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The War of the Worlds ReviewsRating: 5 - Little things do matter. Sci-fi flicks of the 1950s are frequently second-rate entertainment. This film is a notable exception to the typical cheesy schlock. Producer George Pal presents a dazzling display of visual effects. In addition, the distinctive sound effects belong in the sci-fi hall of fame. The classic novel by H. G. Wells suffers a change in location and time era, but the critical plot remains intact. Mars attacks Earth with magnificent war machines that fire fantastic death rays. Their space ships land all over the world and global conflict ensues. As world capitals fall, America faces oblivion. Mass hysteria leads to panic in the streets. The Martian foe seems invincible. Amid all the explosions and ray blasts, Gene Barry is a scientific egghead that runs around frantically trying to understand the menace and counter superior Martian technology. Ann Robinson plays a real Pearl Pureheart type. She and Barry cling to each other amid the flame and the thunder of battle. A three-eyed Martian interrupts their quiet interlude in the old farmhouse, a great moment in the film. Released in 1953, this film has overtones of "threats by sinister forces." Regardless of what the filmmaker intended, forget the McCarthy era paranoia and relish the excitement. Rich color photography makes the climactic attack on Los Angeles great fun. The story moves swiftly along and avoids superfluous subplots. Collectors of classic sci-fi/horror flicks certainly need this one. ;-) Rating: 4 - DVD Does Justice to a SF Classic Based on H.G. Wells' classic novel, George Pal's The War Of The Worlds is a classic in its own right. The movie transfers the story from England and the turn of the century to California and the 1950's. Some people see the paranoia of the '50s in the movie but the novel also had a strong theme of fear of things beyond our ken. Pal often included a religious theme in his movies and this film would have been better without it, but it does not detract from the movie enough to keep it from being a classic. The story is that of an invasion of Earth by coldly intelligent Martians. Told in clear, bold strokes with exceptional special effects (for the time) and fine performances by the two leads, Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, The War Of The Worlds should be in every collection of science fiction movies. The DVD transfer is excellent. The picture is sharp and clear. The color is strong and rich, as Technicolor should be. Like most people, I had only seen this movie on television and it never looked as good as it does on DVD. The picture resolution is so good that you can easily see the wires supporting the Martian war machines. The sound does not measure up to the standard of the video. It is mono and there are cracks and pops on the sound track during the early part of the movie, though I didn't notice them as much in the later scenes (but that may simply be because I was caught up in the excitement of the story). The disk provides only a trailer as supplemental material (I don't consider scene selection to be a special feature, it should be standard on any DVD). The disk is formatted in TV standard but that is not significantly different from the movie's original ratio, since it was not shot in what we now call widescreen. Although I would have liked to see more supplemental material, this is still a fine DVD of a nearly fifty year old movie that has not received the special treatment of movies like The Wizard Of Oz. The special effects with the awesome, graceful, but somehow sinister manta-ray-like ships with their anti-meson disintegration rays are possibly the coolest special effect of all time in an SF movie, especially considering this was 49 years ago now. And the bubble-like shield they used to protect themselves from the nuclear blast was also pretty cool. I also liked the fact that the unusual, huge flying wing was used to drop it. (By the way, there were both turboprop and jet engine versions of this interesting aircraft). The whole movie is a class act, with terrific scenes, a good script, and fine acting. Barry and Robinson were excellent in their roles. The story of a more advanced alien race invading earth, destroying everything in their path, with our feeble and primitive technology no match for the aliens, is a classic SF theme, and as another reviewer here perceptively pointed out, it's an appropos theme for the more paranoid 50's, which saw the advent of the Cold War, the nuclear arms race with its similar threat of total annihilation, and the McCarthy era. And last but not least, another wonderful touch was the Chesley Bonestell art used at the beginning of the movie with Sir Cedrick Hardwick's narration. Altogether a great movie for its time, or any time. Big Steve says go see it (or in this case, buy it), and don't Bogart the popcorn.
The War of the Worlds |
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