cinema history class: invaders from mars (1953)

 The session: "Bring Your Own Movie Month"

Our annual session in which each of us in the class takes a turn sharing a movie of his choice.

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.

Week 5: Invaders from Mars (1953)
                (Bob-O's pick)
Directed by William Cameron Menzies

My Impressions Going In:
I'd heard of this movie and knew that it involved Martians invading (I mean, the title kind of gives that way). I also knew it's a classic. But I didn't know much in the way of specifics.

Plot:
Martians have landed, and they're taking over the minds of Earthlings.

Reaction and Other Folderol:

This should have been nothing more than a cheesy little 1950's sci-fi thriller. But it exceeded expectations. It was spooky and scary. And really fun.

The movie had an odd mix of visual styles. The McLean family farmhouse looked like pure Americana. But the other sets, notably the police station seemed to summon German expressionism. It's eerily imposing as young Jimmy talks to the police. And eerily imposing is a good way to describe a lot of the visuals. The walls of the Martians' underground lair, the head Martian's disembodied head...the visuals were amazing.

One thing I didn't like about the film was the ending. It was one of those annoying ambiguous things that was supposed to be artsy. Joe reconciled himself to it by deciding that they had intended the audience to infer a space-time causality loop -- like the time Kelsey Grammar appeared on Star Trek: TNG. But I think that's giving the movie way too much credit. I think they just didn't know how to end it. Fortunately, the European release had a better ending, which I much preferred.

Ratings

Me: 9
Christina: 9.5 or 9.6, depending on which ending

Ethan: 9

Joe: 10
Keith: 9.5 or 9.6, depending on which ending