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War of the Worlds (1953)
List Price: $9.95 Our Price: $9.45
VHS Tape - 02 July, 1996
Paramount
Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks
Director: Byron Haskin
Number of Media: 1
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| VHS Tape Description After the success of 1950's Destination Moon and 1951's When Worlds Collide, visionary producer George Pal brought the classic H.G. Wells story of a Martian invasion to the big screen, and it instantly became a science fiction classic and winner of the 1953 Academy Award for Best Special Effects. It's a work of frightening imagination, with its manta-ray spaceships armed with cobra-like probes that shoot a white-hot disintegration ray. As formations of alien ships continue to wreak destruction around the globe, the military is helpless to stop this enemy while scientists race to find an effective weapon. Gene Barry and Ann Robinson play the hero and heroine roles that were de rigueur for movies like this in the '50s, and their encounter with one of the Martians is as creepy today as it was in '53. It finally takes an unseen threat--simple Earth bacteria--to conquer the alien invaders, but not before War of the Worlds has provided a dazzling display of impressive special effects. As memorable for its sound effects as for its spectacular visions of destruction, this is a movie for the ages--the kind of spectacular that inspired little kids such as Steven Spielberg (not to mention Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, whose Independence Day cribs liberally from the plot) and still packs a punch. --Jeff Shannon |
| Selected Customer Reviews
A True Classic I had to finally get the DVD of George Pal's classic rendition of War of the Worlds. It is great to see how well it has held up over time. This is the classic story of invaders from Mars retold for a more modern audience. Although many elements have been modernized, much of the plot of the film is true to the original.
This is the story of unbeatable Martians in untouchable machines that are bent of taking over our planet. We follow a small group of characters as we go from first arrival, through advancing invasion, to the final resolution. The classic flying Martian machines really add to the visuals of this film. While they don't follow the original designs of Wells, they fit the modern setting better and manage to feel menacing.
There is a little bit of corniness to some of the early dialogue and settings but all in all the whole thing hold us very well even after near countless other versions of the film including the recent Tom Cruise version (worth checking out). Fans of classic science fiction will definitely want to add this one to their collections.
War of the Worlds This DVD has it all. It has the movie and the radio version of the movie which I've been looking for a long time now. It also shows how the movie was made which was really amazing to me. A lot of work went into the movie.
The Power of Narration The 1953 film about Martian Invasion to Earth might be the source for a bunch of sci-fi movies including Independent Day in 1996.
Movie version changed the location from suburban London to California. Orson Wells as in radio drama version in 30s which made him famous takes the role of the narrator. Orson Wells really led American people in panic in his radio drama. Now the time is 1950s when a lot of dramatic development in movie visual effects took place. And Martian heat ray was vividly created in this film but even on that film Martian being as a whole never showed up ,a bit of let down for sci-fi fans.
EXCELLENT NARRATION
What's amazing about this movie is the brief in human words. The striking contrast to cold-blood Martians. And the importance of international alliance against Martian was stressed out. That's a wonderful idea. This was just after the second world war and cold war was in the process but even enemy sides joined hands to counter the enemy of mankind.
IGNORANCE OF RADIOACTIVITY
What's sad about otherwise perfect movie is its ignorance on radioactivity. Film directors of course are not responsible but if atomic bomb ten times powerful than Hiroshima really did blow up, major parts of California might have been uninhabitable for a number of years. People fled on the hill might have serious radiation exposure.
SOUND EFFECTS
Sound effects made this movie classic. The sound of heat ray, martian probe is really scary making the conversation by major casts believable.
Verdict: Landmark Sci-fi film achievement
rating: 93 out of 100. One point taken for Martian inappearance, three points taken for ignorance of radiation.
Recommended for: Any of recent version viewers.
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