Rating: 
Summary: It's the story...OK?
Review: Most other reviewers are writing about the plot, or the fact that the script is so 1950s in all ways. I will take a different tack...sometimes you find a movie with a good story, and sometimes one with good visual appeal, but rarely are both together as they are in this movie. H.G. Wells' original story kept the reader wondering because deep details were often lacking; the novel is one man's rather limited view of the invasion, and the Martians, their aims, and their machines are seen through his eyes alone with little in the way of a look at the big picture. The story is more about the way he copes with the invasion. The movie preserves that, although the story is otherwise completely changed. The feeling of anticipation arising from questions unanswered is what carries this movie along. The invaders are completely closed up in their terrifying fighting machines, and there is seemingly no way to stop them. They are completely anti-life (the scene of the wild animals running from the onslaught is wonderful) and annihilate everything in their path; there is no hope of talking to them and stopping the destruction. The best example of the important-details-just-out-of-reach feeling in the movie is at the very end, when Gene Barry looks inside the fallen fighting machine, but we, the viewers, don't get a look.
The special effects are dated, but so what? The imaginative fighting machines and their spectacular weaponry make up for that, as well as the use of creative camera angles to make the machines look large and threatening. The sound in this movie is also excellent - the sounds used for the Martian weapons are wonderful! The filmmakers also added a great sound effect for the nuclear weapon explosion - wind!!
With a good story and great effects (for any age), this movie will stand the test of time and will be enjoyed by people for years to come.
Rating:
Summary: Little things do matter.
Review: 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: 
Summary: The granddaddy of sci-fi disaster flicks
Review: "War of the Worlds" may seem dated and stodgy by today's standards, but its place in cinema history is still important. It is the granddaddy of modern disaster flicks. It was one of the first movies to envision the ultimate nightmare - an invasion from outer space by technologically superior aliens. It helped bring into being the still popular notion that, if the world is ever to be saved, the only nation that can do it is America. While it was not the first movie in which special effects had a starring role, it did, I suspect, help to inspire many populist filmmakers at work today, such as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. It was pivotal in legitimizing science fiction as a respectable film genre. It begins in a small Southwestern town. One night the locals see what appears to be a meteor streak across the sky and crash in the desert. They race to the crash site and soon discover this is no natural object. It is the first of thousands of Martian warships that descend on our unsuspecting planet. These space crafts are armed with powerful rays that destroy everything in their path. By throwing up a defensive shield, each is impervious to all our weapons, including atomic bombs. [Perhaps the inspiration to the shields in Star Trek?] The story focuses on a scientist [Gene Barry] and the local librarian [Ann Robinson] he falls in love with. Together they experience many dangerous encounters with the aliens, all the while trying to devise a way to defeat them. The answer comes in a clever and unexpected way.
Rating:
Summary: Panic In The Streets!
Review: A true Sci-Fi classic! This has always been one of my favorites and though it's dated compared to today's computer generated marvels, I still think that the 'miniature' snake-headed Martian war machines hold their own! This is a movie you can watch with your family, just turn the lights out and make a big bowl of popcorn.
Rating:
Summary: A must for any collector
Review: This movie is one of the most talked about films of all time. The DVD is excellent, although there are places you can see some strings around the Martian machines. Being that this film was made in the 50's, this really doesn't bother me, as it doesn't detract from the cinematography a bit.
Rating:
Summary: Great classic
Review: This movie and The Day the Earth Stood Still have to be my favorite SF movies from the 50's, and possibly of any decade, although the 60's would certainly have to include 2001 and Robinson Crusoe on Mars. 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.
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Summary: Rocks - some unintended camp as well
Review: What can one say - the wildly original and effective SFX still blow away most of the ho-hum digital tinkering so widespread today (2002). The meson-neutralizing skeleton beams are waycool. One thing that's really amusing that I'd missed before: when the ill-fated pastor and his screaming-Mimi fundamentalist niece (who has a Master's degree but wears her Donna Reed house dress while serving coffee and danish to the Army brass) start going on about God and Creation, the soldiers and scientists nearby give them looks that, while no doubt intended at the time to convey solemn agreement or sympathy, instead come across as, "Are you serious?" Hilarious! The Billy Graham-lookalike near the end is a bit much as well. Modern unruly audiences would have a hoot with any cinematic screening, probably elevating it to campy Rock-Horror cult-film status. But I'd say: get it! Period piece it may be, it still is better than most of the high-tech spectacles made gettin' on half a century later.
Rating:
Summary: The way-coolest invaders, ever
Review: I don't think anyone's ever going to be able to top the invading Martian warships in this film: manta-rayed ships with those cobra heads, going ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM as they searched back and forth, sending out shrieking rays of death and destuction. Even though this movie was made in 1953, I've yet to see anything equal the terror and horror of those ships. This is a classic horror/SF film, far superior to the (very good) novel. Great special effects (even for today!), lurid color, solid performances all around. A must-see for everyone!
Rating:
Summary: Something Wicked This Way Comes...
Review: George Pal's WAR OF THE WORLDS remains,in my estimate,THE definitive INVASION from Space movie. The Cobra-like Martian War Machines....throbbing with deadly menace; spitting wicked, banshee wail pulses of green-hued Laser ray Death...are archetypal Engines of Fear. Gene Barry and Ann Robinson are "Earth's Everymen" subjected to War of Extermination by unstoppable ALIEN POWER. Sir Cedric Harwicke's introductory monologue describing the coldly apprising Martian Intellects who choose Earth for annihilation & colonization is chilling. WAR OF THE WORLDS is among sci-fi film's few incontestable classics. The Japanese will offer THE MYSTERIANS. Numerous remakes through "V" and INDEPENDENCE DAY will follow. But this presentation of H.G.Wells' epic remains unique as excellent story and technological wonder. ((The glimpse of Martian ET's, and their final destruction at the hands of "the humblest creatures God in His Wisdom placed on this earth" is movie Myth in its own right.)) WAR OF THE WORLDS is a must for genre collectors and an enduring thriller for fans of great fantasy film...
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Summary: fabulous golden era SF movie
Review: Now, I was born more than a decade after this movie came out. I never saw it in theaters, and I cut my teeth on "Star Wars" and all that came after it. You'd think I'd be bored by this movie, but I'm not. The effects were cutting-edge for the time, even if they look quaint now, but it doesn't detract from the movie at all. Even as dated as some parts of it are, it still gets you on the edge of your seat many, many times over. I can only hope they don't do a remake of it anytime soon, or else we'll wind up with some piece of trash with tons of great effects and characters you couldn't give a damn about, like everything seems to be nowdays. Speaking as a Gen-Xer, this movie rocks.
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