A land somewhere in the United States, early 1950s. The meteorite falls on the outskirts of a quiet provincial town where nothing usually happens, and naturally causes a furor. And when it turns out that the meteorite is actually a spaceship that flew from Mars, the military joins the case. And for good reason - the aliens are highly aggressive and well-armed. They have everything ready for the colonization of the Earth, which includes clearing the territory from the Aborigines. Earth weapons against Martians are useless. Two people go through this nightmare, Dr. Forrester and his beloved Sylvia, who are looking for a way to get rid of the invaders. This is how the Hollywood Fifties interpreted the novel by Herbert Wells. They wrote the script, allocated a budget and handed it to director Byron Haskin, offering a choice: spend money on famous actors or on advanced special effects. Haskin bet on the latter and did not lose out: his “War of the Worlds” looks great still, in the age of computer technology.
Actually, the appearance of something like this was quite natural: in the fifties, space fiction and horror became firmly in vogue. By 1953, there had already been “Target Moon”, “When Worlds Collide”, “The Day the Earth Stood Still” and a number of other lesser-known films. Against this background, it was impossible not to recall the work of the founder of the genre. And adapt novels to modern film trends in Hollywood have been able for a long time (without adaptation, the film would hardly have gained such popularity - the trend has only just begun, and the viewer has not yet grown to such experiments). So came the great novel of Wells on the big screen in the form of a chic blockbuster of his time. He was welcomed. Wells himself would certainly like this version of his book. By the way, the inspiration of the film was his son Orson, who arranged a grandiose prank on Halloween - on the radio reported the invasion of aliens. We believe everything, including the authorities.
First of all, however, the movie is absolutely specific, like any self-respecting blockbuster. Brilliant special effects conquered the viewer, attracted him to the screens. Visual solutions are really great — take at least alien combat vehicles — gold, shiny, like deep-sea fish and moving on the rays. And so on. Interesting in itself interpretation of the source, the transfer of action in the fifties. How people of the Victorian era would react to such a situation, we found out that now we will try to work out the same model in the fifties. I was also pleased with a small amount of pathos. Usually in such films, the heroes after the next race with the enemy become in poses and conduct nauseating and pathetic conversations about the fate of the new world and about their own. In War of the Worlds, people simply act – quite naturally, realistically. That’s what they would do if that happened in real life. All this helped the film from the category of an ordinary blockbuster to rise to the level of the classics of the genre and enter the golden fund of world film fiction.
With all the above in mind, I put this masterpiece
The film is great not only for its time, it can even today cause a pleasant surprise from the visual effects created in 1953, when there was no computer graphics, in addition, it shows an example of a perfect fantastic story based on the novel of a famous science fiction writer. The 1953 film adaptation of War of the Worlds and the new 2005 film adaptation perpetuated the name of H.G. Wells, showing an excellent interpretation of the story he described; and films such as H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds (don’t see what the author’s name is in the title), and World War 2. Next wave – smear his good name, trying to earn on the well-known title and the name of the author of the book. Boycott films that distort the classics. On the contrary, both official film adaptations, which transfer the action of the literary source at the present time, must be viewed. Before you the perfect entertainment movie, which was such in its time and continues to please fans of fiction to this day.
The idea is simple - aliens attack the Earth and capture it, and their appearance looks quite original - the aliens are inside a hot ball that fell on the Earth's surface. In the 2005 free screen adaptation with Tom Cruise, this story was made even more original: it turned out that aliens millions of years ago sowed life on Earth, leaving giant tripods underground. In the film adaptation of 1953, everything is simpler, there are no earthquakes caused by lightning sent underground to alien machines, here is just an attack by aliens who got out of the ball. They move in huge plates, destroying all heat rays. Of the special effects, only the destruction of people looks bad, it is drawn more than primitively, but the fighting organized by the American army against the aliens is perfectly mounted. Perhaps the film does not make sense, unlike the film adaptation of 2005, which in all its glory shows the relationship in a family living in a city hit by aliens. But the old film fulfilled its task - it showed the most spectacular and exciting movie for those times, which can amaze the imagination with its fantasticity, show an abundance of hostilities with unreal creatures, many attempts to attack aggressively minded creatures, which for the time being are invulnerable. The ending is completely unpredictable, the same ending was used in the 2005 film adaptation, and, perhaps, it was written by H.G. Wells - a brilliant ending that the reader and the viewer exactly do not expect.
