Invaders from Mars (1953)

 

“Gee Whizz!” Big green men invade a small town in this classic sci fi film

 If the plot of Invaders from Mars seems familiar then that’s likely to be because it’s proven to be hugely influential on subsequent generations of filmmakers. The likes of Joe Dante and John Landis are fans while Martin Scorcese has named it as one of the best uses of lighting and colour in film. While it does appear to fulfil its title admirably it also sets a template for future invasion pictures to follow or extrapolate from. Re-released last month with a fantastic restoration, we can have a more vivid experience watching it than even those 1953 cinemagoers did.

 

Like a lot of movies of this era, it moves incrementally starting with one incident- a boy called David spots a flying saucer landing near his house in the middle of the night on the edge of town. “Gee Whizz!” is his somewhat vintage reaction. He has trouble convincing anyone to take his claim seriously. His parents- caring and warm – suddenly become cold and distant after both have visited the place where this craft seemingly landed. This strange behaviour soon spreads to friends, neighbours (including a very creepy girl nearby) and the police. The only clue as to who has been taken over is a mark on the back of the neck.

This is not a random series of alien kidnappings however; each person taken has some connection to top secret government work on building a rocket which it seems our interstellar enemy sees as a threat. As the alien’s plan starts to take shape, its left to some of those not under their influence including David, a friendly doctor Pat Burke and a bevy of military types to sort it out. This aspect of the film is somewhat expositional and not beyond dropping the odd science lesson nugget into conversation presumably to head off accusations that the whole plot is built on dodgy foundations.

The really impressive part is in the visualisation which used Cinecolour, which has been called a cheaper version of Technicolor though it seems to really suit this movie.  The frequently seen location outside David’s house is like a painting or a picture from a children’s book; a simple upwards path leading to a fence and a sandpit area in which the alien craft is hidden. The sand shifts effectively to reveal activity beneath but what makes it creepier is the choral incidental music; ethereal and other worldly it was probably an influence on the 1977 tv drama Children of the Stones which takes it a little further. Here, it remains an unsettling tone accompanying any alien activity. Throughout tis run time, the film cuts back to this set. One scene when a large number of troops arrive sees the cameras pull back to make room for them opening up the drama from a local issue to a national one. The rocket project seems to prefigure the so called `Star Wars` space defence program of the Eighties albeit with Martians rather than Russians as the potential aggressors.

Director William Cameron Menzies makes full use of other sets too. In scenes set in the police station and later a laboratory his keeps his camera at one end of an unusually long corridor. I assume it was the same set but the surreal perspective  calls to mind Wes Anderson’s propensity for similar use of distance and symmetry. For reasons that become clear at the end Menzies seems to be offering a child’s eye view of things which can sometimes make the dialogue seem either melodramatic or more like a science lecture. There’s no detail on the sets other than what a child might notice, especially the contrast between the cosiness and relatively well furnished family home and the sparse police station which has no cabinets or other office accoutrements apart from a very all desk. The only object on the wall is a clock. And only a child would surely think to use the same large telescope that looks into the stars to also spy on a neighbour. One unusual scene that may have gone unnoticed at the time is when we see the exterior of the observatory turns slowly around accompanied by classical music. Mabe this was an influence on the makers of 2001- A Space Odyssey?

Menzies love of shadow is prominent as the film develops. Several scenes are shot from a distance that allows larger than life shadows to appear on the walls bathed in the pale greens, teals and oranges he favours. When we eventually get to see the alien’s lair- and it seems for a while we may never get to glimpse it- there’s a very good honeycomb wall design in the tunnels- check out the accompanying documentary to discover what they are made from! Inside the actual Martian ship there is an angular, impractical quality to emphasise the strangeness of the place. Illuminated panels, a slanting metal pillar, an unexpected viewpoint from above all combine with lighting to maximise the budget making the results seem more lavish than they are.

Whenever someone is under the control of the aliens we have a close up of their face, the cast achieve this with no more than a blank look. Towards the end the Martians are revealed or actually just one real Martain and several green mutants that somehow one of the scientists earlier surmised Martians might create. The Martian is gold skinned, sitting inside a glass globe and controlling its minions with subtle eye movements looking for all the world like someone from the cover of a pulp sci fi comic. The mutants have a gun that burns away rock allowing for some brightly coloured sound effects and a dazzling red hue. The sound throughout the film is superb.

The film sits at boundary where sci-fi and horror meet with a ballast of real science added. I was surprised to discover it was originally intended solely for children but I’d say that Fifties kids would be freaked out by a lot of the material. Having their parents turned into monsters was a bold concept back then. Whatever its intended audience it was part of a wave of Fifties alien invasion movies of differing storylines but all reflecting both a certain paranoia and also a fascination with science.

 A couple of choices don’t quite work. There is a little too much running up and down identical corridors but by then you’re hooked by the story. The sudden manner in which characters drop into the sand pit is unintendedly comedic once we see it, its better earlier on when people just vanish and the scene cuts to the moving sand. The green mutants have the perennial sci fi film or tv problem of being too obviously men in green jumpsuits with eyes that don’t move. Rather than present speedy clips of stock footage, the film lingers too long on film of soldiers massing which is also somewhat undercut when we only ever see about one platoon.

The shift from the cosy paternalism of David’s parents to their subsequent controlled determination is excellently realised by Leif Erickson and Hillary Brooke while Helena Carter is also good as the relentlessly curious Doctor. It does become difficult to differentiate between all the military in the second half of the film. As the protagonist Jimmy Hunt is the archetypal wide eyed kid who may conveys differing emotions quite well though is at his best when leading the charge rather than ruminating on what might become of his parents.

As the film is presented thorough his perspective it makes sense of the the ending. When everyone is running away from the exploding alien ship, we see David  remembering sequences from the film. Just when it seems that the film is going to use the `it was all a dream` ending, Jimmy again wakes up at the same time as he did at the start and sees the flying saucer- a repeat of his dream. So what we have just seen is a premonition or maybe he’s caught in some kind of temporal trap?

Considering how it might have been dismissed as a B movie, Invaders from Mars has gained enough merit over the decades- not just from other directors but film enthusiasts in general – to have eventually been preserved by the United States National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Gee whizz, that’s not bad for a low budget kids movie!