|
Invaders from Mars (Special Edition) | 
 enlarge | Director: William Cameron Menzies
Actors: Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Jimmy Hunt, Leif Erickson, Hillary Brooke
Studio: Image Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.99
Buy New: $5.12
You Save: $4.87 (49%)
New (36) Used (15) Collectible (1) from $4.61
Rating:  91 reviews
Sales Rank: 5112
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Special Edition, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 79 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: ID1362CODVD
UPC: 014381136227
EAN: 0014381136227
ASIN: B0000714AG
Theatrical Release Date: April 22, 1953
Release Date: December 3, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW Factory Sealed - Ready to be shipped within 24 hrs from California - Average 5 workdays delivery time - Excellent customer service - Buy with confidence!
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
The cold-war paranoia of the McCarthy era had America in its grip when the original Invaders from Mars was released in 1953, and this atmospheric, highly influential science fiction film--the first of its kind to be filmed in color--was perfectly in tune with the mood of its time. Jimmy Hunt plays the quintessential American boy of the post-war years--a freckle-faced kid named David who's curious, alert, and possibly prone to elaborate flights of fancy. Then, during a midnight thunderstorm, he witnesses the landing of a flying saucer that buries itself underground in a nearby field. David's father (Leif Erickson) indulges his son's urging to investigate... and thus begins a bizarre and chilling story of alien invasion, with David's cries of "Martians!" falling on deaf ears as more and more adults are abducted, probed, and placed under alien control. Designed and directed by William Cameron Menzies (one of the greatest production designers of Hollywood's golden age, whose credits include Gone with the Wind), this eerie little thriller benefits from Menzies's skill at combining physical settings with psychological undercurrents of paranoid terror and resistance against the alien threat. It's still most effective for younger viewers, with Jimmy Hunt providing the story's youthful point of view. And although the malevolent aliens look campy now, with a leader who resembles a bubble-brained squid in a fishbowl, Invaders from Mars remains one of the seminal science fiction films of its time, paving the way for The War of the Worlds and the rapidly developing trend of alien-invasion thrillers. --Jeff Shannon
Product Description
A young boy is awakened during a storm to witness a flying saucer land in the field behind his home. No one will believe his story as one by one the townspeople are captured and put under the control of sinister forces from the planet Mars! Brilliantly created by visionary set designer and director William Cameron Menzies (designer of "Gone with the Wind" and H.G. Wells' "Things to Come") with a haunting musical score by Raoul Kraushaar this golden age sci-fi classic has lost none of its chilling power. Surreal imagery brought to terrifying life in a Cinecolor world just beyond our nightmares!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: NR UPC: 014381136227 Manufacturer No: ID1362CODVD
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 86 more reviews...
 "Old Classic" August 16, 2008
This is an old classic sci-fi flick I remember as a child. I found myself checking the back of my parents neck for an alien implant..it really scared me as a child...watching it again as an adult, brings back memories... at which now I can laugh..great flick..
 INVADERS FROM MARS - Another Great Old Sci-fi Flick August 11, 2008
Keith Mirenberg (www.spaceanimations.org)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
INVADERS FROM MARS is another great old sci-fi film that I remember from my youth. I could only grant the film three stars today but would have gladly rated it four stars as a child of the 50's. This film had outstanding screen images, interesting sound effects, great music, wonderful sets, and a basic theme which would be frightening to any kid who remembers desperately trying to convince "grownups" of anything.
Memorable screen images included: the classic saucer shape descending out of a dark stormy sky towards the earth, the scary looking fence on the hill out back, the green mindless slaves and the "head man" of Mars. The music was haunting, including the often repeated theme conveyed by vocals and beautiful flutes. Many of the sets were simple but effective, using a good solid dose of forced perspective, color and symbolism. Good vs bad folks were simply represented using black and white for costumes, in the well worn tradition of the American western.
I must agree with one comment made by others about the moderate quality of the DVD transfer. An accurate reproduction was made of every flaw and scratch in the original film stock (along with clear portions of the film). I am surprised a better quality original could not be found for such an important example of early American sci-fi film. However, it did not really interfere with enjoying the movie.
