Blu-Ray Spotlight: Invaders From Mars
Ignite Films releases their stellar 4K restoration of the 1953 science fiction classic in time for the film’s 70th anniversary.
As a result of a long labor of love, the iconic 1953 science fiction film Invaders From Mars has been restored to the best available version thanks to Scott MacQueen, heading the visual restoration, and Ignite Films. It’s a film everyone sort of knows even before they’ve seen it, and some may be more familiar with Tobe Hooper’s remake in 1986 than the ’53 original. Mars is especially notable as one of the first science fiction films in the US to have been released in full color (rather than two-tone color processes that came before), the other being War of the Worlds at that time, which came out 4 months later in theaters.
Invaders From Mars is, simply put, a sci-fi feature that evokes the fears and paranoia of David, a child in an alien world; this child enters into situations where he is no longer in control as he interacts with police, military, and the scientific community. In each set of circumstances different degrees of alienation occur between the adults and David, before the actual encounter with the Martian Mu-tants even take place. The set and production design do the most to highlight this fact, which brings me to another notable thing about the film. Directed by William Cameron Menzies towards the end of his filmmaking career, Menzies worked on the production design for Gone With the Wind. The term was coined for him specifically after the work he did on it (which did earn him an oscar for the new role). That burning of Atlanta sequence was 100% William Cameron Menzies.
His work on Invaders From Mars was meticulous, constructing expressionist sets to scale for the character of David, putting the audience into his shoes as a kid existing in a scary adult world. The merits of the film can be measured by the influence it’s had on audiences in the ’50s through the ’70s, when it was broadcast on TV. Among those people who have had the visuals of Invaders burned into their brains were filmmakers like Joe Dante, John Sayles, Robert Skotak, and countless others.
Video
Invaders From Mars has been painstakingly restored from 5 different existing elements: the original camera negative, two foreign versions and a domestic version of the 35mm SuperCinecolor print (one from the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, one from the George Eastman Museum, and the other from a private collector), and an Eastman 5381 print from Ignite Film’s copy held at UCLA, with faded colors.
Because of the brand new color process the film was shot and developed in, color correction was the hardest target to hit. The newly patented process used, SuperCinecolor, folded after the film was completed, but before executives demanded the ending be changed to something more definitive regarding the fate of the titular Martians. This ending physically replaced the one that ended the final reel of the film after it was struck, leading to complications in locating the original ending in suitable condition. Seeing what’s presented on this disc, you wouldn’t be able to tell what troubles Scott MacQueen went through to bring the look of Invaders back to its approximated original form.
Given the aged stock of essentially 5 different physical sources to work with, they all are combined beautifully to provide a uniform clarity and consistency that are a testament to the production design and color palette Menzies employed during shooting in 1952. The level of detail on display is simply staggering for a film now in its 70th year of age. Color correction was a main concern for MacQueen, and what he’s accomplished here is extraordinary. Blacks in the frame are as close to absolute as one can get — no lifting detected whatsoever. Even dark blues like the police officers’ uniforms register as just that in contrast, richly dark yet blue in astonishing accuracy. Whites and light neutrals provide necessary balance but aren’t quite overblown to make brighter points in the frame washed out.
The magic colors for this release are sky blues, greens, and reds. Each of these colors pop nearly out of the screen each time they’re present and truly command the audience’s attention. Outdoor shots can really sing, like David’s backyard with its natural greens, browns and oranges of grass both wild and cut, dry brush, and the sky at sunset accentuating Menzies’ iconic backyard fence where the Martians abduct their victims. Interior shots are lit stylistically and strategically to match the sets’ expressionist approach, using chiaroscuro techniques to fill in some blank backgrounds such as the jail cell in the police precinct. The DP for Invaders, John F. Seitz, shot such films as Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity so this visual element fits into place just perfectly. Sequences that employ this noir-ish approach nearly overshadow, pardon the pun, the final sequences inside the alien craft that we’ve been inching towards the whole film.
