I was very young when I saw Invasion on TV many, many years ago. The dead man lying on floor, fire poker beside him, two rather attractive female aliens standing impassively over him, somehow stayed in my mind (for some reason) for a long time. Shortly afterwards, there Invasion was referenced in a beloved compendium of B Movie sci-fi I bought in a church jumble sale. Childhood, eh?

Anyway, I watched Invasion again a few weeks ago on a cable channel. It is a product of British science fiction period from the late Fifties to mid Sixties, taking its cue from the likes of Quatermass or Village of Damned; maybe not in the same league as those classics, but still enjoyably effective nonetheless.

I don't think I need to repeat the plot and, yes, there are a few holes (what happend to the second alien? Did they kill the nurse?), and rushed ending, but when most of today's low budget sci-fi and horror revolves around CGI, found footage, gore and zombies rehashing, Invasion is a reminder of the quiet powers of understatement.

This low-budget British sci-fi outing is so rare that I have had to make do with a copy sporting forced French subtitles for this first viewing! I was glad to confirm that the film's solid reputation was well-deserved; plot-wise, it is not dissimilar from two other notable genre entries from this country which I caught quite recently – namely UNEARTHLY STRANGER (1963) and THE NIGHT CALLER (1965). I recall being particularly impressed with the former and, actually, I feel that INVASION is very much on a par with it; incidentally, the title is a misnomer since the aliens here are actually stranded on earth and their mission is to recapture an escaped prisoner they were escorting rather than occupation! Even so, we do get a show of their (typically advanced) technology and, needless to say, there are human casualties involved; to be fair, though, we never learn of their true intent until quite late into the game and, consequently, the carefully-built suspense and smart handling throughout (this was director Bridges' feature-film debut) makes for consistently satisfying viewing. One rather clever notion has the aliens requiring to physically touch an Earthling before they can speak our language…though, of course, no explanation is given as to why they happen to have an Oriental complexion! In the long run, the modest scale of the production (the setting is largely confined to a hospital and the woods nearby, with events unfolding over just one night) works in its favor, making the central concept both gripping and persuasive. Hero Edward Judd was something of a fixture in British sci-fi around this time: his rugged good looks and evident intelligence were always good value for money in these fantastic surroundings; leading lady Valerie Gearon does well by her role too, familiar character actor Anthony Sharp has a prominent (if rather unlikely) role early on in the proceedings and, obviously, the intervention by the military is a requisite in this type of film. Among the more visually striking moments are a shot where a door opening leads into a doll-house, with the camera then panning up to reveal the actual room, and a car very realistically crashing (into the invisible barrier created by the aliens in order to isolate the area) with its driver spurting out of the windscreen. As to flaws, these are indeed negligible – but I suppose I should mention the fact that one of the alien women unaccountably disappears during the film's last third, while the climax is a bit rushed (if still quite unique: the pursuing alien deliberately crashes her spaceship into a fleeing rocket bearing her quarry!).