David MacLean (Jimmy Hunt) is an average kid. His father George (Leif Erickson) is a scientist. David wants to be one too. David is awakened one night by a thunder storm. He goes to his window and sees a flying saucer land in the sandpit behind the house. He tells his father. George sends David back to bed and then decides to check on what David saw.
In the morning George is not back to the house. His wife Mary (Hillary Brooke) is worried and calls the police. The police go out to investigate. In the meantime George returns but he is acting strange. He is curt and short tempered, almost robotic. When David sees a mark on the back of his father’s neck he mentions something to his father about it. His father lashes out.
When the police return to the house they too are acting strange. Then David sees his next door neighbor Kathy Wilson (Janine Perreau) disappear into the sand. When Kathy next appears she is also cold and distant. In a panic David rushes to the police station to talk to the police chief. When David sees the same mark on his neck he tries to run away but is put into a cell.
The desk sergeant sees David is terrified of something and calls the health department physician Dr. Pat Blake (Helena Carter). After hearing David’s story Pat calls an astronomer friend, Dr. Stuart Kelston (Arthur Franz). Dr. Kelston tells her that David is not one to make up stories or lie. Pat believes something is going on and until she has answers she is determined to keep David safe and away from his parents.
Kelston believes David’s story and extrapolates that the space ship is from Mars and that the Martians are planning an invasion of Earth. The project that David’s father is working on is part of an atomic powered rocket that the US plans on sending into orbit. Kelston contacts the Army and has them investigate. Colonel Fielding (Morris Ankrum) uncovers an alien plot to sabotage the mission.
“Invaders From Mars” was released in 1953 and was directed by William Cameron Menzies. The cinematography has a vague noir feel to it, almost dream-like, which coincides quite well with the American version of the film. The movie is quite eerie for the most part. Granted the Martians, or the “Mutants” are not that great. Velour pantsuits are not exactly inventive. Still the film is quite frightening at times whether from a propaganda viewpoint or just a general fear of the unknown, especially from a child’s point of view. The film was made during the McCarthy era. The Martians could be a metaphor for the uncertainty that America itself was experiencing during that time.
The Martian heat-ray effect showing the bubbling melting walls of the tunnels was created by shooting boiling oatmeal dyed red from above and lit with red lights. Condoms were used to create the cooled "bubbles" on the walls of the underground tunnels. They used 3000 condoms. Not the only time condoms were used as a movie prop.
The sandpit opening and closing was done by cutting a long slit in a piece of heavy canvas and inserting a large funnel. A vacuum hose was attached to the funnel and then covered with sand. When the vacuum was activated the sand was sucked down for shots of the sandpit opening and the film was reversed for shots of the sandpit closing.
The Martian leader head enclosed in the crystal ball was Luce Potter. She was one of the Munchkins in "The Wizard of Oz" 1939. She relates that for years she received letters from fans of the movie telling her how much she had scared them as kids.
The British version of the movie has several changes. Some scenes were added to make the film longer and the ending was changed. The change in the ending was enough to alter the whole retrospective look of the film.