Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964/Passport DVD)
Picture:
C- Sound: C Extras:
D Film: D
PLEASE NOTE: This title is now actually
available on Blu-ray and you can see more about that at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11972/Santa+Claus+Conquers+The+Martian
Consistently
named one of the worst films of all time, including on the hilarious recent 50 Worst Movies Ever Made DVD reviewed
elsewhere on this site, people still howl when you tell them about Santa Claus Conquers The Martians.
Made back in 1964 with some special toys even made by the great Marx Toys
Company, the film is still a howler over four decades later with a cast of mostly
unknowns giving us the far-from-classic story of how Martians want to capture
everyone’s favorite red-clad gift-giver. It is a mess, but an amusing
mess.
Another
sign of trouble is the acting debut of Pia Zadora as a child actor playing
“GirlMar” the Martian Girl, and to think that is a highlight! Running a
long 80 minutes, director Nicholas Webster has no idea what to do with the
story or the crazy sets. Martians think Santa can help them or they can
learn more about earth without kidnapping the average earthling, but it is just
so stale, pointless and odd that train wrecks cannot compete. Of course,
they are tearing themselves apart, so why kidnap two human children? At
least it is not full of it, because it is not preachy or has any crazy religious
overtones like so much such holiday material has now. It is trying to be
fun for kids, even though it fails just about all the time. You have to
see it once to believe it.
The 1.33
X 1 image is in bad shape, with fading color, debris, lack of detail and depth,
though the original colors must have been amusing. Who knows if this
aspect ratio is correct. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono fares a little
better, but not by much. There are no chapter stops, so you can imagine
there are no extras, giving it a weird David Lynch feel. At least he
sometimes has extras on his titles. See Santa Claus – The Movie (1985) elsewhere on this site for something
a bit more ambitious.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
