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Movies => Good Movies => Topic started by: threnody on January 16, 2008, 03:36:33 AM



Title: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: threnody on January 16, 2008, 03:36:33 AM
I watched this film when I was about 10-years-old, and it frightened me. I still shiver when I think about it. The remake - with Tom Cruise - made me jump a few times, but the aliens weren't creepy. It will never compare to the impression that the original left on me.

What I find strange is that this version (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449040/) was released the same year as the Steven Spielberg version. The former was pretty boring, though the fried skeletons looked really cool. That's about it.


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: soylentgreen on January 16, 2008, 08:17:40 PM
I'll tell you....watching the '53 version while growing up, I was always spooked by that great moment when Ann Robinson catches the glimpse of the martian trotting by.  It's an effective approach that I've seen repeated dozens of times in films over the last half century.  It almost never fails.



Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: trekgeezer on January 18, 2008, 08:58:14 AM
There were actually two other versions made in 2005, the one with C. Thomas Howell which was made by cheapo studio The Asylum and shown on the SciFi Channel.

The other version was period movie  made by a guy named Timothy Hines and is a mind numbing three hour horror and not talking about the contents of the movie I'm talking about watching the movie.  It supposedly had a budget between 20 and 40 million (depending on who you believe), but it had some CG in it that looked like they were using animatics instead of finished FX.  They probably spent most of the money on the lead characters shoes because I swear 45 minutes of the movie was the guy just walking up and down the same road.  I actually fast forwarded through a good bit of the movie.

It was really a let down because quite a few of us were looking forward to the film. It was supposed to be released at theaters, but it ended up going direct to DVD at Walmart for $8.

Here's the IMDB page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425638/).  Watch it at your own risk. If you don't believe me ask Burgomaster how bad it is.



Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: threnody on January 19, 2008, 11:35:06 PM
Thanks for the warning, lol. Perhaps I'll just avoid watching it altogether, though my curiosity may get the better of me.

I find it bizarre that three different versions were released in 2005. You think they could have spaced them out a little, or found new ideas. Very weird.


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: trekgeezer on January 20, 2008, 07:24:21 PM
The Asylum is well known for paralleling big release movies, ie when Snakes of a Plane came out, they released Snakes on a Train. 

By the way, I really liked C. Thomas Howell's acting in War of the Worlds, but it didn't save the movie from it's cheap effects budget.


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: BoyScoutKevin on January 24, 2008, 08:00:22 PM
Produced by George Pal. Nothing more needs to be said.


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: Oldskool138 on January 24, 2008, 08:01:40 PM
Mars Attacks! was better.

(kidding)


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: peter johnson on January 25, 2008, 01:25:17 AM
We did a recreation of the 1937 CBS radio broadcast of the book --
We had the cops coming in in the middle & the ordered messages designed to assuage panic, etc. etc. -- the whole nine yards just as Orson did it --
I did 4 characters & played Theremin for the spooky Martians/heat rays & etc.
The thing has power even as a staged radio show -- quite a work --
peter crane/denny johnson


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: akiratubo on January 25, 2008, 07:45:47 AM
This version struck the perfect balance between plot and blowing stuff up.  I'm not sure any other movie has done that so well.


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: Kooshmeister on January 25, 2008, 06:37:06 PM
My friend Jessica had seen, and hated, the Tom Cruise version, and never known there was in fact an original, so I asked her to give it a chance. She said okay and wound up liking it a lot better than the remake. Same thing with The Poseidon Adventure: hated the version made recently but wound up loving the 70's one with Gene Hackman after I showed it to her.


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: Jack on January 26, 2008, 08:48:20 PM
The original version has always been a favorite of mine.  No matter how many times I've seen it, I can always watch it again if I happen across it channel surfing.  The remake, eh, I've seen worse.  The first 15 minutes was really cool, but that was about it.  I don't think I managed to sit through that version by The Asylum.  Odd, I usually like their movies quite a bit, but that one was a huge disappointment.  I don't even care about special effects, just have something happen every once in a while for chrissakes.

