I originally saw this years ago as a MST3000 episode, and thought it wasn't too bad for an obvious propaganda film - certainly no worse than, say, "Rocket Attack USA". Then this movie came up as part of an informal project where a group of science fiction film fans tried to retrace the history of SF films by watching every film listed in the amazing book "Keep Watching The Skies" in chronological order. I wouldn't have voluntarily watched Invasion USA again, but I figured,"How bad could it be?"
Pretty bad, as it turned out.Even making allowances for the original 50's culture this movie was aimed at, and for the fact that's obviously a "red scare" movie, this little nugget is pretty hard to swallow.
The movie relies heavily on stock footage to carry the action. The problem is, that the live scenes and story the director tries to relate to all this canned film is about as convincing as Monty Python's skit about "The Townsford Women's Guild Recreation of the Battle Of Pearl Harbor". The movie tries to turn endless scenes of American WW II battle footage and shots of US airplanes and US Army training film into a story about an alien invasion. And it simply doesn't work. The result is a storyline almost totally lacking in logic, coherence and believability ("unidentified" enemy aircraft that are clearly P-38s, A Bombs being dropped from "enemy planes" onto tranquil scenes of airfields with all their planes sitting placidly on the ground, rather than scrambling to meet the attack they know is coming...in fact A Bombs being dropped all over the place - including New York! -without a single consequence to the environment - or a retaliatory missile launch).
The initial framing sequence is so badly contrived and played out - not that I blame the actors, Dustin Hoffman couldn't make these scenes work) that you almost root for the 2-D cardboard characters to meet the dooms they all rush off to once war is declared.
The film was barely 75 minutes, but it seemed much longer. My brain screamed for credible dialog and a plot that made sense and better acting and, well, almost anything that this movie was missing in spades.
And did I mention, "It was allllll a DREAM!" The ultimate cop out for a movie plot, and the final insult to my sensiblities.
One bright spot: both of the actresses who played "Lois Lane" in the "Superman" TV series had walk-on parts - it was nice to see them getting other work. And that's about it.
Pretty bad, as it turned out.Even making allowances for the original 50's culture this movie was aimed at, and for the fact that's obviously a "red scare" movie, this little nugget is pretty hard to swallow.
The movie relies heavily on stock footage to carry the action. The problem is, that the live scenes and story the director tries to relate to all this canned film is about as convincing as Monty Python's skit about "The Townsford Women's Guild Recreation of the Battle Of Pearl Harbor". The movie tries to turn endless scenes of American WW II battle footage and shots of US airplanes and US Army training film into a story about an alien invasion. And it simply doesn't work. The result is a storyline almost totally lacking in logic, coherence and believability ("unidentified" enemy aircraft that are clearly P-38s, A Bombs being dropped from "enemy planes" onto tranquil scenes of airfields with all their planes sitting placidly on the ground, rather than scrambling to meet the attack they know is coming...in fact A Bombs being dropped all over the place - including New York! -without a single consequence to the environment - or a retaliatory missile launch).
The initial framing sequence is so badly contrived and played out - not that I blame the actors, Dustin Hoffman couldn't make these scenes work) that you almost root for the 2-D cardboard characters to meet the dooms they all rush off to once war is declared.
The film was barely 75 minutes, but it seemed much longer. My brain screamed for credible dialog and a plot that made sense and better acting and, well, almost anything that this movie was missing in spades.
And did I mention, "It was allllll a DREAM!" The ultimate cop out for a movie plot, and the final insult to my sensiblities.
One bright spot: both of the actresses who played "Lois Lane" in the "Superman" TV series had walk-on parts - it was nice to see them getting other work. And that's about it.