Rating: 
Summary: Great for its time!
Review: If you have ever listened to the original Orson Welles' infamous radio show of the same name, you will have to watch this movie. The story begins as a meteor crashes to the earth and puzzles the residents of a California town. The incident isn't given much thought, until one night, everything in town turns off. No electricity, no phones, watches stop. Gene Barry, the resident scientist from Pacific Tech, is trying to find out what's going on, as masters' student Ann Robinson tries to help.....predictably, they fall in love while chaos ensues all over the planet. The aliens are not friendly. Their technology outdoes anything on earth. Not even atomic energy seems to stop them. So, what does? You'll have to watch this and see. The movie is somewhere between a really great B movie and an actual heavy duty motion picture event. The story is entertaining, and the writing is not as corny and stilted as a lot of sci fi movies made in the 50's. And whoa, those special effects! Not bad for an old classic!
Rating:
Summary: From 1950's Fear of War, A Landmark Sci-Fi Film Was Born
Review: The beginnings of rocketry, fear of science & new technology, the carnage of World War II, the emergence of the Cold War and the fear of nuclear war created an atmosphere in the 1950's perfect for the production of many sci-fi films filled with similar themes. Initiated by the classic film "The Day the Earth Stood Still" in 1951, and including films such as "Forbidden Planet" (1956) and "This Island Earth" (1955), most 1950's sci-fi films focused on war, death, destruction or unbridled technology. Of these, no film better illustrates these themes better than the 1953 film "The War of the Worlds", which was based upon the novel by classic sci-fi author H.G. Wells (1866-1946). Directed by Byron Haskin (whose behind-the-camera film career includes cinematography and special effects), "The War of the Worlds" begins when a meteor lands in the hills outside of a small California town not far from Los Angeles. Shortly after a scientist from a nearby university, Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry), comes to investigate the meteor, the meteor opens to reveal several deadly Martian machines whose weapons and defenses are unmatched by anything that man can muster. (In H.G. Well's original novel, Clayton Forrester is a reporter and the meteor lands in England.) In the nearby town, Dr. Forrester meets Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) and her uncle Matthew Collins (Lewis Martin), a local church pastor. For 1950's special effects technology, the Martian machines and their weapons are done very well. Instead of rising on mechanical legs as envisioned by H.G. Wells, they rise on invisible electromagnetic energy allowing them to float above the ground. Over the course of the film, more meteors land around the earth harboring more seemingly unstoppable Martian machines, and a romance develops between Dr. Forrester and Sylvia. The film has many memorable scenes including Dr. Forrester and Sylvia attempting to escape the Martians in a light airplane, their encounter with more Martians in an abondoned farmhouse, Dr. Forrester battling with frightened mobs in the streets of Los Angeles and his relentless search for Sylvia. Other memorable characters include Major General Mann (Les Tremayne), Dr. Bilderbeck (Sandro Giglio), Dr. Dupree (Ann Codee, uncredited) and the commentary as read by Cedric Hardwicke. Producer George Pal did an excellent job by picking Byron Haskin to direct the film. He also produced "When Worlds Collide" (1951) and both produced and directed "tom thumb" (1958), "The Time Machine" (1960) and "Seven Faces of Dr. Lao" (1964). "The War of the Worlds" was a landmark sci-fi film that continues to encourage writers and producers to create even more sci-fi stories. Among them was a sci-fi TV series (44 episodes) of the same name produced between 1988 and 1990. Overall, I rate "The War of the Worlds" with a highly deserved 5 out of 5 stars and I regard it to be one of the best sci-fi films ever produced in the 1950's.
Rating:
Summary: Opening Monologue on DVD is different from movie Original
Review: Having watched this movie from my childhood. I have always wanted to have a copy for personal viewing at my leisure. I can remember vividly the opening narration by Cedric Hardwicke describing the Martians and their quest for a New Home Planet. The ending narration I remember was different from what is on the DVD. The original went something like this: Yet across an immense ethereal gulf, minds that are to our minds as ours are to the beasts in the jungle, intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. : During the narration I remember the screen panning in on Mars as the last line was read. Then the scene cuts to to the first cylinder coming down in California. Yet the DVD opening narration finishes with : or that from the blackness of space. We were being scrutinised and studied. Until the time of our nearest approach to the orbit of Mars during a pleasan summer season. : Then it shows th first cylinder landing in California. Has Political Correctness come to the editing of Classic Movies from their original presentation? I don't know if anyone else has noticed this significant alteration of the openining narration.
Rating:
Summary: "They murder everything that moves."
