That lovingly restored version of HE’s beloved Invaders From Mars (‘53) screens tonight at the TCM Classic Film Festival at Mann’s Chinese 6 (which is a very small house, by the way).
Truth be told, William Cameron Menzies’ low-budget film suffers from a lack of polish and finesse (the most devout admirers admit that the cheesy parts are fairly comical) but — but! — the combination of Menzies’ famously impressionistic sets, that curious atmosphere of spooky ‘50s Americana, that green-faced, goldfish-bowl alien with the lizard pincer hands and that spellbinding musical score (<u>not </u> composed by Raoul Kraushar but the unsung Mort Glickman) still amount to something extraordinary.
