ICE-Vision: Invaders From Mars (William Cameron Menzies, 1953)
Thursday, April 8 at 8 PM
Lamar Dodd School of Art Room S150
Film Studies major Will Stephenson continues ICE’s informal weekly series, selecting a variety of world cinema classics and subcultural curiosities.
“The legendary production designer William Cameron Menzies (whose credits include Gone With the Wind) directed this SF cheapie in 1953. …one of those rare movies that seem to tap directly into the director’s subconscious, bypassing every rule of dramatic logic and most of those of filmmaking. A small boy sees a spaceship land in his backyard and burrow into the ground. No one believes him, but then his parents start behaving very strangely. Every fear known to childhood (and some that are not) is explored in a melange of Freudian symbols, debased expressionism, and screaming Technicolor. With Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, and Hillary Brooke, none of whom matter in the slightest. 78 min”
-Dave Kehr (Chicago Reader)