10 out of 10
H.G. Wells is considered one of the best predictors of the future among science fiction writers of the last century. Having invested all his talent in the fantastic genre, Wells anticipated many discoveries and inventions. But he did not foresee one thing - how mediocre, for the most part, will deal with his film adaptations.
"War of the Worlds" is perhaps the most famous work of Mr. Herbert these days, largely due to the not the most successful film adaptation of Spielberg and the radio production of Orson Welles, about which everyone has read or heard, but few people have read. The novel, published at the end of the XIX century, made a lot of noise and had the effect of a bomb exploded – after all, no one wrote so about the invasion of aliens. So why didn’t the 1953 film adaptation become the masterpiece it could have been?
The first thing that catches the eye is an extremely free prologue, which tells about global militarization. More precisely, even two prologues separated by the initial credits. At the same time, the second almost literally corresponds to the literary version. This duality initially raises many questions and bewilderment, in varying degrees, which will run through the entire film.
The same uniform voice of the voice-over narrator gives a characteristic of all the planets of the Solar System and smoothly leads to the third in a row, on which the main action will unfold in the characteristic Technicolor color reproduction of the 50s. As strange as it may sound now, “War of the Worlds” is a real blockbuster of its time, although this definition appeared only after “Jaws”. Judge for yourself how much has been redesigned and done to commercialize the tape. Moving the scene from the outskirts of London to sunny California, progressive special effects, updating and time transfer to the 50s. And now it is not the cavalry with guns fighting the Martians, but the army with armored personnel carriers and tanks. At the same time, keep in mind that the film was released in 1953, which was the time of the birth of mass claims of sightings, encounters and even physical contact with UFOs, which was a sensation and one of the hottest topics of discussion. War of the Worlds was created in such a way as to attract as many viewers as possible, primarily American.
Interestingly, the spirit of capitalization clearly manifested itself even in one scene of the film, where locals argue how good you can make money on the fall of a meteorite, make it a local attraction. In general, people's fears, desires and other emotions are raised in the film in a cube and greatly exaggerated. This is achieved, as in the novel, by two methods: the method of crowds and the method of collision with the unknown.
So, the first contact already initially looks frightening and does not bode well. Ignorance is a terrible force, and people with white flags resemble flies reaching for honey that is soaked in pesticides. The Martians themselves, to the fierce indignation of Wells readers, come not on the famous tripods, but on flying ships, which, most likely, is also dictated by the mass fascination with UFOs.
Chaos and panic caused by the encounter with the unknown, mysterious and frightening instantly transform all the characters so carefree at the beginning of the film. The deserted city is perhaps the brightest image in this regard, and the most memorable too. All the lowest and most shameful traits of character are revealed and more and more as events in the film develop in a snowball manner. And at this moment, director Haskin gives a choice of two pillars on which society can try to rely in such an unstable time: military and religion, physical and spiritual.
The army in the context of the film is presented as a formidable force from the government, from those who decide the fate of ordinary people. Its relative isolation and isolation, as a self-regulating system, initially inspires confidence in civilians who believe that now with the military they will definitely get rid of the tentacles from the planet Mars. And how strong their hopes were, so was the disappointment when the military lost face. At this point, the film offers an appeal to intangible values and to be humble - in the best traditions of religion. But religion and alien invaders in the same work is an extremely dubious step. Wells did not touch on this subject in his novel.
