Villain(s)  Aliens

Actor(s):  Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Jimmy Hunt, Leif Erickson

Brief Description  Invaders from Mars (1953) is a landmark American independent science fiction film directed by legendary production designer William Cameron Menzies. It is historically significant as the first feature-length alien invasion film photographed in color (Cinecolor). The film uniquely captures the paranoia of the Cold War Red Scare and the vulnerability of childhood by telling its entire story strictly from a child's perspective.

Plot:
During a stormy night, 12-year-old astronomy enthusiast David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) is awakened by a loud crash and witnesses a glowing, flying saucer land and bury itself in the sandpit behind his suburban home. When his scientist father, George (Leif Erickson), goes to investigate, he disappears into the sandpit, only to return hours later with a cold, harsh personality change and a mysterious, cross-shaped scar on the back of his neck.

As the days progress, David watches in horror as his mother, local police officers, and other key townspeople are systematically swallowed by the sandpit and returned as emotionless, zombie-like automatons. Desperate and with no adults to trust, David finds allies in sympathetic public health physician Dr. Pat Blake (Helena Carter) and local astronomer Dr. Stuart Kelston (Arthur Franz). Kelston realizes the Martians are setting up an underground base to sabotage a nearby top-secret military rocket project.

The doctors contact the U.S. Military, leading to a massive deployment of troops who surround the sandpit. David and Dr. Blake are accidentally sucked underground into the Martian tunnels, where they discover the mastermind: the Martian Intelligence, a detached giant green head with moving tentacles, encased in a glass sphere. The head commands giant, bug-eyed Martian mutants in green velour suits to carry out its bidding. The military infiltrates the tunnels, rescues David and Dr. Blake, and plants time-bomb explosives. As David runs away from the exploding underground craft, the film cuts into a surreal montage of previous scenes. Suddenly, David wakes up in his own bed—the entire ordeal was seemingly a nightmare. However, as he looks out his window, a real flying saucer descends from the night sky, ending the film on a chilling loop.

The film was heavily altered for its British and European theatrical releases. European distributors disliked the "it was all a dream" ending. Months after initial shooting wrapped, actor Jimmy Hunt was brought back to film an extended, definitive conclusion where the Martian ship is successfully blown up, and David safely goes to sleep without waking up from a dream. Because Hunt had grown significantly taller in the months between shoots, the visual continuity in these added scenes is notoriously disjointed.