonishly plummet nutty-separate and the same several of minutes of footage are recycled
for the eight thousandth time, there's plenty to like about

Invaders From Mars

aside from whatever camp value it may
be struck by. Some of its celebrity is owed to the visual sensibilities of director William Cameron Menzies, who had been nominated
for three Academy Awards for Surpass Art Make, taking home the statuette in 1929 as jet as an honorary award for his do callisthenics on

Gone With the Wind

.

Invaders From Mars

' shoestring buget wasn't sufficient suited for any Oscar-worthy work, but some
of it

is

visually unusual. One of the most many times visited sets is that of the landing plat, which I was
convinced at earliest was some sort of matte painting.
The paranoia so prevalent in fifties sci-fi in the wake of Communism is featured front and center, as our enemies skulk about
sum total us. Along those yet lines, the movie puts great obligation in the military, who, with the help of the movie's plucky young
lead, are able to repel the martian menace and dash out of harm's feeling before it's too late.

Invaders From Mars

, at
least in its untainted American cut, also boasts a uncommonly memorable epilogue that I won't spoil here since the handful of
readers who haven't caught the movie in one get develop or another. Admittedly, the premise is thin and the acting questionable.
The unconvincing green velour costumes of the mu-TANTs and seemingly continual repetition of a enumerate of scattered shots are
laughable. Still, there's something I judge indescribably appealing about the movie, retaining the angst and innocence of an
days gone by and notwithstanding holding up reasonably well as a paranoid thriller.

Invaders From Mars

is quintessential fifties sci-fi, encapsulating the thoughts and beliefs of the cycle as well as
portion to demarcate a means that would be rehashed incessantly from the beginning to the end of the decade. By some overjoyed coincidence,

Invaders
From Mars

alphabetically falls on my DVD shelf immediately next to

The Iron Giant

and

It! The Scourge From
Beyond Space

. Owners of these and other genre/genre-inspired entries will find

Invaders From Mars

to be a
near-necessary purchase.
Both the original American and British versions of

Invaders From Mars

are provided on this DVD release. The British
version dispenses with the prolonged montage at the end of the covering and tacks on an entirely different and substantially weaker
epilogue. As far as something filler, a sequence featuring Professor Kelston prattling on endlessly about flying saucers is tacked on.

Video:

According to the disc's liner notes, this fiftieth anniversary release of

Invaders From Mars

was
transferred from the fresh 35mm Cinecolor unchain print guru. The color 1.37:1 source research doesn't exhibit
exorbitant wear, even if a average amount of dust, vertical lines, and assorted specks present a mild nuisance. The most jarring
mistake is a second or two of vertical jitter around the 24:10 mark. No person of this is altogether unexpected for unrestored
elements of a film lensed a half century ago. This isn't an

excellent

awarding, but it is more than an acceptable
one. Judging from reviews of the promptly wide of the mark-of-print United American discs, this release from Image Recreation offers a
valid betterment over preceding releases.
The British version is, with the obvious irregularity of the several minutes of additional footage, built here the having said that
elements as the American release. Kelston's flying saucer ramblings are rudely comparable in display to the rest of
the talkie. The source research for the modified ending is considerably more battered, and colors in particular suffer.

Audio:

The monaural audio is surprisingly strapping. Colloquy is rendered cleanly and crisply, and a number of the
effects vigorous rich and full. No underlying hiss or distortion were audible from my usual space distance. I did notice
some pops and crackles when I journeyed uncomfortably close to my center speaker, but I wouldn't have been knowledgeable of its
presence otherwise. Profoundly likeable.

Supplements:

Along with the involvement of two versions of

Invaders From Mars

, a handful of other extras have
been added to this release.
A unconditional-frame color theatrical trailer

(2:16)

boldly proclaims that

Invaders From Mars

is "overwhelming but
possible! It could befall

tomorrow

!" A comprehensive stock-still gallery cycles thoroughly a genus of images, including
promotional photos, broadside art, and newspaper articles, seeking well concluded five minutes. Many appear to arrange been amateurishly resized
for use on this DVD, and individual higher stick-to-it-iveness images are unfortunately not close by on the DVD-ROM distribute of the
disc.
An Easter Egg on the Extras menu serves up full-frame interdict and chaste trailers in place of

Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn
Gorilla

,

She Demons

,

Beast From Naive Hell

,

The Flying Saucer

, and

The Crawling Eye

.
The insert is more total than most of the liner notes accompanying releases in the Wade Williams Collection. Five pages
of text, interspersed with various stills of the cast aside, offer a detailed run-through of the film's background and production.
I'm not sure how to best describe the Williams-penned "Negative History", which is overflowing with talk of Cinecolor masters
and color reduction negatives.
Both versions of

Invaders From Mars

have been divided into twenty chapter stops. The disc's animated menus feature a
snippet of music from the film and spiffy radial give away transitions.

Conclusion:

Following a DVD release from United American that's dreadful by all accounts, sole of the most preeminent
flying saucer flicks of the fifties has finally been given the treatment it deserves. Despite

(or peradventure, at least in
part, because of)

its corny, hopelessly dated moments,

Invaders From Mars

is still a kismet of fun.


Recommended.



For Further Reading:

DVD Savant, along with

his own detailed
review of this disc

, has written

an impressive two-part
article on

Invaders From Mars


. The enter upon of liner notes included with this release is good, but Savant's musings
are impartial better.

Agree? Disagree? You can

post your thoughts

about this review on the DVD Talk forums.