Movie Review: Invaders from Mars (1953)
Synopsis: An early morning thunderstorm wakes up David MacLean in time to see a flying saucer hovering above a sandpit behind his house. He wakes his father, who goes to investigate but returns with a strange scar on the back of his neck and not acting like himself. Soon after, David's mother, the girl next door and members of the police department are soon acting strangely as well. At first, nobody believes David but with the help of a local astronomer, Dr. Stuart Nelson and health department physician Dr. Pat Blake, the military is soon summoned and fighting with the Martians that are hiding under the sand.
Who's in it? The movie stars Jimmy Hunt, Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Leif Erickson and Hillary Brooke.
Review: I have had Invaders from Mars in my library for several weeks and finally decided to take the time to watch it this morning, while my cat was on my lap, and I wasn't getting off the couch anytime soon. While I had some doubts about it, it turned out to be a surprisingly good movie.
There were a couple things that really stood out for me when it came to this film. One of the main ones was there were quite a few scenes that were unexpectedly suspenseful and even a little creepy. This is especially true of David's (Hunt) parents (Brooke and Erickson), who pulled off the possessed by aliens part of this really well.
Unlike way too many science fiction films from this era, there was also quite a bit of action throughout the movie. It wasn't one of those films that spent 80 minutes building things up only to wait until the final 10 minutes to show you the aliens or have anything happen other than people talking. There were lots of gunfights, explosions and, of course, tanks (lots and lots of tanks).
Despite the expected limitations from when this movie was made, the special effects and makeup weren't awful either. In fact, those were some menacing Martians and that one in a jar was something out of a nightmare. The latter was as good as any alien I've seen in more modern films.
I also liked the additional suspense relating to David's parents. It was unclear if the military could defeat the Martian invaders and still keep anyone who had been brought under alien control alive. This did leave me wondering if it would be a movie with a completely happy ending or one that saw David left as an orphan.
I did think the Martian invasion plan seemed a bit weak considering it relied heavily on someone choosing to walk in that sandpit so they could pull them into the ship. It feels like their ability to take control of David's father seemed more like luck than anything else as a result.
Plus, I really wasn't a fan of the ending, which was kind of confusing. Did he dream the whole thing? Was it a premonition of what was to come? Did the aliens do something to reverse their actions and keep things a secret? It felt a bit rushed and left too many questions for what, up until that point, had been a good science fiction film.
Final Opinion: I liked the movie a lot more than I expected to. However, the very confusing ending did make me take some points off.
My Grade: B-
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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1953:
Movie Review: The Blue Gardenia (1953)
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