In general, the further along the timekeeping, the less connected the screenization and the source. The beautiful second part of “Earth under the rule of Martians” is shortened for the sake of long battle scenes. Some scenes are shuffled in time. Canons of cinema are more important than intimacy with the novel, and the main character must necessarily have a romantic connection with the main character, even if it takes a significant part of the already not the largest screen time. Thank you to the creators for preserving the brilliant ending of Wells, and then indeed the figurative Private John Smith could save everyone alone. And in the finale, John would be dancing in Times Square against the other Marines. Curtain.
On the topic of the day: with God against the Communists
A good book is an important part of a successful film, a source of inspiration for a variety of topics and ideas. From a good book, you can find your theme every time and make it fundamental in a new film.
H.G. Wells wrote a grandiose novel-warning in the late 19th century, covering a giant thematic material. There were also the mores of Britain at the end of the 19th century, and exorbitant human arrogance, self-love and self-admiration, selfishness, bravado “the crown of nature”, a warning to future generations not to conceit that man may not be the crown of creation, but only a pawn, even more – a mistake of nature, which is easy to get rid of. Wells, 17 years before the first world dump, wrote about the coming wars, which were all the more dangerous the more sadomasochistic mania became to invent more and more types of weapons, using even the most peaceful inventions to the detriment, about the place of the intelligentsia in military cataclysms, about the defenselessness of man against natural forces - whether it is a flood, a meteorite, fascism or an attack by Martians. The book contains transparent hints of historical cyclicality, collected from different historical epochs and reconstructed in the socio-political context, harsh criticism of British colonialism and philosophical speculations about the danger of the technogenic revolution, the one-sided discoveries of which can lead to tragedy.
And even if you read it without reading it, the effect of Wells’ prophetic novel on popular culture was truly revolutionary. After all, it was he who opened the aliens to a world audience, launching a flywheel, on which almost all space fiction is now rocking.
And going back to the good books in cinema, I would say that every time I read my own reading of Wells’ immortal masterpiece, which, like every brilliant book in any genre, does not age. In each era, every filmmaker who makes War of the Worlds perceives it inextricably from his time. In 2005, Spielberg shot a film based on the novel, where the main topic was the theme of human defenselessness in the face of an external enemy (read terrorists) and the attempt of an ordinary man in the street not to win the war, but simply to take his feet away from the war and save his family.
In the '90s, Independence Day became a symbol of the epic victories of the American people, who had just won the arms race, the Cold War, and the struggle for their native capitalist order—along with an appeal to trust their president. And the hero was the alliance of military and power.
In 1953, Byron Haskin made War of the Worlds about something else. No matter how masked the artists, no matter how hard the make-up artists are, any thinking person will see in this classic film a fiery appeal – “Blessed is America by God Himself – do not let the red infection into our land!” And the infection will pass, so it will rot itself, if we are all alert!
This is not difficult to understand, given the setting in which “War of the Worlds” was filmed and by whom. The “witch hunt” and obscurantism of McCarthyism had not quite subsided, the “red danger” was right outside the door, atheists from the USSR were rapidly increasing their influence in the world, and even in America millions openly or covertly sympathized with socialism. Haskin’s “War of the Worlds” is at the same time a pronounced warning about a possible war that will be won oh how difficult, and – at the same time – a religious sermon that uses all the cliches of such films, up to the priest, stupidly going to death with a cross in his hand and a prayer on his lips, through vulgar stupidity and arrogance, this scene can yield only to what is similar in Mikhalkov’s “Sun Weary 2”, where a soldier throws a sword on a tank. And no less vulgar ending, in which another religious sermon is given. The devout director Haskin could not do without repeatedly mentioning God, thus contradicting the concept of the novel and Wells’ idea of “self-purification.” A land where there is nothing superfluous in principle. Wells was a hard-line atheist, and Haskin made some snot at the Analoi.
The hero has also changed over time. Instead of a philosopher in the book, there was a physicist. Discoveries in this area at that time interested people much more. Corresponding to the time, the hero had a partner with whom he would surely create a glorious cell of society, after the war, especially Puritan America tried to root out the sexual promiscuity that arose in the 30s. You will find many more time stamps in this tape.