Review: Holy Schnikes! Run for the hills! It's all out Martian mayhem as Legendary director and producer George Pal brings to life H.G. Wells classic story of alien invasion with this 1953 release of War of the Worlds, directed by Byron Haskin. The film stars Gene Barry as Dr. Clayton Forrester, a scientist who finds himself quickly caught up in an invasion of the likes never seen before on this world. Ann Robinson plays Sylvia Van Buren, a teacher and most likely love interest for Dr. Forrester later on in the film. The film opens with a meteor landing near a small town in California. As the local yokels gather with amazement and awe, the authorities contact Dr. Forrester along with a couple of other scientists, who happen to be on a camping trip within the area. Dr. Forrester questions why the meteor didn't make a larger crater, theorizing that maybe it's hollow, but there's nothing to be done until the cosmic rock cools. Which it does...and then opens, much to the surprise of three men left to watch over the rock. Even more surprising is what comes out of the rock, in the form of a shiny metallic armature with a glowing, red orb-like appendage at the end. What the heck is it? We soon find out at the three ill-fated men try to communicate with the device, and learn the hard way that these visitors are not of the friendly, Reese's Pieces eatin' variety but of the annihilate everything in their path type aliens. The military soon arrives, and proceeds to surround the area in hopes of containing whatever it is that fell from the sky. And speaking of falling from the sky, many more of these meteors begin arriving from space, in locations all over the world. Can you say full-blown invasion? You better believe it, my droogies. Why? Why not? Early on, we learn that the Martians are having a hard time making a go of it on Mars, and are looking to, in the immortal words of TV's The Jefferson's, 'Move on up, to the east side, to a deluxe apartment in the sky' and they decided Earth is a prime piece of pie...Fish don't fry in the kitchen/beans don't burn on the grill, took a whole lotta tryin'/just to get up that hill...oops, sorry, got carried away there...only problem...it's littered with pesky humans. What's a dying alien culture supposed to do? Wipe out all humans and assume control of the planet...sounds like a plan to me. Thing is, humans have seemed to always enjoy a good scrap, so I doubt they will go quietly into that good night... The aliens begin to get jiggy with it, using their advanced space rays to mess with our atomic glue, destabilizing the very particles that hold objects and people together, causing objects within the path of the rays to cease existing. Not a bad way to go, but certainly a fearsome power to have to try and defend against. Not only that, but the aliens have some sort of shielding that protects them against all our conventional weaponry. Nutz...looks like we're doomed...Oh well, we had a pretty good run, right? While many liberties have been taken in translating this story from book to film, that bothered me little. Why? Because this is a great looking movie and quite the ripping science fiction yarn. Oh someday I hope someone would decide to do a more accurate representation of the book to film, but until then, this movie still stands as one of the great, all-time sci-fi classics. Remember that very popular and successful film Independence Day (1996)? Where do you think they got the idea? And you gotta love those garish colors...So what happens? Do the aliens wipe out humanity and begin to set up house? Or do we have a few tricks up our collective sleeves? I'm won't tell. What was interesting was the estate of H.G. Wells like this film so much, they offered producer George Pal a choice of any of the H.G.Wells stories for his next project, and he decided on The Time Machine (1960). All in all, I was pleased with this release. I thought the picture to be sharp and clear, and the audio was excellent. I was kind of surprised of the lack of special features, given the importance of this film to science fiction in general, but what are you gonna do? Not buy it, I guess...no skin off my nose. Cookieman108
Rating:
Summary: An old friend revisited
Review: I saw THE WAR OF THE WORLDS when it was first released in 1953. It was an extraordinary experience. Other 1950's science fiction movies are notorious for their cheesy special effects and predictable plots. But this movie, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, and FORBIDDEN PLANET stand out as powerful exceptions to this rule. Its real strength does not reside in its outstanding special effects or excellent acting. It resides in its plot. The underlying idea being: we are the most technologically advanced species on Earth, but this notion fails beyond Earth. It is best summed up when Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) says: "We know now that we can't beat their (the Martians') machines. We must beat them." The Martians are not defeated by Human intelligence. They are defeated by Human spiritual qualities that invite divine intervention. The DVD does have one weakness; its special features are limited to a theatrical trailer. This flaw is forgivable, because the movie itself is perfect.
Rating:
Summary: Nice planet! I think we'll take it!
Review: The H. G. Wells novel about creatures from Mars invading the earth is still heralded by today's generation of sci-fi readers even though the scenes depicted in the story take place in and around London, England over a century ago. Orson Welles updated the tale to 1939 New York City with his famous (or infamous) radio broadcast. George Pal decided to go a step further and bring the Martian invasion to the big screen in 1953; only this time, the extraterrestrials are wreaking havoc around the Los Angeles area. Here we get to see Gene Barry long before his Burke's Law days as a scientist who is racing to find a scientific way to thwart the invaders while the armies of the world make futile attemps to stop the Martians with force. The model photography and special effects in this film are still stunning even though they have been surpassed in quality and sophistication by the ones available to today's filmmakers. Note that in the beginning of the movie, Cedric Hardwicke's narration makes no mention of the planet Venus as a possible place for Martian colonization (astronomers knew next to nothing about the planet at the time; it was long before any space probes were sent there). With a few minor alterations, the same model Martian machines were re-used by George Pal in his 1964 production of "Robinson Crusoe on Mars". "War of the Worlds" also inspired a short-lived TV show of the same name on the Fox network which was basically a continuation of the movie. Although this film is aging, it still continues to awe and entertain its present-day audiences.