I also read the book a while back, I didn't think much of it to tell you the truth.  You get halfway through the story and then it switches to another character, and he basically goes through the exact same thing the first character went through. 


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: Allhallowsday on January 27, 2008, 01:09:08 AM
Great movie.  I like the part where ANN ROBINSON has the alien hand touch her shoulder, suction cups and all...
I also like the part where they chop the alien probe with the axe and it bleeds... there in the church at the very end we watch the unstoppable Martian machines "stop" in slow-mo crashes,  GENE BARRY takes a Martian pulse and SIR CEDRIC HARDWICKE advises of the Martian frailty to our common microbes...   
:bouncegiggle: :cheers: :lookingup: :drink: :twirl: :bouncegiggle: :smile:  The first version is terrific. 
Okay, though it had a few very powerful moments, and I really liked all the flags waving on TOM CRUISE's street, and was riveted by the first half, by the second half I was put off.  The SPIELBERG version bites weenie.


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: CoreyHeldpen on March 05, 2008, 08:50:45 PM
I love the 50s version- really the only bad thign that can be said about it is that the wires holding the Martian war machines up can occasionally be seen. Other than that its about perfection.

Now the Spielburg version... Don't even get me started on that one. I just about fell asleep half-way through  :hot:


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: The Burgomaster on March 06, 2008, 12:04:01 AM
Watch it at your own risk. If you don't believe me ask Burgomaster how bad it is.

"This movie doth stink like rotting fish."  And thus spake the Burgomaster.  (And I'm referring to the dreadful Timothy Hines version, NOT the 1953 classic!)


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: InvisibleFear666 on March 16, 2008, 09:25:53 AM
I love this movie! It really didn't scare me when I was little, but that's what happens when your 4 and you've seen THE EXORCIST.


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: Ometiklan on March 16, 2008, 06:27:53 PM
A Great movie... And Ann Robinson is in it!!!

(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii180/ometiklan/AnnRobinsonsxAVATAR.gif)


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: JJ80 on March 16, 2008, 07:05:46 PM
This is probably the best of all the '50's sci-fi movies! An interesting element is how absolutely nothing we do against the Martians (military/scientific) can actually stop them  leaving the ultimate victory as an act of flukey religious salvation.


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: peter johnson on March 16, 2008, 10:32:49 PM
?? -- No "flukey religious salvation" thing there at all -- What on Earth are you talking about?
The demise of the Martians was the same thing that brought about the demise of the American Indian:  No defenses against the viruses and European diseases that we, due to constant visitation by plagues and infestation, have developed strong anti-bodies against.
Welles was very clear about that one -- No gods or religions involved, thankyou, just pure alien biology.
peter johnson/denny crane


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: The Burgomaster on March 17, 2008, 08:26:38 AM
?? -- No "flukey religious salvation" thing there at all -- What on Earth are you talking about?
The demise of the Martians was the same thing that brought about the demise of the American Indian:  No defenses against the viruses and European diseases that we, due to constant visitation by plagues and infestation, have developed strong anti-bodies against.
Welles was very clear about that one -- No gods or religions involved, thankyou, just pure alien biology.
peter johnson/denny crane

Wells may have been clear about it, but this movie definitely went the "religious route."  Remember, in the movie just about everyone is in church praying when the demise comes about (and we hear a heavenly choir).  It's clear that the message here is they prayed for a miracle and got one.  In fact, the final voiceover mentions the martians were stopped by "the littlest things that GOD IN HIS WISDOM HAD PLACED ON THIS EARTH."


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: JJ80 on March 17, 2008, 12:16:22 PM
I did specifically mean the film version rather than the book. They are both very different beasts despite sharing the same basic elements.


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: Andrew on March 17, 2008, 12:41:43 PM
Wells may have been clear about it, but this movie definitely went the "religious route."  Remember, in the movie just about everyone is in church praying when the demise comes about (and we hear a heavenly choir).  It's clear that the message here is they prayed for a miracle and got one.  In fact, the final voiceover mentions the martians were stopped by "the littlest things that GOD IN HIS WISDOM HAD PLACED ON THIS EARTH."