Gene Barry plays well, but the main women's game is extremely annoying. The producers specifically did not want to take big stars into the film, but could well spare it from the wildly overplaying and unnatural Robinson, every appearance of which spoils the picture.
But “War of the Worlds” of 1953 is undoubtedly a man-made masterpiece of its time and its expressive cast. It’s pointless to scold this movie — politically it couldn’t be different, and it couldn’t be apolitical either. In addition, it really was a breakthrough that won the hearts of the Kinoman tribe, and is able to do it now.
Obsolete technically and morally, the film, however, catches and admires the volume of work done. It's not some hack. It’s all – models, dolls, makeup, disappearances, fires, destruction of entire cities, empty cities, huge extras, an epic scene in which a mad crowd throws people out of cars, panic – all this is a huge work of admiration, seems truly fantastic for a time when it all had to be literally done by hand!!! Filmmakers have accomplished a feat, and this film looks exciting and cheerful despite everything. And isn’t this the highest praise for the 50-year-old film, the representatives of the genre of which usually live for 5-7 years.
And of course, parallels can be drawn. At least with history, with movies. What changed? Isn't that how the military is reacting to hostility? Isn't that how the crowd will behave? Wouldn’t an attack from the outside be as lightning-fast and as helpless as the people before it were in 1914, 1939 or 2001? If War of the Worlds gets filmed in 2020, it will be about the same thing again. The main theme will change, the surrounding atmosphere will be different, but what the brilliant Briton said 115 years ago will always be relevant.
It is almost impossible to seriously scare the modern viewer with a classic horror film. But the lively interest that this museum exhibit still causes, suggests that it is bad or good, but the creators of this ambiguous film have achieved their goal. Well, to talk about the impact of this film on the fantastic genre is meaningless. It is felt in every third genre picture.
P.S. I wonder how he would react to this movie? If the producers had rushed, they could have made it to Wells’ death, because the script had been hanging around the studios since the year 25. The opinion of the author, an atheist and a seer, would be especially valuable today.
8 out of 10
The first adaptation of the famous novel by H.G. Wells saw the light of day in 1953, and immediately became a classic of the genre. In those years, the plot about the invasion of aliens was only developing and gaining strength and over time became one of the dominant plots of film fiction of the 50s.
When watching the film immediately catches the eye that the director did not very much change the plot of the novel. Just transferred the action from England in the 19th century to the USA in the 20th century. Also changed the main character and instead of the famous tripods appeared flying saucers. No wonder the UFO hysteria was only gaining momentum. At least, in fact, tripods were abandoned due to security measures. To shoot tripods required too high voltage, and safety did not allow. However, it is even better, it is unlikely that the special effects of those allowed to correctly depict tripods from the book. Here, by the way, the effects are just at a height, beautifully destroyed cities, shoot blasters and so on. The appearance of Martians is also good and, in my opinion, much better than the film by Steven Spielberg.
Special thanks for the fact that the director did not make big changes in the main plot details, as a result of which the film, except for some changes, is not much different from the book. No jingoism or American heroism. The director quite well showed the panic of the population and the general helplessness of earthlings in front of a technically superior enemy. No less good in the film acting, very lively and without replay. Maybe a little bit.
Good film fiction, shot on the novel-masterpiece. If you are not allergic to old movies, you will enjoy watching them. After all, like every retro film, this picture has a certain charm, which modern films have lost.
"H. G. Wells" The War of the Worlds is the first adaptation of the classic work of H. G. Wells, made in 1953 by director Byron Haskin, included in the Library of Congress collection and inspired generations of filmmakers (in the 80s it will make the sequel of the same name in the format of a TV series).
After the black and white military newsreel, immediately setting in a serious way, we get into the Californian outback of the 50s, depicted using a rich and bright socialist realist palette. It is a pavilion chamber and cozy, inhabited by owners of strong-willed chins and cowboy hats, charming eccentrics and enthusiastic ladies in pleated skirts.
