Rating summary
| Movie |  | 3.0 |
| Video |  | 4.0 |
| Audio |  | 2.5 |
| Extras | | 2.5 |
| Overall |  | 3.5 |
The Secret Invasion Blu-ray Movie Review
Reviewed by Brian Orndorf May 7, 2015
While working on his Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, director Roger Corman found time to make his first major studio feature with 1964’s “The Secret Invasion,” a WWII men-on-a-mission film that took the helmer out of literary fantasy and stuck him in the middle of history. Boasting a diverse cast that includes Stewart Granger, Mickey Rooney, and Edd Byrnes, “The Secret Invasion” attempts to marry the cold realities of life with excitable conflicts, making an effort to ground matinee adventure with a certain level of emotional gravity. Most of the picture feels like filler, yet Corman deserves credit for stretching, struggling to craft a movie that can play as a distraction and still land a few psychological gut-punches along the way.
“The Secret Invasion” has been compared to 1967’s “The Dirty Dozen,” and while the pictures share similarities in plot and character, the tone of Corman’s film is more about survival and introspection, with Henry Silva portraying an especially sensitive soldier, carrying a tortured quality that mutes the free-for-all attitude the effort explores but never indulges in full. After all, it’s impossible to view the feature as a wartime joyride when a subplot concerns the accidental death of an infant. Thankfully, Corman doesn’t get carried away, spending more time making sense of his characters than staging combat sequences.
The Secret Invasion Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
The AVC encoded image (2.35:1 aspect ratio) presentation comes through with impressive clarity, delivering period cinematography with encouraging sharpness. Detail is secure and inviting, surveying aged faces and decorated interiors, while locations are handled with depth and texture. Colors remain defined, with bright blue skies and natural skintones, while costuming brings out additional hues. Grain is managed, preserving a filmic appearance, and blacks are true, with terrific delineation. Print shows signs of debris and hair, and speckling is detected. Harsh splices pop into view periodically.
The Secret Invasion Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA mix doesn't carry the necessary sonic firepower to motivate a war film into cinematic position. It's a quiet track, require a major boost in volume to reach normal levels of engagement, while pronounced hiss runs throughout the presentation, muting clarity. Dialogue is largely intact, but rarely does it spark to life, maintaining a reserved position in the mix. Combat sequences carry major explosions and gunfire, but nothing is defined crisply, with muddiness restraining the listening experience.
The Secret Invasion Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
- Interview (5:35, HD) with director Roger Corman briefly runs through the production history of "The Secret Invasion," which began life during a dental appointment. Talk of location shooting is included, and praise is shared for the producer (and Roger's brother), Gene Corman.
- And a Theatrical Trailer (3:12, HD) is included.
The Secret Invasion Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
"The Secret Invasion" is pokey, never achieving a steady pace even with enticing turns of plot and an interest in exploring the team's use of finger-snap timing to work out their master plan of escape. Still, dry patches aside, solid performances keep "The Secret Invasion" involving, making it the rare war effort where personality, not brawn, demands the most attention.
