Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)

One of those infamous bad sf films, a mixture of sci-fi & fantasy aimed at the little kids. Martians (actors in green paint make-up and cheap costumes) decide to kidnap Santa Claus (John Call) because something is lacking on their home turf. Much of the conflict in the story stems from the differing p.o.v of the two main Martians, the commander (Leonard Hicks) and his 2nd (Vincent Beck, who played a similar war-hungry alien on a Lost in Space episode). The commander is actually an OK guy, but the other one thinks Martian society has become weak-kneed and wants to kill everyone.

A sample of the action is when the Martians send their robot in to grab Santa; the elves get frightened but Santa treats the robot as just another toy, rendering it ineffective. Make sense? The Martians also grab a couple of kids who spotted them earlier because they want no witnesses. On the trip back to Mars, Santa charms most of the crew (who get some rare laughs), except the angry, foul-tempered one, causing a fistfight... and so it goes.  This was well-known at one time as the kid role for Pia Zadora, who did some films in the eighties, but now no one really cares. BoG's Score: 2 out of 10