A young successful scientist comes here on a fishing trip (Jean Barry, in some moments, especially talking to profane people about science, eerily similar to Navin Andrews in “LOST”).
And here, by coincidence, falls an impressive size radioactive meteorite. It should be noted that at the time of falling on top of one of the trees in the frame you can see Woody Woodpecker, with the creator of which the producer of the film was very friendly.
Curious earthlings immediately rush to look at the marvelous, fallen from the sky. They decide to let the cosmic body cool down, and then explore. The scientist, immediately made an acquaintance with a pretty brown-haired woman (Anne Robinson), the niece of a local priest (Lewis Martin), goes with her to the club for a dance. By the way, it turns out that Shatenka wrote a scientific work in the magistracy, dedicated not to anyone, but personally to our hero.
While dancing takes place in the club, three local knaves, guarded against the meteorite, opening their mouths, watch a hatch unscrew in the celestial body, and something like a periscope emerges from the hatch.
Wanting to convince the extraterrestrial life form of their peaceful intentions, the eccentrics take a bag of sugar and wave it in the manner of a white flag, heading for the “meteorite”. The periscope turns out to be a combat emitter. A peaceful delegation immediately turns into three slides of ashes.
After all, the lights go out throughout the town, the telephone communication stops, everyone’s wristwatch stops. The dance is over. Fire alarm's on. The war has begun.
“When you go to a club for a dance, you never know how it can end,” says the scientist, watching how in the vicinity of the once peaceful town unfold military formations of marines.
A brave general (Les Trimaine) arrives at the position, in a cap and with a mustache like Clark Gable, with whom the main character is familiar from the Manhattan project. After the General advance artillery and tanks.
They are not even tripods, as in the original source, and not already sung in numerous b-movies flying saucers, but rather flying metal stingrays supported in the air by invisible supports - with the help of different poles and magnetic fields.
(The design of flying stingrays was developed by Albert Nozaki, the technology of creating an effect was later used in another Martian blockbuster, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, shot in 1964 by Byron Haskin.)
Firmly firming Psalm 23 and wanting to stop the coming bloodshed, the character of Lewis Martin acts towards the Martians.
The Martians respond with a fused volley of laser guns and hack electromagnetic shields.
U.S. troops battle back to Los Angeles, losing up to sixty percent of personnel and up to ninety — military equipment. In the rest of the world, the situation is even worse.
The scientist takes the niece of the priest from the front line on the "corner". They crash, find themselves in the rear of the enemy, a farmhouse miraculously survived in the middle of the ashes.
Heroes have time to have dinner with orange juice, and a little talk about family values and the nature of fear. But then one of the Martian stingrays lands outside the window.
There is a classic suspense scene with earthlings hiding in ruins and a Martian reconnaissance probe, subsequently quoted by Shyamalan in "Signs" and Spielberg in his newest Wells film adaptation. According to the results of its heroes manage not only to witness the occupier firsthand, but to capture a valuable sample of alien technology – the “electronic eye”, designed by aliens in the image of their own burqals. And a sample of Martian blood on a female scarf.
Meanwhile, Earth is almost completely occupied by Martians. Near Los Angeles, the “stingrays” of the invaders gather in the armada for a final breakthrough, according to which the headquarters of the international forces (as judged by the uniforms of the extras – from the French to the Indians, although representatives of the USSR and its allies were not invited to the party, which is expected for 1953) decides to smack the enemy positions with an atomic bomb!
Our heroes arrive at the place of work of the scientist - at the Institute of Pacific Science and Technology. His colleagues, using captured trophies and advanced scientific method, immediately learn about the Martians.
Watch the atomic bombardment of the suburbs of the city of Angelov gathers on the surrounding hills half a million spectators. Oh, these Americans, they're just Shaw!
Northrop YB-49 (experimental strategic bomber, in the end and not put into production) successfully working on the target, Shaw is famous, but the Martians — at least that.