One last comment, the science presented by the local town astronomer, along with the good fiction of the story, was very poor and almost an embarrassment to any fan with a decent high school science education. What the hey, it was only the 50's and the film was mainly for kids.
Think how far we have come from films like Invaders from Mars in the early 50's, 2001 in the late 60's, to the current stock and trade of great sci-fi films having great special effects presented by the current masters of this film genre.
Classic July 27, 2008
Marci Garret (Los Angeles, CA USA)
My favorite all-time film brought back to life and better than ever. Nice addition of the British version as well.
Invaders: The Pros and Cons July 1, 2008
The Doctor (The TARDIS)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
(By the way, 3 stars is for the DVD, not the movie. This is a very bad copy of a great film. The picture is grainy and filled with lines.)
Pros:
-This is one of the all time classic sci fi films.
-It starts off with a bang, very similar to Finney's Body Snatchers at first.
-Let's face it, this film is just plain fun.
-Wonderful exemplar of all things that are 50s sci fi!
-I love the Martian! (The little silver guy in the glass ball, not the "Mutants.")
-People getting pulled down through the sand and then later showing up acting different is very creepy stuff.
Cons:
-The "body snatcher" aspect of the story is abandoned too quickly, and was not played up enough.
-The quality of the film's picture is pure rubbish.
-WAY too excessive use of stock footage. You will quickly tire of watching tanks roll around in terrain that isn't even remotely similar to where the main characters are.
-During the climatic underground chase, the same exact scenes get played over and over and over again, as though we're so stupid that we wouldn't notice.
-The ending of the American version of the film is just plain dumb.
Influential But Clunky--A "So Bad It's Good" Cult Classic June 18, 2008
Gary F. Taylor (Biloxi, MS USA)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
The 1938 John W. Campbell novella WHO GOES THERE? introduced American readers to the idea of an alien invader who masquerades as human--and as Cold War paranoias began to drive American pop culture the concept began to re-emerge as a metaphor for communist infiltration.
Very likely influenced by the 1951 Robert A. Heinlein novel THE PUPPET MASTERS, the 1953 film INVADERS FROM MARS is generally regarded as the first film to bring the metaphor to the screen. Independently made but picked up for distribution by 20th Century Fox, it was so successful that it influenced a host of later films, most notably the celebrated INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Today, however, the film is best known as a cult film of "the so bad it's good" variety.
David (Jimmy Hunt) is an eager but level-headed little boy whose father (Leif Erickson) is an engineer on a very hush-hush government project--and when Jimmy swears up and down he saw something in a sandpit behind the house his father is just anxious enough to investigate. Unfortunately, Jimmy was on target: those who visit the sand pit return... changed! Fortunately, Jimmy falls into the hands of Dr. Blake (Helena Carter), who has enough sense to know that something serious is going on.
At the time, INVADERS FROM MARS was considered a bit of shocker, especially for a film that was thought of as kiddie-matinee material: the brain inserts, the sand traps, and the slightly surrealist look of the sets and camera set-ups impressed themselves on the memory of virtually everyone who saw it. Even so, the film was remarkably clunky even for 1953--and even more so by today's standards. The script usually explains instead of shows; there is plenty of stock footage; and for every interesting special effect there are a dozen more painfully incompetent ones.
Fans of the film amuse themselves by jeering at the ka-thunk performances and looking for support wires on the "intelligence" and zippers on the "moo-tant" costumes, but you'll have to look pretty hard to see them in this DVD release. Even though it was filmed in color, INVADERS FROM MARS was essentially filmed as a "C" movie; as such, film quality was never much to begin with, it hasn't been significantly cleaned up, and the film is excessively dark--so much so that it's often hard to tell "moo-tant" from solider in the cave sequences, much less espy a costume flaw. As bonuses, the DVD includes a still gallery, a film trailer--and the British release version, created when English censors deemed the film's conclusion too disturbing for the juvenile audience it targeted.
I personally can't get worked up about INVADERS FROM MARS: I didn't find it clumsy enough to be amusing (as in Ed Wood) or goofy enough to be endearing (as in William Castle.) But with some transfer issues aside, this should please die-hard fans of the film--and bring a smile to the lips of those who first saw the film in their 1950s childhood.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
|
|
|
Copyright 2008 DVDonsale.com | |
