Martians interrupt television to announce they are coming to Mexico and will soon enslave the Earth. However, everyone thinks this is a joke and people couldn't care less. But, when El Santo meets up with one of these Martians, he immediately does what he does best--he wrassles with them. In fact, time and time again, various Martians come to the planet--only to have their butts whipped by our masked super-hero. However, in each case, before El Santo can deliver a knockout blow, the cowardly Martians activate a device on their belts and they disappear. Can El Santo stop the Martian invasion and thereby save every single soul on this planet? Fortunately, the Martian ship DOES come equipped with a self-destruct lever and these aliens asphyxiate very easily--so my bet is on El Santo!! Like all the other El Santo movies I have seen, it abounds with unnecessary fights throughout the film and for the most contrived reasons. But, more importantly, it also features this guy going about his everyday life while wearing this silly luchador mask. I love how in some films, you see him going on dates, scoring with women and showering--all while wearing his silver mask! This and the silliness of the plot in "Santo el Enmascarado de Plata vs. La Invasión de los Marcianos". While not the silliest of these Santo plots...it's among the silliest and make the film more of what we want--incredible and bizarre laughs from start to finish. Unfortunately, it also is a bit dull here and there and lacks the energy of some of his other bizarre films.

Over the course of his long career, the masked Mexican wrestler hero Santo the Silver Mask (Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta) appeared in dozens of movies, including this one. A group of scantily clad human-looking Martians is planning to teach us Earthlings to live peacefully without nuclear weapons and if a verbal warning is not enough, they are prepared to disintegrate mankind completely. Besides their primary mission, they also intend to kidnap some elite individuals for research purposes, among them the righteous muscle hero Santo and a brilliant scientist named Ordorica (Manuel Zozaya). However, Santo is not easily fooled by the Martians' schemes: the strong alien men and their seductive women, who all go by names taken from Ancient Greek mythology, must work hard to achieve their goals.The movie is clearly all about the heroism of Santo; the goofy plot is secondary to the numerous and endlessly long fight scenes where Santo gets to show off his wrestling moves while everyone else just stands still watching their friends getting beaten. Some of the wrestling is pretty fun though and the seductress-Martians' hypnotic dance number is worth seeing, so even if the acting couldn't possibly be any more wooden, there's plenty to like in the movie: the futuristic but crude spaceship set and the Martians' tight outfits and wigs look rather amusing indeed. I don't think it was ever supposed to be a serious sci-fi thriller in the first place, but seeing it now, it's pure comedy and recommended to any wrestling fan and cult movie aficionado.

My introduction to the Santo cult proved to be a somewhat disappointing experience. Santo is not so much a Mexican Super-Hero as a Mexican Bruce Lee. Instead of kung fu, we are treated to wrestling. Mucho lucha. Demasiado lucha! It never stops. Santo cannot step into a room without stepping into the fray. I admit it was well staged, but the sound effects were overdone. I liked the girls best, especially Belinda Corell. On the other hand, the male Martians were totally unconvincing. Complete with ridiculously fake wigs, they looked about as much like men from Mars as refugees from Central Casting. Not that the rest of the players were much better. Only the always reliable Manuel Zozaya (who rarely received decent roles matching his abilities) as the professor and the impressively voiced "Picoro" (doing his customary stint as the ring announcer) stood out in a very mediocre cast.Production values were also second-class with ho-hum special effects that wouldn't gladden the hearts of a group of seven-year-olds; plus competently routine photography by Jorge Stahl (who did such good work on Henry Hathaway's 1954 Garden of Evil); and all topped off by capable but blissfully unimaginative direction from that veteran workhorse in Mexican cinema, Alfredo B. Crevenna (who helmed no less than 150 features between 1945 and his retirement at the age of 81 in 1995).Sci-fi fans will be hard pressed to find anything to cheer about in this effort. It's the sort of film that a quickie serial producer like Columbia's Sam Katzman would have been proud of, but it didn't strike many chords with me.

Three-eyed, fit bodied Martian socialists want to the world to disarm their nuclear weapons, stop war, have the Earthling start a universal language, and everyone to love one another...or DIE. They decide to teach the world a lesson by conquering Mexico. They capture universal TV airwaves to voice their intentions, but thinking it's a new TV show, everyone laugh. But ElSanto, the masked wrestling superhero is listening as well and plan to out wrestle these commies..um.. i mean space aliens. They choose to send one alien to a soccer game to show the power of their disintegrating third eye. But Santo happens to be there teaching prepubescent boys how to wrestle each other for the benefit of defending the weak. When El Santo sees the alien, it's wrestling time. To tell you anymore would be a great disservice. Suffice it to say you HAVE to experience this camp classic for yourself in ALL it's glory. You WILL be wanting to search out each and every one of El Santo's other 57 films after you finish seeing this one. TRUST ME!! It's just that awesome.My Grade:A DVD Extras: 33 and a half minute interview with El Hijo del Santo (Son of Santo); 6 & a half minute retrospective on Santo; Biographies on El Santo & Wolf Ruvinskis; Santo Filmography; Theatrical Trailer, and trailers for "In Raw Flesh", "One's as Good as the other", and "Coming of Age"