War of the Worlds (1953)
Had George Pal learned from mistakes from his earlier horror outing When Worlds Collide?
Brief Backstory
George Pal, famous for his Puppetoons, went into making several horror movies for audiences in the early 1950s. One of these horror movies was War of the Worlds, having a similar atmosphere to When Worlds Collide, but instead of being a horror movie related to end of the world, War of the Worlds would have a story that would be repeated ridiculously throughout the decade, some of which were good, and some of which were horrifically appalling.
Story
Martian ships crash land onto Earth and start taking out the trash. Despite the military’s efforts, everything the soldiers attack with are like toys against the martians, including an atom bomb stronger than the one dropped in Japan in 1945. Los Angeles is forced to scatter and Pacific Tech, headed by Forrester, is charged with trying to find a weakness to the martians.
Random Facts
If you listen closely to the soundtrack, parts of Gustav Holst’s The Planets: Mars can be heard.
Some footage, most notably a skyscraper collapsing, was reused in Ray Harryhausen’s Earth vs. the Flying Saucers in 1956. Shots of a highway and people walking in Los Angeles seem to be reused, but that may not be true.
There’s no stop arm on the school bus that Sylvia drives. It’s got lights that say “stop” but there might’ve been other school buses from the late 1940s that actually had a stop arm.
Unfortunately, the film prints used on the DVDs and even the EARLIEST VHS/Betamax releases from the early 80s show the martian ships being moved with supports. Thankfully this was corrected in a recent release so you don’t see them anymore.
On my videotape copy it mentions the atom bomb being used.
The scene in the evacuation sequence where a dog and a kid raid a cooler foreshadows the riot scene.
Spielberg used the design of the martians as an inspiration for E.T. He would also remake this movie in 2005, which I think’s better but I have to see it first.
I wasn’t kidding when I said this only costed me around 50 cents for a VHS copy – I don’t remember when I actually managed to get it on VHS (I think it was some time in middle school). Back when I bought the tape I wasn’t making a lot of money and DVD copies were more expensive and I preferred how watching movie on VHS was; you simply find a movie and shove it in the VCR. Hence why I have more movies on VHS than DVD.
Random Opinions
The martian looks like Mumbo Jumbo without his head in Banjo-Kazooie. Am I the only one who thinks that?
James Rolfe says this is one of his favorite invasion movies. Considering he said Sword in the Stone (which is a great movie) is better than Beauty and the Beast and his views toward Majora’s Mask, I sometimes question his opinions.
I might’ve seen this when I was 5 years old during Halloween.
Pros
- Ship designs are original and not typical dinner plate looking machines. Same with the martians.
- The way the martian’s arm showcases the martian’s death was done without a hint of CGI.
- The riot scene pictured to the right fits well with building up to the craziness that would soon follow.
- Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, and Les Tremayne act their roles well.
- I like how the martians barely appear in this movie; it gives a great sense of imagination for the viewers. Such a thing was done with Jaws 20+ years later.
- When not in churches, the scenes of Los Angeles being attacked look great.
- The atom bomb drop scene is probably the biggest highlight of the movie. It’s insane to think that even that wouldn’t affect the martians…
Cons
- This is more of a “me” thing, but religion and alien invasions don’t mix!! There are numerous religious scenes throughout the movie which looks completely out of place. Even a church choir at the end of the movie is singing and the final scene of the movie is a shot of a church – it’s even more out of place than the Great Gazoo from The Flintstones!!
- On the topic of religion, George Pal’s former movie When Worlds Collide involved the lottery, a form of gambling. So for him to be littering the movie with religious material makes me question him.
- So many of the scenes are obviously fake looking. The mandatory leave for Los Angeles doesn’t even look remotely realistic though that changes.
- Furthermore, some of the scenes like most of the Los Angeles evacuation sequence should have been removed. It should’ve just been an immediate cut to Pacific Tech getting ready to move out.
- This movie has aged badly regardless of restoration jobs.
- Numerous stock footage is used throughout the movie. The most notable offense is when the narrator talks about other countries’ troubles with the martians.
Rating: 4/10 – Poor
Overrated, like Frozen. Even so, it only cost me 25 cents or something when I bought the tape anyway but that’s not much of a comeback. Still though it has some great effects for the time so I can give it that. Certainly better than When Worlds Collide, but with the religious tone that’s still all over the place and the weak acting excluding the main characters, I don’t find this one worth seeing again. You might like it more than I do though. A large portion of why I gave this a low rating is due to religious material. It might sound like hypocrisy but I’m a little sensitive when it comes to religion.
One response to “War of the Worlds”
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I have not seen the original War of the Worlds. I only saw the 2005 remake Steven Spielberg directed with Tom Cruise & Dakota Fanning. If you have time, try it and share your thoughts on it.
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