Very well executed

Absolutely brilliant

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The acting in this movie is really good.

This could very well have been shorter and appeared as a television production, but instead probably put out as a B movie, as it was worth the elevated status with the extra minutes. It came as no surprise to me to learn that the writer Robert Holmes was a prolific writer for British Television, including Dr Who. This came out in 1966 and reminded me of the better television from that era, but do not let that put you off. Me? I can't get enough of it. What it doesn't have in budget, it makes up for, with style. I cite the doll's head in the doll's house with the rocking horse in the background as an example of style (pure 1960's). Think of The Avengers in the black and white era without John Steed and Emma Peel and you will have an idea of the feel of the film, and enjoyment, although it's not lighthearted, only well intentioned. It may not have Diana Rigg in, but it does have Tsai Chin, playing a small part as a nurse (maybe it's the uniform). She has had quite a career, which included You Only Live Twice and Casino Royale. In a film that curiously used Chinese looking aliens, Tsai Chin is a human nurse (she is Chinese by birth). The main lead man Edward Judd puts in a solid performance as does the main lead woman Valerie Gearon (appropriate name for the 60's?), who starts off being very sexy then in the next scene goes into just a little bit too much over (re)acting for me, but comes back down to earth, and settles into her part. She has great hair by the way. This is an intelligent Sci-Fi film with lofty intentions with a limited bank account available, and that is where I think it benefits. More money spent would not make this much more enjoyable for me, I'm thinking Close Encounters. They had to use their ideas and expertise to make this work instead of money. For example there are some good black and white scenes, such as when the woman gets out of the car at night in a white coat into the headlights. I feel I must mention that I liked the way they learnt the language by "downloading" from the source, a nice touch (pun intended). Sure, there are some questions to be asked about the space ship and the armies and policeman's attitude to an alien landing (not an invasion). They should have learnt from watching the films from the 1950's (The Day The Earth Stood Still etc) that it is quite a big deal. If you also can get over all of this and that the aliens look like Chinese people, then the film has a good heart and well intentioned which may certainly win you over, as it did me, and one I will remember (for the right reasons). A sign of a good movie.

I always thought this was a particularly odd little film. It seems to be filled with the most ill- mannered cast of any movie I have ever seen. It opens with the Royal Artillery survey unit on Salisbury Plain ignoring a arrival of the UFO. The officer protests and the NCO ignores him and carries on reading his magazine. The officer stomps off in disgust. The action then moves to a cottage hospital where all the staff are permanently at daggers drawn: "I'm in charge here!!.... Mind your own business, etc etc." "How dare you!!!" I couldn't help thinking there was some emotional back-story that had ended up on the cutting room floor. That might account for the way everybody kept overreacting at the slightest provocation. Or have I got it all wrong and that's how British people behaved in the mid 1960s. The aliens must have thought they had landed in an insane asylum.

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!).

I'm 55 now and retired to Thailand (lucky old me!) but before I left the cold, wet misery of Blighty, I VT-ed a transmission of "Invasion", which I've LOVED ever since I first saw it, aged 14 (no major body-count, so a "U" certificate) as I knew I'd never find it out HERE.In S.E. Asia, the lack of special effects (although the car that crashes into "nothing" is very well done) would bore the locals, weaned on the excesses of Hollywood - and aliens who are simply Chinese would puzzle them totally! But then, they would not realise that in mid-'60s England, Chinese people (other than in London's Gerrard Street) WERE alien to the average citizen - rather like a black tourist I met here, who hailed from Brixton and told me, "When I travel in rural areas, the kids look at me like I'm a Martian!" Of course, having Chinese aliens saved the producers the cost of SFX.But do not be put off this EXCELLENT British movie by it's minuscule budget. It makes up for it in so many ways. Everyone says it's moody. This is helped by the crisp sound, pin-sharp b&w photography and virtual lack of background music.But for me, the thing that MAKES "Invasion" is the BELIEVABILITY of the absurd plot, which is achieved by something many modern sci-fi movies lack. REALISTIC ACTING (even at 14, that blew me away). It's casual, smooth and apparently effortless. We are sucked in because we BELIEVE it. And when you consider the acting talent that was assembled, it's hardly surprising.You BELIEVED the great Edward Judd and under-rated Valerie Gearon were doctors. You had to go out and get an ORANGE DRINK when the temperature started to climb. And "Invasion" was the first solid role I'd seen Barrie Ingham in - those EYES just bored through you.It's a mark of the movie how LONG the principal actors' careers have lasted - some to THIS DAY. Living over here, I can tell you that more than forty years on, (E)Ric Young is STILL going strong in Hong Kong! There is NO movie, big or small, that has the easy pace, yet mounting tension, and sheer persuasion of "Invasion".