"the humblest things that GOD IN HIS WISDOM HAD PLACED ON THIS EARTH."

Which is directly from the book, and that line was also used in the radio play by Orson Wells. 





Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: peter johnson on March 18, 2008, 05:39:23 PM
     Yes, the character in the book says this, and Orson Welles quotes it in the broadcast, but to me that doesn't mean a Deus ex Machina -- That's the narrator/character talking -- You can easily take the quote as tongue-in-cheek, I think -- Welles, a confirmed socialist, was no friend of The Church, and saw no reason to look to it for salvation or progress.  He, the author, believed strongly in Man's ability to create a perfected society by the sweat of his own brow and thought from his own mind: No gods need apply.
     I think here we run up against HG trying to inject emotional content into a dry discourse by his narrator/character.  It's an old argument as to how much voice-of-the-author one can give to someone speaking in something being written.  Knowing what we know of Welles, here we have to say:  "Not much!". 
     So, anyway, the character speaks of God, but it was still the common cold that killed the space bugs.  I think it's supposed to be taken with a grain of Martian sand . . .
peter johnson/denny crane


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: JJ80 on March 18, 2008, 06:10:59 PM
Certainly, this particular film differs form most other Fifties SF by not having a scientific solution to the threat portrayed. Compare the deus ex machina ending in WOTW with "Earth Versus The Flying Saucers" where they develop a sonic gun against those invaders or "Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" where the Rhedosaurus is poisoned with a radioactive harpoon through it's neck wound.


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: peter johnson on March 19, 2008, 12:41:50 PM
Anyone else here notice how much Kooshmeister's new Avatar resembles Andrew's?
peter the flying squid/denny virus


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: Kooshmeister on March 22, 2008, 06:37:27 PM
Heh, mine is the emblem of Steranko from If Looks Could Kill and it's a scorpion. :)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/Kooshmeister/steranko_symbol3.jpg)

And, re: the religious theme of this flick, the people were praying nonstop for hours upon hours in different churches and their prayers were only "answered" after what seemed like forever, so if God did intervene He was sure taking His time.

And regardless of the ending, let us not forget what happened to kindly old Pastor Collins. God sure wasn't backing him the day he walked up to make friends with the Martians. Why allow him to be fried horrifically when he wanted to make peace, only to later flippantly allow the Martians to succumb naturally to Earth's bacteria? It's therefore my opinion that the idea of "divine intervention" goes out the window because any truly righteous god wouldn't subject humanity to a grueling beatdown by the Martians like that after they (the Martians) had struck down a man of the cloth.

Anyway, Pastor Collins' death is, to me, the single most shocking part of the movie. I know a curate dies in the novel but I thought fur sure when they made the movie they wouldn't dare kill off a religious figure like that. At least he got a dignified death, so to speak. It's worth noting that he acts like he believes he's going to die in the way he says good-bye to Sylvia, but that he's willing to risk his life if there's even the slightest chance of befriending the Martians and bringing things to a peaceful end. Sylvia's reaction to his demise makes it that much more painful to sit through. Tha fact it's just a prelude to the movie's single most chaotic and hellish sequence is icing on the cake.

"....and I will dwell in the house of the Lord.....forever."
(Collins is written off the face of the planet.)
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"LET 'EM HAVE IT!"
"FIRE!"

God I love this movie.


Title: Re: The War of the Worlds (1953)
Post by: HarlotBug3 on March 25, 2008, 02:45:32 PM
I saw the 1953 version when I was young and had wanted to see more of the martians.

Then I saw the 2005 version and realized I wanted to see less!  :bouncegiggle:

Showing that the martians had three legs just like their tripods was clever, but to be able to hide so easily from technology so advanced took something away. Frankly they should have replaced tom cruise with any third rate actor and spent more time showing battles between the military and the tripods, who probably could have beat us even without the sheilds.

And if you believe that God saved the Earthlings from the Martians then you also believe He saved the Europeans from the Americans. Introducing foreign biologies can tip the scales in anyone's favor, so take what you will.