Movie Review: War of the Worlds, The (1953)

The War of the Worlds is the absolute best alien invasion movie ever made. This great film keeps looking better and better especially in comparison to much of the over-produced, digitally created drivel that is released today. Unlike today’s filmmakers, the folks who made this movie realized that it takes more than gore, ear-splitting soundtracks and drooling aliens to truly scare and thrill an audience.

The War of the Worlds entertains because producer George Pal & his crew were able to make the most out of the available special effects technology to create truly remarkable special effects. Despite the fact that this movie was made in 1953, the special effects clearly out-classes those in most movies made even in the following several decades.

One of the all time best scenes in a science fiction movie was when the Martian crept up behind Ann Robinson and clamped its fingers on her shoulder. She freaked, but not immediately. She paused, reacted to that touch, slowly turned her head around and stared at the alien limb. The entire moment of horror and violation took about four to six seconds. Her mind - finally - comprehended it. The Martian had touched her. Then she let out one of the most memorable screams in film history.

As with Hollywood productions in general, there are certain differences between the movie and the original book. The movie takes place in America instead of England, and the ships flew instead of moving like in the book, and the description of the aliens in this one doesn’t look like the one described in the book. But despite that, the different features made it better! This has to be one of a very rare genre in Hollywood: films that are superior to the original work that they are based on.

The movie eschewed Wells’ animated tripods. When this movie was in preproduction the tripod concept was discarded as unworkable and visually unimpressive, even comical. The most famous “tripod� in film history is the pirate Long John Silver. Think about his gait and then transpose the image on the alien war machines. The movement and scanning swan necks of the Martian war machines in the movie are both impressive and menacing.

In H.G. Wells’ original work, the Martians are basically bodyless heads, which make and use mechanical substitutes as needed. In place of arms and hands they have tentacles.Essentially, Wells’s Martians were giant brains without a supporting suite of organs. However, advanced research shows that notion to be nonsensical. The movie Martians are both alien and quite plausible with their functional bodies, three-fingered hands, and their tripled-lensed eyes.

So many scenes in this film are quite memorable: the army fighting the Martian space ship while a man of God tries to make peace with the strangers, the old farmhouse, and the ending as the aliens attack Los Angeles. The minister shows a remarkable curiosity about the alien invaders â€" an unexpected and refreshing take on the clergy considering the usual Hollywood stereotype. The movie also has a most memorable ending: The suggestion that divine intervention has spared Earth from the Martian hordes.

This movie clearly leaves the likes of Independence Day & Mars Attacks in the dust. The Martian warships are a lot more scary than the CGI fleet of Independence Day.

The War of the Worlds works because it treats its subject matter deadly serious. There’s no cheesy cornball speeches by the President launching a counter attack and best of all no Will Smith jiving his way through this with a smug wink to the camera. Additionally, there is none of that nonsense of Jeff Goldblum creating a virus on an Apple that can integrate into an alien races far superior technology.

If there is ever a science fiction movie that deserves to be in the collection of movie fans everywhere, then The War of the Worlds is the one.