INVASION, U.S.A. (1952)

INVASION, U.S.A. (1952)

Tagline: 2 Super Science Thrillers in the World of Tomorrow (the double feature one sheet). 

(Sci-Fi, Drama, The Original Red Dawn) [PG]

Note: This movie was never given an MPAA rating. I think if it came out today it would be given a [PG] rating just due to some of the concepts. 

A wizard, like Merlin, who could kill his enemies by wishing them dead. That's the way we like to beat Communism now, by wishing it dead.

In this one, we are taken to a bar in New York where 4 patrons and a bartender are watching the events of an attack from the Soviet Union on the United States of America. Including an atomic bomb. They are accompanied by the ominous Mr. Ohman. 

First off, this thing is loaded with stock footage, but they use it to the advantage of the story. It doesn’t seem crammed in as an afterthought. They are actually using it to move the story forward and provide visuals of what the attacks might look like at least with the technology of the time. There is one funny part in here where a Soviet leader is giving instructions to his subordinates and one of them replies in about the most American accent you can get. I am not sure if this was meant to indicate that he was a spy and had spent time in the states, but the lack of explanation tells me the actor just couldn’t pull off a Soviet accent or the director just didn’t care.

Acting wise there is nothing special to see here. We really don’t get much character development at all outside of Vince Potter played by Gerald Mohr and Carla Sanford played by Peggie Castle. Mohr was in THE ANGRY RED PLANET and even played Reed Richards in a 1960s TV version of “Fantastic Four”. Carla is a bit more emotionally stable in this movie than Audrey Aimes was in BEGINNING OF THE END. This is a credit to Peggie Castle, but she doesn’t have a ton of screen time in this movie. We also have a brief sighting of Dan O'Herlihy in this. He plays a bit of a jerk with little screen time here, but he is most famous for roles like “The Old Man” in the ROBOCOP series. 

One of the lessons of this movie is that you probably can’t have enough weapons to win a war. What really matters are preparedness and having an extremely large manned (or mechanical I guess) army. This movie highlights the almost insane amount of disbelief that plagues citizens and leaders. Instead of thinking of what kind of insanity can befall us, too many of our leaders are worried about feelings. Worried about creating safe spaces and making sure that no one is offended then they are creating bloody brutal defenders of the constitution and the Republic ready to take up arms and fight to the end at any given moment. Anyone willing to attack America is freakin ruthless and has zero fear. We really can’t afford to be sitting idly by worried about “only” the carbon footprints or things like decimating the fossil fuel industry. In the movie, the Soviets wear American uniforms which is pretty ironic because these days the United States has its share of internal enemies that masquerade as us, both fighting capitalism and trying to impose socialist ideas. In that sense, the movie is almost prophetic.  

Overall this movie is seen by many as preparedness propaganda, but it also has the distinction of being completely correct. We live in a fallen world and weakness is something nations can’t afford, especially not ours. Overall this is a 4 out of 7 from me. It’s not great and it’s definitely a downer, but it’s not terrible either. It’s oddly valuable even today and should probably be required viewing for anyone in government. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF AMERICAN PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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