Rating: 
Summary: Obsolete
Review: I count myself a big fan of H.G. Wells original novel that this movie is based on, and also of R. Emmerich's "Independence Day" which -- so I was told -- was somewhat inspired by this 1950ies precursor. So I reckoned this DVD might be worth a look. But be warned, it really isn't! The design of the aliens and their spaceships is somewhat interesting but that's really all there is to it. You might as well stare at the DVD cover for a minute and you'll have a better experience than sitting through two hours of boredom that this old movie represents. First, the cast. This movie features some of the most horrible acting that I've ever seen. Second, it's stock-full of outdated stereotypes -- the female protagonist, for instance, is nothing but a ragdoll whose only purpose is to look scared, scream hysterically, and faint from time to time. Third, the editing sucks. Time and again the film bores the living daylights out of you with overly long technical debates among scientists and army bureaucrats, which really don't serve to advance the story or add suspense to the plot. Not to speak of the directing. With many shots, I felt forced to ask myself what was going on in the directors head -- they could
have been made so much better with only little effort. It really is time for a decent remake that sticks closer to the novel and takes into account the craft and art of good filmmaking!
Rating:
Summary: Gripping, imaginative thriller, one of sci-fi's best.
Review: Having produced the hits "Destination Moon","Conquest of Space" and "When Worlds Collide", George Pal turned his attention to H.G. Wells classic novel "The War of the Worlds". The result is a memorable science fiction classic that deserves to be on anyone's "top 10" list of genre films. A gripping, imaginative thriller of a devastating attack on Earth by Mars, "War of the Worlds" is well paced, suspenseful, and boasts fantastic special effects and art direction that holds up well today. The plot is only loosely based on the Wells source material, but the changes and updates don't hurt the film at all. Victorian England has been changed to 1950's southern California, and a love interest has been added, but the major plot elements have been maintained intact. One of the most memorable, suspenseful sequences has been lifted straight from Wells book (the farmhouse scene)and the ending is faithful to the source material. The overt religious message comes across as heavy handed today, but little else is dated in this classic. The Martian war machines boast a terrific manta-ray design and the sound effects do much to enhance the film. Gene Barry and Ann Robinson (who retired from acting soon after the movie was released)are quite effective as the main characters in the film, and Robinson boasts the best terror-stricken screams since Fay Wray in "King Kong".
Rating:
Summary: An Early Color Sci-Fi Classic
Review: "The format is standard instead of widescreen...," says an Amazon reviewer of War Of The Worlds, one "lotus_scrum" of Phoenix, AZ. She also later adds, "Not the WORST looking dvd but the full screen format hurts it badly for me. If it gets a new release with widescreen, remastered sound and picture I'll give it a 5." None of which makes much sense, since the DVD has fine sound, and was NEVER shot in widescreen, since widescreen didn't exist back then! And as President of the Widescreen Watchers Association, I should know. Here is the release date of the first movie shot in widescreen, which happened to star Marilyn Monroe: How To Marry A Millionaire - November 5, 1953. And here is the release date of the standard movie in question starring Gene Barry: War Of The Worlds - August 26, 1953. As you can see, War Of The Worlds could hardly have been presented in late August - almost 3 months before the process was first tried in early November! In addition, although many films started being shot in widescreen in 1954, several studios were slow on the uptake and did not make their films mainly in widescreen until late 1955 or early 1956. From Here To Eternity (1955), shot in standard screen, is a prime example of that. What all of the above means in regard to this particular film is that nothing was cut off of the picture, so to paraphrase Flip Wilson, "what you get is all there was to see." It's a beautiful film (although perhaps corny by today's computerized Matrix standards) and the use of color is rich and vibrant. Once you've seen it you'll never forget it. It's Pal and Haskin at their best. I also recommend other such color sci-fi classics as Forbidden Planet, When Worlds Collide, and The Time Machine.
Rating:
Summary: Obsolete
Review: I count myself a big fan of H.G. Wells original novel that this movie is based on, and also of R. Emmerich's "Independence Day" which -- so I was told -- was somewhat inspired by this 1950ies precursor. So I reckoned this DVD might be worth a look. But be warned, it really isn't! The design of the aliens and their spaceships is somewhat interesting but that's really all there is to it. You might as well stare at the DVD cover for a minute and you'll have a better experience than sitting through two hours of boredom that this old movie represents. First, the cast. This movie features some of the most horrible acting that I've ever seen. Second, it's stock-full of outdated stereotypes -- the female protagonist, for instance, is nothing but a ragdoll whose only purpose is to look scared, scream hysterically, and faint from time to time. Third, the editing sucks. Time and again the film bores the living daylights out of you with overly long technical debates among scientists and army bureaucrats, which really don't serve to advance the story or add suspense to the plot. Not to speak of the directing. With many shots, I felt forced to ask myself what was going on in the directors head -- they could
have been made so much better with only little effort. It really is time for a decent remake that sticks closer to the novel and takes into account the craft and art of good filmmaking!
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