With all the talk about the remake of the H.G. Wells classic "War Of The Worlds", it may be a good time to revisit the original movie from the late 50s. Whether you are a fan of the original, or the remake, or both, one thing many people don't realize is that neither movie version is really anything like the book. For that experience you would have to listen to the Orson Wells broadcast with the Mercury Theater from the 30s. That was a rendition that stayed very true to the book. In all fairness to the movies, the book version would not have played very well in theaters. Most of the book focused on two men simply trying to survive the attack from Mars. There was very little action, outside of the scattered radio reports they were receiving about attacks from the Martians all over the world. Watching two men discuss the fate of the world and what they were going to do probably would not have gone over very big with theater audiences. So the original movie focused more on the actual attack itself. In the movie, Gene Barry plays the scientist who happens to get caught in the middle of all this mayhem, constantly trying to warn the military that their weapons were no match for the Martian war machines. Of course the military doesn't listen and throws everything at the Martians, to no avail. Finally they drop the atomic bomb on them. Even that did no good whatsoever. The Earth was headed for certain destruction. Only a miracle could save our planet. Of course that miracle came. In the climax of the movie while Gene Barry is frantically running through the streets looking for Sylvia Van Buren, played by Ann Robinson, the Martians are pretty much blasting up the city. It's a miracle in itself that Barry, playing Dr. Clayton Forrester, isn't blasted to kingdom come. But somehow he makes his way to the church where he just happens to find Sylvia. Just as the Martian war machine approaches the church and is about to blast it into next Tuesday, suddenly everything stops. The machines start dropping, not only all over the city, but all over the world. What happened? Good old mother nature, that's what. It turns out that the Earth's bacteria was too much for the Martians and they started dropping like flies. The Earth, at least for now, was saved. The movie had some good special effects for 1953 and the climax was very exciting. But for the most part a lot of the movie was pretty corny and the overacting at times was hilarious. But if you were a kid growing up during the time, this was a movie that you just loved watching, with all its flaws. It should be pointed out that the news reporter who was commenting on the events of the day was one of the greatest TV voices of all time, that of Paul Frees. He was also the opening narrator. Frees did a lot of classic science fiction during the 50s. Just hearing him, regardless of the part, was worth the price of admission. |
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