The War of the Worlds (1953 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The War of the Worlds | |
|---|---|
 Film poster |
|
| Directed by | Byron Haskin |
| Produced by | George Pál |
| Written by | H. G. Wells (novel) Barré Lyndon |
| Starring | Gene Barry Ann Robinson Less Tremayne |
| Music by | Leith Stephens |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 13, 1953 (USA premiere) |
| Running time | 85 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,000,000 US (est.) |
| IMDb profile | |
- For other uses, see The War of the Worlds.
The War of the Worlds is a (1953) science-fiction film produced by George Pál and directed by Byron Haskin from a script by Barré Lyndon based on the H. G. Wells novel of the same name. Haskin later became a veteran of television who directed episodes of a number of series, including several episodes of The Outer Limits. It stars Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. The voiceover commentary was by Sir Cedric Hardwicke.
This was the first of several adaptations of Wells' work to be filmed by Pál, and is considered to be one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s. It won an Oscar for its special effects.
The film opens with a prologue in black and white and switches to Technicolor at the opening title sequence.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The story is updated to the 1950s for this film, and the setting is moved from the environs of London to southern California. Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry), a world renowned astro and nuclear physicist, is fishing nearby when a giant meteorite lands near the small town of Pine Summit. Along with the townsfolk, he goes to investigate, but finds the meteorite too hot to examine immediately. While there, he meets Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) and her uncle, Pastor Matthew Collins (Lewis Martin). He decides to wait in town for it to cool down.
When the Martians emerge from the meteorite, they begin attacking immediately. Pastor Collins approaches them in peace, but they kill him with their Heat-Ray without attempting to communicate. The full force of the U.S. army and air force, including an A-bomb dropped by a "Flying Wing", is then unleashed against the invaders, but, unlike the book, human weapons prove to be totally ineffective: the Martians are protected by an impenetrable force field. Meanwhile, there are reports of other landings all over the world.
Forrester and Van Buren flee, along with the rest of the civilians. They stop to rest in an abandoned farmhouse, but are soon trapped as a meteorite crashes into the house. While trying to escape, the couple is observed by a martian electronic eye and eventually come in contact with a Martian. They manage to fight it off, escape, and eventually link up with Forrester's co-workers who are trying to find a way to defeat the aliens. However, widespread panic among the general populace scatters the research group and their equipment is wrecked. In the confusion, Forrester and Van Buren become separated.
All seems lost, with humanity helpless before the onslaught. Forrester searches for Van Buren in the ruins of a Los Angeles under attack and finally finds her in a church. There, they await the end. Then, they see an approaching Martian war machine crash. Upon investigation, Forrester realizes that the invaders are dying because they have no defenses against the "smallest and humblest of Earth's living creatures": viruses and bacteria.
[edit] Comments
The movie is considered one of the more literate science fiction films, as there is plenty of scientific debate among the humans while the Martians rampage across the Earth. It is also one of few science films to show a full-fledged invasion by an extraterrestrial army, and World War II stock footage was skillfully used to produce a montage of destruction to show the worldwide invasion, with armies of all nations joining together to fight the invaders.
Wells used the second half of his novel to make a satirical commentary on civilization and the class struggle. Pál did not write the satire into the movie, though he did add a religious theme, to the point that the Martians begin dying shortly after blasting a church.
[edit] Special effects
A conscious effort was made to avoid the "flying saucer" look of stereotypical UFOs; they were instead sleek, sinister-looking constructs shaped like manta rays floating over the ground. The tips glowed green, and each was topped with a towering mobile eye, pulsing, peering around and firing beams of red sparks, all accompanied by thrumming and a high-pitched clattering shriek [1] when the Heat-Ray was fired from the eye. The machines also had rapid-fire green blasters at their tips, which made a sort of booming sound [2]. This latter weapon seems to have been substituted for the chemical weapon black smoke described in the novel.
Much effort was put forth to recreate the tripods of the novel, but they proved problematic for various reasons and it was eventually decided to make the machines float on three invisible electronic legs instead. To show their existence, sparks were shown directly under the hovering machines as they move along.
The Martians, rather than being octopus-like, were instead presented as small brown hulkish bipeds, with two hands, each with three fingers. They had no heads mounted on their shoulders; a single eye, with three distinct lenses (blue, red and green), peered out from the middle of the chest.
[edit] Trivia notes
For many years, the distinctive sound effect of the Heat-Ray was utilized as a standard "ray-gun" sound on children's television shows. It was created by the orchestra performing the musical score, mainly through the use of violins and cellos.
The sound effect for the Martian Disintegration Weapon (green blasts from the wing tips) was reused in Star Trek: The Original Series, accompanying the launch of photon torpedos.
Three Martian war machines were made for the film, out of copper. One was modified for use in the film Robinson Crusoe on Mars and was supposedly later melted down for a copper drive. Forrest Ackerman owned one. It is believed that the third was destroyed in a fire.
George Pal originally planned for the final third of the film to be in 3-D to correlate with the final attack by the Martians. The plan was dropped prior to actual production of the film.
[edit] Fictional influences
- The 1988 War of the Worlds TV series is essentially a sequel to this film, and employs several elements from the film, including having Ann Robinson reprise her role as Sylvia Van Buren in three episodes.
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 named one of its lead characters Dr. Clayton Forrester in an homage to the film. Ironically (and perhaps intentionally so for humour), the series' Forrester is a mad scientist.
- Independence Day (1996), directed by Roland Emmerich. The aliens (not from Mars) use Earth satellites for their communication system. They are defeated by the plucky heroes installing a computer virus onto one of the motherships, a "clever" update of the microbes that wipe out the Martians in The War of the Worlds. There are also several references specifically to the 1953 film such as the failed attempt to use an atomic bomb, and at one point there is a nod in the form of a downed streetlight made to look like the gooseneck of the original war machines.
- Mars Attacks! (1996), directed by Tim Burton, a more humorous treatment, and very loosely based upon the original story, but more directly adapted from Topps' famous 1962 trading card series. The film primarily spoofs 1950s alien invasion films, including The War of the Worlds. In this version, the Martians are repelled not by the natural germs on Earth, but by Slim Whitman's yodeling, which causes their heads to explode, an obvious parody of the film's (and novel's) ending.
- Steven Spielberg's 2005 updated adaptation, though not a remake, does feature several references to the original film. Gene Barry and Ann Robinson have a cameo appearance, the aliens have the same three-finger structure, and there are also a few scenes that mirror those from the 1953 film and not the novel.
- Ann Robinson did a quasi-reprisal of her role in two later films: first as Dr. Van Buren in 1988's Midnight Movie Massacre and in 2005's The Naked Monster as Dr. Sylvia Van Buren.
[edit] External links
- War of the Worlds Movies.info
- The War of the Worlds at the Internet Movie Database
- The War of the Worlds Movie Site
- Making of the movie at site dedicated to all things War Of The Worlds
