The War of the Worlds (1953)

Directed by

Byron Haskin

Genre

drama film, adventure film, science fiction film, disaster film, alien invasion, thriller film

Country

West Germany, United States

Runtime

1h 27m

Rated

G

Rating

6.8 of 10 from 711 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This 1950s film adaptation moves H.G. Wells's Martian invasion story to Southern California. An alien force in deadly machines attacks the countryside and the main characters try to survive and warn others.

classictensedatedominousslow-burnretrodramaticsuspenseful

What happens

The War of the Worlds (also known in promotional material as H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds) is a 1953 American science fiction thriller film directed by Byron Haskin, produced by George Pal, and starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. The first film adaptation of H. G. Wells' 1898 novel of the same name in which Earth is invaded by Martians, the setting is changed from Victorian era England to 1950s Southern California. The first of two adaptations of Wells's classic science fiction filmed by Pal, The War of the Worlds won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and went on to influence other science fiction films. It is considered one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s. In 2011, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress, who deemed it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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• Kronos (1957)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)