Invaders from Mars

Look over your shoulder or don't, fear is coming 

As an old movie came on the local station, I thought back to the state of television, decades past, as compared to now. It’s hard to believe that there was such a thing as “pre-cable.” Back in the day, if you wanted to see a new, highly rated movie, you had to get dressed and travel to the neighborhood theater (or further away). If all that seemed like too much trouble, you could sit in front of the trusty black and white, 16 inch television, which usually was the only one in the house.

Movies were such a precious thing back in the day. Used to be, the only way that you could see a film that you really loved would be to return to the theater again and again. Popular ones could run for years and seem like they would never find their way to the small, home screen. I guess that after the money that theater owners could make had been exhausted, we couch potatoes could finally see our favorites. That is, after they had been cut to pieces with commercials, of course.

I remember a particular TV show which used to come on Channel 9, in the evening. It was called Million Dollar Movie. It would run only movies, some pretty old, others pretty bad. There was one that made me have nightmares and the fear stayed with me for years. By today’s standards, it would be considered pretty lame but it had enough of a strong theme to scare the crap off of a particular ten year old (That would be me. By the time the movie got to the small screen, in 1963, I was ten). 


The movie I’m talking about is called Invaders from Mars and it was made back in 1953.

Americans were beginning to heal from the open wounds of World War II. It had ended a few years prior and many were still dealing with the creeping fear that a powerful force might again attempt to overthrow our way of life. The not so unreal paranoia of take-over was the theme which caused many to relate to this film and many other similar ones of the era. I’ve read countless reviews about this movie and the common thread was always the same. The fact that the movie easily instilled fear in all of us of an impressionable age goes without saying. But the fear that a more ominous threat was on the way, helped the rest of the audience to identify on a level that they all knew very well. 

All these threats were seen through the eyes of a ten-year old actor who first discovered the Martians. He got the crap scared out of him but he finally helped the military to win the battle to defeat them.

All reviewers mentioned the creeping fear but none ever mentioned the look of the actor that played the “head Martian” (this is a play on words because he was basically a head in a glass bubble that the bigger Martians carried around). 

It’s difficult not to see that this guy seemed to be of African-American descent. The belief that the Black man of 1953 might be someone to be scared of was quietly being used in this film. After WWII, the Civil Rights movement was pushing forward and to some this person’s face in the film was probably a little more than disturbing. Especially since he was described as “mankind developed to its ultimate intelligence”. But actually this “guy” was an actress named Luz Potter born in Chihuahua, Mexico. Her name was never mentioned in the credits but neither were any of the other Martians in the movie. After recently seeing Invaders from Mars, it’s hard to remember what all the fuss was about. The visible zippers down the backs of the Martians made me laugh and the long lectures on space travel were boring. I guess the ten year old in all of us will always have a reason to fear the unknown. I guess it’s just a matter of perspective.

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