A sci-fi classic that premiered nearly 70 years ago has undergone a much-deserved 4K restoration. William Cameron Menzies’ 1953 Invaders from Mars, which follows a young boy who witnesses an alien invasion, will play at the Fine Arts Film Festival and Il Cinema Ritrovato this summer before arriving on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD on September 26. Ahead of this rollout, we’re pleased to exclusively premiere the new trailer.
Filmed from a child’s point of view, using exaggerated sets and upward angles, it reflected Cold War tensions, the Red Scare, and paranoid anxiety typical of many films in the ’50s, including Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still. Longtime enthusiast and preservationist of classic cinema Scott MacQueen led the restoration effort, which had a unique challenge: the color negative confirmed for printing in SUPERcineCOLOR lacked many shots and needed to be sourced from 70-year-old prints.
“We’re grateful to finally complete the 4K restoration of the sci-fi classic Invaders from Mars after a lengthy search for the final elements,” said Jan Willem Bosman Jansen, Director of Ignite Films. “We needed the elements to fill in the gaps in the original camera negative, which was stored with great care at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. We are so grateful to the George Eastman Museum and National Film and Sound Archive of Australia for supplying the necessary elements and cannot wait to share the completed product with fans worldwide,” he added.
Ignite is also launching The Maze, a critical section of their newsletter edited by Scout Tafoya that will feature exclusive essays from a host of critics and authors, including Adam Nayman and Willow Catelyn Maclay. Sign up here.
See the exclusive trailer below.
Invaders from Mars will play at the Fine Arts Film Festival and Il Cinema Ritrovato and arrive on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD on September 26, 2022. Learn more here.