Thanks to some typically histrionic dialogue, some gaudy sets and some special effects that – let’s be honest, here – often haven’t aged particularly well, the plots of 50s science fiction movies was something of a mature affair. Frequently hinting that whatever malevolent menace that emerged either from the stars or from the result of some radioactive chicanery, was actually thinly veiled warnings about communism, world war, or simply ducking around on God’s domain, your Body Snatchers, Triffids and Things from another world infused their scares with an adults perspective.
However, skewing its aim a little differently from its peers was Invaders From Mars, a memorable little ditty from 1953 that was rushed into production in order to beat War Of The Worlds to be the first sci-fi bonanza to be seen in glorious colour, that showed the threat of alien invasion through the doe eyes of a freckled, all-American child.
David MacClean is the predictably precocious child of a scientist, whose idealistic family life and love of stargazing is suddenly upended one night when he witnesses a glowing UFO touch down into the large sandpit area behind his home. His good natured folks naturally pooh-pooh his claims of aliens, instead citing his large and fervoured imagination, but when his father goes to investigate, he’s sucked down into the sand only to return the next morning blank-faced and noticably disheveled. Not only that, but his demeanour has changed drastically, with his “Now now, son” type of personality switching to him now answering all of David’s questions with a belligerent “Whadaya want?!” and he even raises hands to his boy when the incessant, high-pitched questioning gets too probing.
While most 50s wives would assume that their husband had popped out for a few Bloody Marys and a spot of adultery in order to come back in this state, David’s mother realise something’s up, but not before Kathy Wilson, the little girl from next door, gets an upgrade in creepy from a similar trip to the sandpit.
By now it’s painfully obvious that something’s amiss as more and more townsfolk are having a sandpit-related attitude adjustment and the reason for this is a band of Martians who have been brainwashing everyone they can get their hands on with some freaky deaky brain surgery in order to sabotage the secret atomic rocket project David’s father has been working on.
As David experiences Kevin McCarthy levels of paranoia, he finds hope in the kindly form of kindky physician Dr. Pat Blake and local astronomer Dr. Stuart Kelston, but even with a surprisingly helpful military behind them, can they stop the Martians plot before the gizmos implanted in the skulls of their slaves are set to dead.
Precocious little kids, who usually come with the name Billy or Johnny and are prone to getting their hair ruffled by ammused grown ups, are something of a staple of classic sci-fi movies, but despite their frequent utterances of “Gee Whizz”, not many movies from the decade actual told a story from the child’s point of view. Enter William Cameron Menzies’ Invaders From Mars, a paranoia-laced invasion flick that keeps a noticable, adult edge while merging all the extra complications our little, pre-teen scam would experience due to his age.
It’s one thing for a distinguished, town doctor to start desperately trying to warn the authorities about an alien takeover happening under their very noses, but if a child tries it, who the hell isn’t going to chalk it up to the kid having too much sugar and comic books in his diet and its here where the movie works best. Menzies uses his skills as a production designer (he double-dips as both designer and director here) to create sets that seem weirdly off or elongated to heighten the sense of childish unease such as a strangely barren police front desk or the infamous small hill that leads to the dangerous sandpit. But as well as visually triggering any latent, adolescent fears in his viewers, the movie also take full advantage of other fears such as the corruption of the ones supposed to watch over you. The overnight switch from David’s father from Capra-esque parental figure to brooding, slap-happy thug is genuinely upsetting, as is the transformation of his loving mother to a cold, eyebrow-arching shadow of her former self.
It’s all primal stuff and its helped along by a healthy serving of turbo-charged nightmare fuel that also takes in a brain washed little girl whose Martian-sent impulses lead to her trying to burn her parents house down and a person consuming sandpit that still leads to me hearing its eerie, choir theme if I’m even near the beach. The movie raises the stakes ever higher when its revealed that the Martian’s implant kills its host if they fail in there mission which leads to the movie actually killing creepy little Kathy offscreen and leading to yet more trauma as David goes from fearing his parents to fearing for their lives.
However, not everything manages to measure up to the harrowing themes the film provides. For example, some of the on the nose utterings of the cast definitely comes from the campier end of the 50s sci-fi spectrum with endless astrology lessons being passed off as dialogue and such exchanges as “A space ship? From where?”, “From space.” hardly being in danger of scoring a screenwriting award. Also, the Martian foot soldiers (or Mu-Tants, as they’re called) look fairly ridiculous as the lope around their lair in bulbous goggles and furry, green onesies and look less like a genuine threat to our planet and more like a thrown together, threadbare character from The Mighty Boosh. On the other hand, the Martian leader is a whole other kettle of fish as the sight of a tiny, silver, sea monkey body with an impassive, human face is yet another win in the childhood trauma column.
However, it’s only when you watch the original, American cut does Invaders From Mars truly make sense as it employs the unually hated trope of the main character waking up to find everything was a dream… or was it? Usually this trope man be my most hated, cop out ending I can possibly endure, but Menzies has spent so much time setting this up with his nightmarish set up and dreamlike sets, that it ends up being way more satisfying that the awkward British version which gives us a more typical ending that scraps all the dream stuff, but in turn ends so abruptly it feels like you’ve left the film via an elector seat.
While falling a little short of “absolute classic” status, Invaders From Mars’ stylistic flourishes and dedication to evoking childhood trauma (Aliens cause child abuse! Your parents don’t love you anymore! Stay away from sandpits with creepy choir noises!) means that it’s still a rousing blast of science fiction that happily invades your most basic fears.
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