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The War of the Worlds

Play trailer 2:27 Poster for The War of the Worlds G Released Aug 26, 1953 1h 25m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
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89% Tomatometer 38 Reviews 71% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
Scientist Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) and Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) are the first to arrive at the site of a meteorite crash. Soon after, an alien war machine emerges and begins killing at random. The Marines are called in, but they're no match for the aliens' force field. Forrester and Van Buren, however, are able to wound one of the creatures and procure a sample of its blood. They take it to Los Angeles where they hope, through testing, to be able to discover the aliens' weakness.
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Critics Consensus

Though it's dated in spots, The War of the Worlds retains an unnerving power, updating H.G. Wells' classic sci-fi tale to the Cold War era and featuring some of the best special effects of any 1950s film.

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Critics Reviews

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Dave Kehr Chicago Reader As the perfect crystallization of 50s ideology the film would be fascinating enough, but the special effects in this 1953 George Pal production also achieve a kind of dark, burnished apocalyptic beauty. Jun 8, 2007 Full Review Variety Staff Variety War of the Worlds is a socko science-fiction feature, as fearsome as a film as was the Orson Welles 1938 radio interpretation of the H.G. Wells novel. Jun 8, 2007 Full Review A.H. Weiler New York Times Mind those heat rays! Rated: 3.5/5 Oct 31, 2006 Full Review Yasser Medina Cinefilia As a piece of science fiction, it is quite exciting when it offers its rain of special effects to accentuate its apocalypse of space invaders and allegorically depict the atomic dangers in “extraterrestrial” hands. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 7/10 Aug 25, 2023 Full Review Brian Susbielles InSession Film The film deviates quite a bit from the novel, but the fear of the mysterious being is still present, and at the time, was a hit with audiences thanks to some special effects that made it all look too real. Mar 7, 2023 Full Review Mike Massie Gone With The Twins The filmmakers’ optimism and favoring of luck (even with glimpses of rioters and looters and humanity crumbling under existential pressures) lends to an unforgettable resolution. Rated: 6/10 Sep 22, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Lucas t A very fun 50s sci-fi film that never falls flat. 8/10. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/08/24 Full Review Ian N I have never seen this film until today, thanks to it being on Sky Movies. I must admit that I enjoyed it very much. It isn't particularly faithful to the book to be honest. Obviously it has the main plot and variations of scenes in the book but it misses some of the greatest parts. That aside it looks good for a movie of its time and the sequence in the farm house is great. I still prefer the Steven Spielberg film, just. The one thing I would love to see in a movie, is the sequence in the book where the Martian emerges from the cylinder. With today's CGI it should be easy to create. Maybe one day somebody will produce a film that is faithful to H G Wells novel. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 07/10/24 Full Review Nol P War of the Worlds, (1953). I can imagine that this was a great book to read by HG Wells. For 1953 the special effects were not too bad and I did take that into account when watching finally today. But wow, so silly and wow, such horrid over the top acting! Because of such I can only rate this a max 4 out of 10! That is really being nice too and understanding on the release yr. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 12/05/23 Full Review Jay H I've been a fan of MST3K for years, and I've seen this movie several times. I just realized that a main character's name in both is Dr. Clayton Forrester. *facepalm* Rated 3 out of 5 stars 11/09/23 Full Review Axel Andres S Un Film perfecto de ciencia ficción, destacandola como un clásico de su género, merecedora de varios premios Oscars por sus efectos especiales y lo mejor del film es su filedidad hacia el libro. Lo que también deseo destacar son las naves alienigenas del film. Una verdadera joya qué es muy lamentable que no esté en un servicio Streaming para poder verla una vez más. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 10/12/23 Full Review William C One of my favorite classic sci-fi movies!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis Scientist Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) and Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) are the first to arrive at the site of a meteorite crash. Soon after, an alien war machine emerges and begins killing at random. The Marines are called in, but they're no match for the aliens' force field. Forrester and Van Buren, however, are able to wound one of the creatures and procure a sample of its blood. They take it to Los Angeles where they hope, through testing, to be able to discover the aliens' weakness.
Director
Byron Haskin
Producer
George Pal
Screenwriter
Barré Lyndon, H.G. Wells
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Production Co
Paramount Pictures
Rating
G
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 26, 1953, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 18, 2016
Runtime
1h 25m
Sound Mix
Mono, Stereo
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.37:1), 35mm
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