Ever since those menacing Mars tripods marched through London in HG Wells’ iconic 1898 science fiction novel The War of the Worlds, the Red Planet has always held an air of mystery to earthlings.
Hollywood has explored Mars dozens of times, but never as strange as in director William Cameron Menzies’ 1953 feature film Invaders from Mars, which celebrates its upcoming 70th anniversary with Ignite Films’ sparkling new restoration for a home video invasion on Blu -ray celebrates 4K UHD.
This fall anniversary deluxe release is packed with a restored 4K version of the original trailer, alternate endings, a press book gallery, new interviews with the film’s star, Jimmy Hunt, and William Cameron Menzies’ biographer, James Curtis, and an in-depth look at the restoration process led by preservationist Scott MacQueen.
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Also included is a new documentary featuring interviews with directors Joe Dante (“Gremlins”), John Landis (“An American Werewolf in London”), Visual Effects Academy Award winner Robert Skotak (“Aliens”) and editor Mark Pale Gold (“Terminator 2: Judgment Day”) and many others.
“I’m excited for viewers old and new to finally be able to see this masterpiece of film and restoration on Blu-ray and 4K UHD!” said Jan Willem Bosman Jansen, Director of Ignite Films, in the press release. “We took great care to cover as many aspects of the film in our bonus material and design to bring it back to life for the widest possible audience. The work we have done is also a tribute to the overall genius of William Cameron Menzies and obviously I can’t speak for him but I think he would be thrilled with how his film looks today.”
In the dreamlike “Invaders From Mars,” Jimmy Hunt starred as David MacLean, a young child who witnesses a flying saucer land behind his family home and the mind-controlling influence these alien creatures have on his parents and the townsfolk. Told from a unique child’s point of view, and featuring stylized sets and extreme camera angles, the film reflected the country’s growing fear of Cold War paranoia and was one of the first science fiction films to be shot in bright color.
Spearheading this challenging restoration process was classic film conservator Scott MacQueen, former director of conservation at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
“‘Invaders’ was an odd duck given its SuperCINEcolor printing technique,” MacQueen tells Space.com. The non-standard original camera negative was discovered in a Los Angeles inventory library, opening up the opportunity to properly restore the film.
“It’s the one great sci-fi classic of the 1950s that needs the most attention. Imbued with the artistry of William Cameron Menzies and his love of design and perspective, it was a touchstone for a generation. It addressed so many childhood insecurities that tells her story from a child’s point of view. Ultimately, it conforms to John Steinbeck’s worldview that when a man is needed, a boy becomes a man.”
MacQueen and his conservation team had only sixty minutes of original negative to work with and an entire roll of film that was missing all of the optics and original finish, necessitating the use of damaged prints and digital replacement of the film stock.
“Scenes that have stuck in my mind are the close-up of ‘Bad Mother’ Hillary Brooke, dressed all in black, raising an eyebrow while offering false consolation to her son; the substitute character ‘Good Mother’, Helena Carter sleeping peacefully with her hand on her forehead to protect her brain as the Mars probe nears her neck, and the sand pits pulling people into their whirlpools, accompanied by one dissonant acapella choir.
“The ultimate reward was putting the film back in its proper place in the pantheon,” adds MacQueen. “Nothing was more satisfying than having Jimmy Hunt, the star, tell us the film looked better now than it did when it was new.”
The newly restored Blu-ray and 4K UHD versions of Invaders From Mars are available to purchase directly through Ignite Films (opens in new tab) official page.
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