The War of the Worlds (1953)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Byron Haskin

Writers:

H.G. Wells (novel)
Barré Lyndon (screenplay)

Release Date:

26 August 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Amazing! terrifying! The most savage spectacle of all time!

Plot:

The film adaptation of the H.G.Wells story told on radio of the invasion of Earth by Martians.

Plot Keywords:

Martian | Invasion | Cold War | Panic | Meteor

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. July 5

2:00 PM

TCM

Cast

Gene Barry	...	Dr. Clayton Forrester
Ann Robinson	...	Sylvia Van Buren
Les Tremayne	...	Maj. Gen. Mann
Robert Cornthwaite	...	Dr. Pryor (as Bob Cornthwaite)
Sandro Giglio	...	Dr. Bilderbeck
Lewis Martin	...	Pastor Dr. Matthew Collins
Houseley Stevenson Jr.	...	Gen. Mann's aide
Paul Frees	...	Second Radio Reporter / Opening Announcer
William Phipps	...	Wash Perry (as Bill Phipps)
Vernon Rich	...	Col. Ralph Heffner
Henry Brandon	...	Cop at Crash Site
Jack Kruschen	...	Salvatore
Cedric Hardwicke	...	Commentary (voice) (as Sir Cedric Hardwicke)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Cliff Clark	...	Australian Policeman (scenes deleted)
Rudy Lee	...	Boy (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

La guerre des mondes (Belgium: French title) (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Kampf der Welten (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Klodernes kamp (Denmark) [da]
La guerra de los mundos (Spain) [es]
La guerra dei mondi (Italy) [it]
Maailmojen sota (Finland) [fi]
Oorlog der werelden (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Rat svetova (Serbia) [sr]
Världarnas krig (Sweden) [sv]
Wojna swiatów (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor) | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording) (35 mm optical prints) | 3 Channel Stereo (Western Electric Multi-Track Magnetic Stereophonic) (35 mm magnetic prints)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #16011) (original rating) | Netherlands:12 | Spain:T | Germany:16 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:12 | USA:G (re-rating) (1977) | West Germany:16 (nf) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 (1954) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (video rating) (1986) | UK:X (original rating) | Canada:G

Filming Locations:

City Hall - 200 N. Spring Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

This film had a budget of $2,000,000. Of that sum, $600,000 was spent on the live action scenes while $1,400,000 was spent on the extensive and elaborate special effects.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the farmhouse breakfast scene there is a plate with four slices of toast on the table as she is cooking the eggs. When they sit down it has disappeared.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Radio Reporter: [voiceover] In the First World War, and for the first time in the history of man, nations combined to fight against nations using the crude weapons of those days. The Second World War involved every continent on the globe, and men turned to science for new devices of warfare, which reached an unparalleled peak in their capacity for destruction. And now, fought with the terrible weapons of super-science, menacing all mankind and every creature on the Earth comes the War of the Worlds.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs - Seeing Is Believing (2005) (TV)

Amazing For Its Day

I really enjoyed this the first two times I saw it but on the third, about a year ago - and my first look on DVD - it was disappointing. It seemed to have lost its impact. However, I can still enjoy the story with the re-make which came out in 2005, which I recently watched and enjoyed.

For its day - over 50 years ago - I still think this 1953 movie had amazing special-effects. The alien ships still look cool and probably always will. Gene Barry is fine in the lead role and I appreciated the very ending in which God, not man, is given glory for the cessation of violence. This is a movie where people actually pray for help. I didn't see that in the re-make, of course.

The thing that finally ruined this film for me was the hysterical woman role played by Anne Franklin. Why they had to have screaming, out-of-control women in these '50s sci-fi film, I don't know. Maybe it was just the demeaning way women were often portrayed in action, crime or sci-fi movies. Nonetheless, she was annoying big-time.

Overall, it's a decent film but, at the point, I'll settle to watch the re-make if I want to revisit this Martian invasion.