The Day Mars Invaded Earth (1963)
Runtime: 70 minutes
Directed by: Maury Dexter
Starring: Kent Taylor, Marie Windsor, William Mims, Betty Beall, Lowell Brown
From: 20th Century Fox!
A movie that unfortunately is too somnambulistic for me. As I mentioned in my last review (for It Conquered the World) I saw that and this in a single video posted as a simulation of a drive-in experience, complete with trailers for the two movies, vintage ads for the refreshment stand and the 1933 cartoon Betty Boop’s Crazy Inventions—that featured her, Bimbo and Ko Ko presenting various inventions in a circus tent until it takes an odd turn. Not the best I’ve seen from Betty but it still entertained.
As for The Day Mars Invaded Earth, it is an obvious riff on The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Despite being released by 20th Century Fox, the low budget is obvious as much of the action takes place on an estate as a family (the patriarch works at NASA) slowly realizes that also present are their doppelgangers. Rather than The Tethered, they are “Martian energy” who wish to eradicate that family in an attempt to prevent further visits to Mars.
The movie isn’t bad or pathetic; the general idea seemed fine and the execution wasn’t spectacular yet was serviceable at best. Regrettably, the movie is best described as “sleepy” and “drowsy”. It felt long despite a brief 70 minute runtime and not even the presence of cult actress Marie Windsor as a lead makes this worthy of a watch instead of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (any version of the tale)… or any further comments on the merits of this motion picture from me.
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