The details of even the most drab surroundings call attention to some of the smallest things: I even noticed that David’s father in the police precinct wears a black knit tie, something that I was never able to see before. But with the blacks taking on such a dark, inky quality, the only way this was evident was the texture on the tie’s outer edges which thanks to this restoration was as clear as day. As sharp as the details are on this release, it must be noted that there is a noticeably heavy amount of film grain present. I am assuming this is due to the age of the prints themselves coupled with the process required to develop SuperCinecolor prints.
To hazard a guess, there may have not been time enough to perfect the developing techniques for SuperCinecolor to minimize grain in the image since it was such a new process then. But the presence of grain on the film is something classic film enthusiasts and casual moviegoers are already used to, to some extent. The vibrancy of the colors achieved in this restoration however greatly outweighs any level of assumed annoyance towards visual artifacts such as grain, and as stated above details do not fall victim to losing definition even in the most extreme cases of grain particles.
The level of detail MacQueen has reached with his sources highlight a heightened quality that likely haven’t been this keen since the premiere screening in 1953, if it even looked this good back then. As such, some details are so crisp it tends to highlight the film’s visual flaws. This is at first evident during the police precinct sequence, when David sees the red mark on the back of the policeman’s neck. The ‘x’ can clearly be seen as a mark of makeup that has dried and if pulled at the right angle could be removed cleanly from the skin. Even more noticeable are the zippers on the back of the Martian Mu-tant costumes, which are crystal clear to see especially in 4K. This is something that does add to the low budget charm. However, at this point in the film viewers would have already committed themselves to the wavelength Invaders broadcasts to its audience.
To pad out the film’s runtime, a hearty amount of stock footage was inserted of military trucks, tanks, and a train in transit and is of course immediately noticeable by its differing film stock. The coloring doesn’t quite match the meticulous nature of the crafted film itself as expected, but in an attempt to provide a more thorough evaluation of its visuals the stock footage does contrast with Invaders in that colors appear more muted than what Menzies intended. But at the point this change was made, Menzies was no longer working on Invaders From Mars. Although extensive and a bit tedious, the stock film footage provides a glimpse into the cold war attitudes at the time that celebrated a militaristic jingoism that many self-labeled patriotic Americans celebrated in the face of a nebulous Communist enemy, and is useful in viewing the film within the historical context of which it exudes unapologetically.
All this points to such a level of love and dedication for one of the most influential American sci-fi films of all time, and there is no doubt that Scott MacQueen and Ignite Films spared no expense in delivering an absolutely incredible filmgoing experience by delivering the best possible presentation of this film.
Audio
Invaders From Mars provides two language audio tracks for this release: the original English and a Spanish language track in a 2.0 mono mix. It has also been remastered by hand, and as such there were no noticeable cracks or pops during the course of the film in either track. Dialogue comes through clean and clear, and the sound effects as well as music cues do exhibit a closed-in quality where input gain feels high but is not guilty of overwhelming your internal VU meter. Still, the sound quality speaks more to the nostalgic effect of 1950s b-movies which for this title is more than welcome.
Included on this disc are optional English SDH, Italian, German, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, and Korean subtitles for the main feature.
Special Features
There is quite a good selection of special features offered on this release. There are a handful of talking head featurettes that delve into the legacy of the film and the techniques used to achieve the final results, as well as a remastered trailer and an introduction from filmmaker John Sayles for TCM. The full list of extra features are as follows:
- Restored 4K original 1953 trailer and a newly commissioned trailer from 2022 (2 mins. 19 secs. & 2 mins. 17 secs.)
- William Cameron Menzies: Architect of Dreams: Interview with William Cameron Menzies’ biographer James Curtis (William Cameron Menzies: The Shape of Films to Come) and later on he interviews Menzies’ eldest granddaughter Pamela Lauesen (16 mins. 26 secs.)
- Jimmy Hunt Saves the World: A fun and enthusiastic interview with Jimmy Hunt, then-child star of Invaders From Mars (10 mins. 30 secs.)
- Terror From Above: Featurette with filmmakers Joe Dante, editor Mark Goldblatt, special visual effects artist & two-time Oscar winner Robert Skotak (foremost expert on Invaders From Mars), film preservationist & archivist Scott MacQueen, and John Landis (22 mins. 24 secs.)
