Ever since those menacing Martian tripods streaked across London in HG Wells’ iconic 1898 sci-fi novel ‘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 eerily as in director William Cameron Menzies’ 1953 feature, “Invaders from Mars,” which celebrates its 70th anniversary with Ignite Films’ sparkling new restoration for a video invasion. at home on Blu-ray and 4K UHD.
This fall anniversary deluxe version includes a restored 4K version of the original trailer, alternate endings, press book gallery, new interviews with the film’s star, Jimmy Hunt, and biographer by William Cameron Menzies, James Curtis, and a deep dive into the restoration process led by curator Scott MacQueen.
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New documentary also includes interviews with directors Joe Dante (“Gremlins)”, John Landis (“An American Werewolf in London”), Visual Effects Academy-Award winner Robert Skotak (“Aliens”), editor Mark Goldblass, (“Terminator 2: Judgment Day”) and many others.
“I’m thrilled that audiences old and new can finally watch this film and restoration masterpiece on Blu-ray and 4K UHD!” said Ignite Films director Jan Willem Bosman Jansen, in the press release. “We have taken great care to cover as many aspects of the film in our bonus materials and design to bring it to life for as wide an audience as possible. The work we have done is also a tribute to the overall genius of William Cameron. Menzies, and I can’t speak for him of course, but I think he would love to see what his film looks like today.”
The dreamlike ‘Invaders From Mars’ starred Jimmy Hunt as David MacLean, a young child who witnesses a flying saucer landing behind his family home and the controlling influence these alien creatures inflict on his parents. and the townspeople. Told from the perspective of an only child and using stylized sets and extreme camera angles, the film reflected the country’s growing anxieties over Cold War paranoia and was one of the first science- fiction shot in flamboyant colors.
Leading this difficult restoration process is Scott MacQueen, Curator of Classic Films, former Head of Preservation at UCLA Film & Television Archive.
“‘Invaders’ was an odd duck considering its technique of engraving ‘SuperCINEcolor,'” MacQueen told Space.com. license that have never been returned. The original non-standard camera negative was discovered in a Los Angeles stock library, so there was an opportunity to properly restore the film.
“It’s the classic sci-fi classic of the 1950s that most needs attention. Imbued with the artistry of William Cameron Menzies and his penchant for design and perspective, it was a touchstone for a generation. He tapped into so many childhood insecurities, telling his story from a child’s perspective. Ultimately, he embraces John Steinbeck’s worldview of a boy becoming a man. when a man is needed.
MacQueen and his restoration team had only sixty minutes of original negative to work on, and an entire reel, all optics and the original ending missing, requiring them to use damaged prints and digitally replace the images.
“The scenes etched in my memory are the close-up of ‘bad mother’ Hillary Brooke, dressed in all black with one eyebrow raised as she offers false comfort to her son; the surrogate figure of the ‘good mother’ , Helena Carter, sleeping peacefully and resting her hand on her forehead to protect her brain as the Martian probe creeps up her neck, and the sandboxes that drag humans into their whirlwinds with the accompaniment of an a capella choir dissonant.
“The ultimate reward was putting the film back in the pantheon,” adds MacQueen. “Nothing was more gratifying than having Jimmy Hunt, the star, tell us the movie looked better now than when it was new.”
New Restored Blu-Ray and 4K UHD Releases of “Invaders From Mars” Can Be Purchased Directly Through Ignite Films (opens in a new tab) official site.
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