Movielogr

The War of the Worlds (1953)

Directed by Byron Haskin

Science Fiction

Most recently watched by sleestakk, vivalaserdisc

Overview

The residents of a small town are excited when a flaming meteor lands in the hills, until they discover it is the first of many transport devices from Mars bringing an army of invaders invincible to any man-made weapon, even the atomic bomb.

Rated PG | Length 85 minutes

Actors

Gene Barry | Ann Robinson | Lewis Martin | Les Tremayne | Frank Kreig | Vernon Rich | Sandro Giglio | Ann Codee | Robert Cornthwaite | Cedric Hardwicke | Houseley Stevenson Jr. | William Phipps | Jack Kruschen | Paul Birch | Paul Frees | Henry Brandon | Peter Adams | Eric Alden | Hugh Allen | Ruth Barnell | Edgar Barrier | Russ Bender | Oscar Blank | Nick Borgani | Hazel Boyne | Chet Brandenburg | George Bruggeman | Nora Bush | Tony Butala | Mushy Callahan | Dick Cherney | Edward Colmans | James Conaty | Russ Conway | Martin Coulter | Vittorio Cramer | Pierre Cressoy | Oliver Cross | Jane Crowley | Jim Davies | Helen Dickson | Ralph Dumke | Jimmie Dundee | Al Ferguson | Dick Fortune | Alex Frazer | Frank Freeman Jr. | Slim Gaut | Charles Gemora | Ned Glass | Jack Gordon | Fred Graham | Joe Gray | Herman Hack | Nancy Hale | Virginia Hall | Ted Hecht | Douglas Henderson | Gertrude Hoffmann | Tex Holden | Jimmie Horan | Patricia Iannone | Jerry James | Michael Jeffers | Dick Johnstone | Carolyn Jones | Don Kohler | Ivan Lebedeff | Freeman Lusk | Herbert Lytton | Wilbur Mack | George Magrill | Mike Mahoney | John Mansfield | Joel Marston | Sydney Mason | John Maxwell | Mathew McCue | David McMahon | William Meader | Lee Miller | Ralph Montgomery | Alvy Moore | Bob Morgan | Charles Morton | George Nardelli | Stanley Orr | George Pal | Walter Richards | Robert Rockwell | Walter Sande | James Seay | Allen D. Sewall | Lucile Sewall | Cora Shannon | David Sharpe | Teru Shimada | Reginald Lal Singh | Bobby Somers | Bert Stevens | Charles Stewart | Jack Stoney | Gus Taillon | Morton C. Thompson | Arthur Tovey | Dale van Sickel | Dorothy Vernon | Edward Wahrman | Anthony Warde | Bob Whitney | Chalky Williams | Waldon Williams | Bud Wolfe | Fred Zendar

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Date ViewedDeviceFormatSourceRating
01/07/2015TVStreamingVideo on Demand3 stars
 

Viewing Notes

via Netflix

The last time I watched this film, the decade was the 80s and it was playing on a Saturday afternoon on a local UHF channel. 

While I don’t necessarily think the film has held up particularly well, it does manage to tell a more complete story than the re-imagining in 2005 form Cruise and Spielberg did which seemed to focus more on fancy effects and characters we couldn’t care less about.

This one tells a more encompassing story and while the effects aren’t that great, they were for the 50’s and the model work is outstanding.  The acting isn’t great, but it at least moves along quickly in this 1950s modern take on the HG Wells novel.  It’s a fun romp at least.

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