- TCM Festival Introduction: Introduction from John Sayles at Turner Classic Movie Festival in Hollywood, 2022 (7 mins. 2 secs.)
- Restoring the Invasion: Before & after clips of the restoration — original negative and archival film elements — with film restoration supervisor Scott MacQueen (6 mins. 50 secs.)
- 2K restoration of the European ending with some explanatory text before the clip (8 mins. 51 secs.)
- 2K restoration of the European observatory sequence shot to pad out the film further for foreign distributors, a year after the film had already premiered in the US with humorously glaring continuity issues (8 mins. 51 secs.)
- Image gallery with original press book pages, behind the scenes photos from the restoration process
- A 20-page booklet with an extensive essay on the restoration process: “Invaders From Mars: A Nightmare of Restoration” by Scott MacQueen
Final Thoughts
There really is no film like Invaders From Mars, and with Ignite Films’ restoration this is without a doubt the definitive version of how it should look and feel. Newcomers will spoiled with this version of the film, and repeat viewers are really in for a treat with this release. There are three formats of the film available, a standalone 4K UHD, Blu-Ray, and DVD disc with all the trimmings as outlined extensively above, and either choice would be the right one for the fans and the curious. Science fiction films of the 1950s are a kind of time capsule for the temperature of the political climate in which they are made, and Invaders may be the ultimate example of this with its imagery and ideology outlining the fear of the other during the nuclear age, yet framed so delicately within the perspective of a child unaware of the larger world he is entering into.
It comes as no surprise that I recommend this release and hold it in such high regard. Who can say if this could even be possible had another year passed before work was attempted on restoring such an iconic film? The level of dedication is simply astounding to behold; even basking within the beauty of a single frame comes from hours of untold arduous labor. Even with the film’s exaggerated dimensions of its set design and art direction, Invaders would arguably be more forgettable if it weren’t for its use of colors.
This restoration proves how important it is to the experience and perspective of a kid amongst the vibrant alien atmospheres he encounters — which become far more understandable & easier to grasp once on board the ship — extends to the spaces of adult constructs of power and control. Populated by the police (towering, oppressive, desaturated), military (drab, matter-of-fact, overeager), and the scientific community (cold, detached, methodical), a child like David or any other saw values in these institutions that never really reached their idealized form in practice. His faith in these authoritative groups is soured at different points of interaction despite his wide-eyed approach to the expectation that people in these roles should be helpful and open-minded, even though they mostly help him at every turn. David ultimately ends up driving the Martians away himself, but without the developmental knowledge of realizing what he’s accomplished that each step of governmental forces simply can’t do what he expects of them in an ending that is just as memorable as it is thematically disappointing.
But so it goes for a product of such a jingoistic time period, where one could not see the forest for the trees unless a considerable distance in time has been traversed. This is a criticism for the film itself of course, and must be said in some capacity. But these are the conversations this film can generate, and by putting it as really the ultimate example of a time capsule of American culture in such an ultimate form as this restoration, we can continue to analyze America’s past and dissect its popularized view of military aggression, scientific advancement, and police presence as it was. But the warning signs are clearly evident in the text of Menzies’ film. Even more so in as crystal clear a presentation as humanly possible.
Disclaimer: MVD Visual has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Invaders From Mars is now available on multiple formats and had its wide retail release on Tuesday, July 11 on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD. It previously has only been available on the Ignite Films website. The special Collector’s Editions with slipcovers in the 4K UHD and Blu-ray formats will still only be available at Ignite Films. Links to their shop below:
4K UHD standalone special edition
Blu-Ray standalone special edition
DVD standalone special edition
Otherwise, be sure to get a copy from one of these retailers rather than just going to Amazon. I recommend these stores who have the disc in stock:
Diabolik DVD (4K UHD | Blu-Ray)
Deepdiscount (4K UHD | Blu-Ray)
Forbidden Planet (4K UHD | Blu-Ray)
[this article was originally published july 13, 2023 on celluloid consomme.]
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