Los Angeles surrender, begins mass evacuation and panic.
Mankind’s last hope is now the soldiers of Science, the “smart eggheads” in white coats. Will they do it?
But at the beginning of the film, it is the priest who, watching the deployment of Martians and Marines into battle, says: “Hasn’t anyone just tried to talk to them?” He actually tried and, as we know, failed.
The finale of the picture, developing at once several psychological lines of perception of the invasion of strangers - military, scientific, ordinary philistine, purely skinny and, finally, spiritual, religious. Preference is given to the latter.
The conclusion that humanity can only turn to God in the face of great calamities is, of course, very much in the spirit of the America of the fifties. It is not known how H.G. Wells would react to this, with his penchant for skepticism and grim irony. He said, “God in His wisdom had put upon this Earth.”
Same words. The tone is a little different. But the emphasis on this interpretation of the original source is the best characterizes the era that gave us this film. When the arms race not only encouraged earthlings trained in the bitter experience of the world war — on both sides of the ocean to dig bunkers and arrange underground canned food stores in anticipation of the inevitable fallout, and endlessly accuse each other of provocations. But also inspired the NTR and space exploration, and no one could even think that the playful conflict of physicists and lyricists that was gaining strength in those years was transformed into a conflict of bloggers and hipsters. And the opposition between the socialists and the capitalists will result in an ordinary reshuffle of investments and partial shifts in the nomenclature strata. All right, so long as there's no war.
In addition to spectacular even by modern standards effects, for which the film at one time was awarded the “Oscar”, the picture is an example of high fantastic style. When women are frightened, then to shrill, but even in extreme conditions retain hairstyle and grace. When men throw weighty phrases, wring their eyebrows and smile at the corner of their mouth. When no terrible cataclysms, invasions of Martians and even natural human beastliness can take away from us the main thing - faith in the Miracle.
The first adaptation of the famous novel by H.G. Wells took place in 1953. I watched it for the first time in 2012. I will give you my impressions briefly.
The plot of the picture is close to the book, except that giant robots were replaced by flying saucers. But this shortcoming is not significant. Of course, there are stupid and implausible scenes in the film, but in general, the plot can be assessed well.
As far as acting is concerned, I was disappointed. The feelings and emotions of the characters are poorly conveyed and untrustworthy. Actors periodically overplay, which makes their game even more unspoken.
I was disappointed by the film’s weak atmosphere. The 2005 remake was much more realistic.
As for the special effects, they are not impressive right now. But given that the film won an Oscar for them, they were not bad for their time. Sound is not bad either.
"War of the Worlds" is not a bad representative of the classics in the genre of science fiction. Of course, the painting cannot be called a masterpiece, but you should familiarize yourself with it.
As far as I understand, this film is the first adaptation of the famous novel by H.G. Wells about the invasion of Martians on planet Earth. In fact, in addition to this, there are several adaptations of this work. Also, it should be recalled that before the feature film “War of the Worlds” was staged under the leadership of the legendary Orson Welles, who was then still young and little known, in the form of a radio production. This radio production is known for the fact that more than a million residents of the North-Eastern United States believed in the attack of Martians and panicked. This incident had a strong impact on the American audience, which became more attentive to all such news.
The film is quite different from the book. First of all, here the story takes place not in England, but in California. Second, tripods from the novel were replaced with space dishes. But still, unlike the adaptation of Steven Spielberg, here is more similar to the original narrative.
I didn't really like the painting. She seemed rather pointless to me. Like the story. If at the beginning it is more or less interesting, then somewhere in the end it becomes a little boring. Of course, there is no need to find fault with special effects here, and it looks quite decent. Of the actors, mostly liked the play of Gene Barry, who among other artists is more memorable. There is nothing to say about the music, as it is not very good.
Result: Fantastic movie, got just below average. Not as bad as the original work was supposed to be. But despite this, I think for the sake of interest it is worth watching the tape, just to know the classics.
5 out of 10