Since there aren't good records or recordings of much Science-Fiction TV of this era I have nothing to fall back on once The Adventures of Superman ended its first season run. So, I turn to the theaters. And in April of 1953 a fantastic gem shows up named Invaders from Mars. The story told from a kids perspective of an alien invasion, human mind-control, and eventual military retaliation.
Is this technically a Sci-Fi movie? It turns out by the end much of the movie was likely the dream of a child who stared at space and read comic books too much. But The Twilight Zone zinger at the end shows an green-glowing alien space craft landing in his yard, just like his dream. Who knows, maybe the kid is a clairvoyant mutant.
Ever so briefly: this movie is about a kid, David, who sees a bright green flying saucer land on top of a hill in his yard and bury itself underground. David is the son of a scientist, whom he tells. Taking him seriously he checks out the hill and disappears, only to show up again much later to verbally and physically abuse his family. This sets off David, who sees a mark on the back of his father's neck, realizing he's been assimilated. This kid runs around trying to get people to believe him as he sees the town slowly change around him. He eventually gets thrown in jail by the chief of police (also taken over) but a psychologist, Dr. Blake, talks to him and supports him. She even refusing at one point to release him back to his mind-controlled parents. Once a visit is made to the local observatory, the astronomer on duty, Dr. Kelston, spins a wild tale that puts all the pieces together for the audience (see my opinion of this below). This gets the military involved which means about 20 minutes of stock footage detailing the load up, mobilization and attack of a tank unit against the alien threat. Amazingly David is allowed to be around during all this, but is captured along with Blake by aliens (technically Mutants). The military busts in to the hidden underground ship, rescues everyone they can, plant explosive charges, and run like hell. Suddenly David wakes up in bed, and sees the same flying saucer land in his yard.
My first nitpick is during the opening narration. The actual dialog is fine (and almost poetic). The specific issue is the view of space. It has 8 planets just hanging in space. Where in our solar system can you do that? Of course they are no doubt really moons, to fit with 21st century astronomical knowledge, but back then they wouldn't have known that. I do love these anachronistic science mistakes in 50's Sci-Fi movies. We are so far from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The ending seems like a cheap cop-out to a fairly decent invasion story. I like to think his dream prepared him for a much worse event that we're not privy to. There is an alternate British version that changes the ending to show the alien craft exploding and David isn't dreaming. Maybe that version is what happens after the American one?
This isn't a kids movie. It's about a kid, but his issues are adult. He even gets slapped by his dad. Authority figures around him are perceived as a threat and the director does an excellent job of making you want to see the backs of everyone's neck. This is a great idea. Even though it's easy to tell who's been affected it's still creepy when David meets one person after another with the mark. Here's the dark part of it. Each person controlled has a mission and once completed the victim dies of a cerebral hemorrhage. Off camera, the first victim is a little girl who set fire to her parents house to cover something up. David is terrified his parents will die, but anyone that is captured dies instantly. It adds a bit of suspense. Sadly we never find out if David's parents are saved in time, but they were taken to a hospital to have their platinum control chips removed. Dr. Blake is captured (knocked out by a light ray), and we nearly see the implant process, where it is drilled into the back of the neck. Never fear, she's rescued in time.
Dr. Kelston comes up with an outlandish idea for why the invasion is happening. Because Mars atmosphere is too thin, any Martians must live underground and on space ships floating between the Mars/Earth orbital area. Earth is developing an atomic rocket to put atomic first-strike platforms in orbit and deep space which would affect Martian living areas. These platforms would allow a nuclear strike anywhere in the world in minutes (hello Strategic Defense Initiative). The Martians being so advanced would have created a race of humanoid slaves to do their bidding, known as Mutants (pronounced mu-TANTS). With a mothership in orbit, they release a drop ship with one leader and lots of slaves to land on earth and proceed with the plot. The creativity (and science abuse) of Hollywood is interesting seeing as this movie came out four years before Sputnik was put in orbit. Most adults blame this kid reading too many comics, but Kelston is out there. But, he is the smartest person in the movie, which makes him right. This movie needs a science book. There's even mention the aliens use an infrared beam to dig underground. Since infrared is just heat, that's the closest this move gets to being plausible.
The actual Martian design isn't bad. A weird looking head attached to shoulders is kept in a glass bubble, where it psychically controls its Mutants and mind-controlled humans. There are even antenna sticking out of the back that wiggle around. The Mutants look terrible, all green with slit-like eyes and three fingers. How the hell do you control a space ship with meaty paws? Oh, wait, the Martians must use psychic powers on the ship? Then why have Mutants? This is actually the weaker part of the story, but better than the stock Army footage.
To support the dream-like state the interiors of the police station, chem lab, and space ship are out of proportion to what you would expect. Doors are too tall, walls are blank and seem to stretch to infinity, etc. Even the jail cell David is locked in has a forced perspective look. Maybe the aliens fed him these images as a test to see how humans would react or to make him second-guess himself during the real crisis. Maybe everyone had these dreams.
This is a good classic movie. It's unsettling when it needs to be, it has a mystery, there's suspense, and a kid actor who isn't too bad. I should also mention this is in COLOR. (see also the 1986 remake of the same name).
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