Eek, we were brainwashed

The creepiness inherent in many of the science-fiction films from the 1950s played on the paranoia and fear wrought by the dual threats of communism and nuclear annihilation. Whether through allegory or straight propaganda, the movies exploited real and imagined perils for audiences of the era. The Skirball Cultural Center has assembled four such features for the “Red Menace Film Series,” suggested by images in the current exhibit, “Arnold Mesches: FBI Files.”

Mesches’ work includes collages and large-scale paintings based on the 760 pages from his FBI dossier. The files consisted of materials gathered on Mesches between 1945 and 1972, which he obtained through the Freedom of Information Act in 1999. The artist incorporated actual pages from the files along with newspaper clippings, photographs and handwritten text, evoking the paranoia of the period and inspiring the film series.

This Sunday’s double feature opens with “Red Planet Mars,” a 1952 film starring Peter Graves as a scientist dealing with messages supposedly emanating from the crimson orb (and sent by God) imploring humans to give up religion. Also showing is the best-known film of the sub-genre, Don Siegel’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” a 1956 thriller in which giant alien seed pods threaten to dehumanize the populace of a small northern California town.

On March 28, small-town locals are in for more brainwashing by aliens as witnessed through the eyes of a little boy in 1953’s “Invaders From Mars.” On the same bill is “Invasion USA” from 1952, of which Hedda Hopper promised, “It will scare the pants off you.” Composed mainly of stock footage and scenes in taverns, the film documents an attack by an unnamed enemy -- clearly meant to be the USSR -- in which the West Coast suffers an A-bomb assault, Washington is invaded, New York gets nuked and hysteria reigns. Jack Webb’s 16-millimeter propaganda short “Red Nightmare” will also be shown. Screenings begin both days at 1:30 p.m. Info: (310) 440-4500 www.skirball.org

-- Kevin Crust