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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Good Movies  |  The War of the Worlds (1953) « previous next »
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Author Topic: The War of the Worlds (1953)  (Read 11775 times)
Ometiklan
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« Reply #15 on: March 16, 2008, 06:27:53 PM »

A Great movie... And Ann Robinson is in it!!!

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And when he shall die
Take him and cut him into little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
JJ80
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« Reply #16 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.
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peter johnson
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« Reply #17 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
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The Burgomaster
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« Reply #18 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."
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JJ80
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« Reply #19 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.
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Andrew
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« Reply #20 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. 



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peter johnson
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« Reply #21 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
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JJ80
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« Reply #22 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.
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peter johnson
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« Reply #23 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
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Kooshmeister
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« Reply #24 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. :)



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.
« Last Edit: March 22, 2008, 06:51:32 PM by Kooshmeister » Logged
HarlotBug3
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« Reply #25 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.

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