Review: William Cameron Menzies’s Invaders from Mars on Ignite Films Blu-ray

When he made Invaders from Mars in 1953, production designer turned director William Cameron Menzies was no stranger to the science fiction genre, having helmed the H.G. Wells-scripted Things to Come back in 1936. But times (and genres) had changed. By the early ’50s, the optimism that characterized that film had given way to the pervasive suspicion and mistrust of the Cold War era. Given the times, Wells’s earlier novel War of the Worlds must’ve seemed like more appropriate source material for a sci-fi film, with its unambiguous “invasion from beyond” coming as a blatant threat to established empire, whether that was fin de siècle England or the postwar American variety on display in George Pal’s film adaptation, which came out mere months after Invaders from Mars.

As for Invaders from Mars itself, it and other notable films from the era, such as Don Siegel’s noirish Invasion of the Body Snatchers, tapped into a darker and more paranoid “invasion from within” scenario. On the one hand, they played on contemporary fears that even the most average-looking American citizen could be unmasked as an odious communist infiltrator. Alternatively, these films could be read as warnings about the pressures to conform within American society, and also encourage a healthy distrust of authority figures.

That’s doubly the case with Invaders from Mars. After 12-year-old David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) witnesses a flying saucer landing in the sand pit behind his house late one night, the Martians proceed to demonstrate their mind control techniques on David’s father, George (Leif Erickson), and mother, Mary (Hillary Brooke), then an assortment of local cops and military officers. The invasion soon involves both the nuclear family and civil authorities. Still, this being a ’50s sci-fi film, you know you can always trust your local scientist. Here that’s friendly neighborhood astronomer Dr. Kelston (Arthur Franz), along with Dr. Blake (Helena Carter), the public health official who first believes young David’s unlikely story.

Menzies brings his extensive visual training as a production designer to bear on Invaders from Mars. The film’s sparse, oversized sets are designed to reflect a child’s-eye view. The minimalist police station, for example, consists entirely of imposing double doors, a stark white hallway, a massive wooden desk, a pair of metal globe lamps, and a pendulum clock on the blank wall. Barely redressed, the same set serves double duty as the starkly appointed laboratory of Dr. William Wilson (Robert Shayne). On the other hand, the inside of the Martian ship is dominated by expressively curved forms—a spiral ramp, a strangely situated aperture in the floor that opens onto another chamber—traversed by diagonal lines.

Despite the almost laughable amount of stock footage used to convey the mobilization of armed forces against the Martians, the film’s dominant tone is far from realistic. Stylized sets, vibrant colors, frequent repetition of certain shots—all of these elements imbue Invaders from Mars with a surreal and dreamlike aura. And this uncanny mood is only reinforced by the film’s circular structure, bookended by David’s vision of the Martian landing. Was the whole thing just a premonitory dream that’s now become reality? Or have we just witnessed a dream within a dream, nestled deep inside itself like a Matryoshka doll? The film’s most unsettling aspect is precisely the fact that it unravels like a candy-colored nightmare from which you cannot awaken. Then again, given its consummate artistry, maybe you won’t even want to.

Image/Sound

Cinematographer John Seitz’s masterful use of the unusual SuperCinecolor process is one of the film’s greatest strengths, and Ignite Films’s stunning new 4K restoration gives us an Invaders from Mars that looks better than ever before on any home video format. Overall, the image exhibits significant depth and richness of detail. Colors are vibrant, especially the sickly greens associated with the Martian spaceship and the lambent reds emanating from their weaponry. Black levels are truly deep and entirely uncrushed. Grain is well balanced throughout. The Master Audio mono mix sounds superb, robustly conveying an active ambient soundscape, as well as a rousing score that modulates between martial percussion, spirited orchestral movements, and eerie chorale chanting.

Extras

Included here is a handful of entertaining and insightful bonus materials. William Cameron Menzies biographer James Curtis discusses the filmmaker’s career arc from production designer to director, his contributions to movies like Nothing Sacred and Gone with the Wind, and his work on Invaders from Mars. At one point, Curtis brings in Menzies’s granddaughter, Pamela Lauesen, for some personal reminiscences. In interview, actor Jimmy Hunt talks about the ups and downs of being a child star, working with actors like Robert Mitchum, his memories of Invaders from Mars, and his decision to stop acting soon after the film’s release.

The featurette “Terror from Above” contains interviews with directors John Landis and Joe Dante, editor Mark Goldblatt, visual effects artist Robert Skotak, and film preservationist Scott MacQueen that touch on their first exposure to Invaders from Mars, convey some basic production history, and delve into the film’s resonant themes and visual strategies. Also of note is a brief yet humorous introduction from filmmaker John Sayles to a screening at the 2022 TCM Classic Film Festival, a before-and-after piece on the restoration, 2K scans of the alternate ending and extended planetarium scene that were shot for the film’s British release, as well as trailers and an extended image gallery. Finally, there’s a 20-page booklet that goes deeper into the complicated and intensive process of restoring the film.

Overall

William Cameron Menzies’s candy-colored nightmare Invaders from Mars has been given a new lease on home video life by Ignite Films’s gorgeous 4K restoration.