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Movies / On DVD / The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds

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The War of the Worlds (1953)

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Reviews Counted:25

Fresh:21

Rotten:4

Average Rating:7.2/10

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.

Runtime: 88 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Synopsis: H. G. Wells' sci-fi classic about the invasion of Planet Earth by aggressive creatures from Mars. Arriving in green-glowing spaceships shaped like metallic stingrays, the Martians blast their... H. G. Wells' sci-fi classic about the invasion of Planet Earth by aggressive creatures from Mars. Arriving in green-glowing spaceships shaped like metallic stingrays, the Martians blast their atomizing death beams through most of the major cities in the world. What can save the Earth? The answer is simpler than mankind might ever have guessed. [More]

Starring: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, Jack Kruschen

Starring: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, Jack Kruschen, Houseley Stevenson, Paul Frees, Henry Brandon, Pierre Cressoy

Director: Byron Haskin

Director: Byron Haskin
Producer: George Pal
Screenwriter: Barre Lyndon
Composer: Leith Stevens

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Apr 20, 1999

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for The War of the Worlds

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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classic

Full Review Source: sbs.is | comment Comment
03/02/08
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
sbs.is

Definitely a sci-fi classic from the 1950s...great George Pal effects.

comment Comment
02/22/08
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Video-Reviewmaster.com

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.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
06/08/07
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Though it's bogged down by a stiff cast, a yawn-inspiring conventional romance, and a sappy religiosity, it remains a landmark in the history of special effects.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
06/08/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide

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.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/08/07
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Mind those heat rays!

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
10/31/06
A.H. Weiler
A.H. Weiler
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For a movie that already succeeded in scaring the Grape Nehi out of every ten-year-old in the audience, how disquieting it must have been for the Cold War-agitated grownups to witness U.S. might, tanks and A-bombs alike, brushed away helpless...

Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | comment Comment
04/05/06
Mark Bourne
Mark Bourne
DVDJournal.com

peculiarly fifties-bound

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
03/06/06
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

Too bad about the wooden cast, the tackily conventional romance, and a draggy religious message; but at least, given the time it was made, it isn't imbued with Cold War hysteria.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out

A half-century after its creation, the film's best moments are still so enjoyably unnerving that they easily carry a viewer through the necessary but inevitably dated exposition.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
12/06/05
Douglas Pratt
Douglas Pratt
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This version has more soul than the remake.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
12/02/05
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

...a so-called "classic" that couldn't possibly be more overrated.

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
11/26/05
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

No review available.

comment Comment
10/06/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

No review available.

comment Comment
07/23/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

This is vintage Cold War-era sci-fi, and one of the best films in the genre.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/25/05
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

No review available.

comment Comment
05/14/04
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Incredibly overrated version of the Wells novel.

comment 1 Comment
05/29/03
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

No review available.

comment Comment
04/30/03
Matt Brunson
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing

Well, it's not called a classic for nothing.

comment Comment
03/18/03
Brian Mckay
Brian Mckay
eFilmCritic.com

A great Cold War re-imagining of Welles' classic tale.

comment Comment
10/03/02
Rob Vaux
Rob Vaux
Flipside Movie Emporium
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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