Monster Movie of the Week: War of the Worlds (1953)

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953)
Directed by Byron Haskin
Genre: Sci-Fi

THE MOVIE

Loosely based on the groundbreaking novel by H.G. Welles, The War of the Worlds is the archetypical global alien invasion movie and inspired legions of clones, everything from Independence Day, Mars Attacks, and of course the 2005 Welles adaptation, the Spielberg-directed, War of the Worlds. The 1953 version was critically-acclaimed and even won an Academy Award for its visual effects. It was a movie that I saw at a young age, during those pre-VCR and cable years when I would watch old sci-fi movies on TV for a lack other exciting options.


The War of the Worlds takes the basic premise of the novel—an alien invasion of England by a faltering Martian civilization—and updates the Victorian-era story to 1950’s California. Welles’ novel was published in 1898, over a decade before the idea of a truly continental war would become a reality in Europe, and three decades before a near-global war would break out. The American filmmakers were only a few years removed from the Second World War, and they re-imagined the story as an epic planetary conflict during the Atomic Age with invaders landing all over the world. Like many of the sci-fi/disaster movies of the 1950’s, we are given a top-down view of the conflict. The convention of those kinds of movies was to put us with the elite: top scientists, generals, Presidents even. Our proxy in The War of the Worlds is a famous scientist, Dr. Forrester, and we spend lots of time in bunkers listening to high-ranking military officials as they discuss plans and tactics. Compare this to a movie like M. Night Shyamalan’s 2002 invasion movie, Signs, which focuses on an invasion from the point of view of one rural family.


The Martian invaders are seemingly indestructible in their sleek warships. Not even the mighty atomic bomb is able to defeat them. Ultimately, they make one fatal (and pretty stupid) error: the Martians are not immune to our germs and all die of earth illnesses. This rather hare-brained conclusion is a holdover from the 19th Century, when germ theory was in its infancy. Even in the 1950’s the idea of an invading advanced civilization not preparing for the possibility of earth disease was ridiculous.

MONSTERS PRESENT

Martians

MONSTER/EFFECTS

The actual Martians are seen only briefly in this movie, a fact that made little sense to me as a child. You only get a good look at one in the scene in the farmhouse and then a another look at an alien arm at the end of the movie. Their “Simon”-like faces are composed of red, blue, and green lenses and their bodies are squat with long arms, not unlike ET. Their fingers end in suckers.


Their warships are featured more prominently in the movie, and are actually pretty cool-looking and seemingly influenced the design of the Enterprise from Star Trek, The Next Generation, with its sleek organic lines and ocular deflector dish. The Martian ships feature a long serpentine neck which ends in a deadly, death-ray shooting head, like some kind of deadly street lamp. They were a conscious departure from the flying saucers of the day.
They were also a departure from the tripods that were described in the book. The movie does point out that the craft are actually using invisible energy “legs” to stay aloft and to move. Supposedly there is a point in the movie during which these legs are visible. So, technically they are tripods. Technically.

SEQUELS

No direct theatrical sequels, however there was a syndicated War of the Worlds TV series in the ‘80’s that served as a de facto sequel to this movie.

MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

I’m a fan of the big “Oh shit” moment that occurs after the Army attempts to nuke the Martian ships, only to see them float out of the debris cloud completely unscathed.

DVD AVAILABILITY

Widely available on DVD with some good extras, such as a featurette on the life and work of H. G. Welles. Not available on Bluray as of this writing.

SEE ALSO

War of the Worlds (2005), Independence Day (1996)

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