The War of the Worlds

I'm a big fan of quality science fiction. I've read hundreds of sci fi books and watched dozens and dozens of sci fi movies. HG Wells is one of my favorite authors and The War of the Worlds is my second best favorite of his (The Time Machine is my favorite).The War of the Worlds was made on a radio show in the 1930s by Orson Wells. Great 5 stars.The remakes AFTER this (original MOVIE staring Gene Barry, Ann Robinson and Les Tremayne) were only 3 stars and the plot, acting and special effects not as good. Even the recent movie War of the Worlds on DVD staring Tom Cruise was only 4 star compared to the original. In all fairless the special effects in the Tom Cruise movie INMO were better due to better technology than in the 1950s but the acting and plot were not as good.Now to The War of the Worlds Special Collectors Edition. The color and sound are 5 stars. The great George Pal produced the original movie. This movie won an Oscar for its special effects. They did an excellent job of remastering the movie and putting it on DVD. Here is a 5 star plus movie and INMO in the top 5 Science fiction movies of ALL time. The plot, narration, acting and 1950ish special effects were spectacular.We hear from a great narrator, beings of Mars are intently observing Earth. Their world Mars is dieing and they are looking for a world to escape to, survive and colonize. Cylinders are launched from Mars and start crashing/landing on Earth. Gene Barry as Pacific Tech scientist Professor Forester and a group of scientists are fishing very near where the first cylinder falls. He meets a graduate student played by Ann Robinson and her preacher uncle. 3 men with a white flag of peace are the first to be vaporised by one of the heat rays on one of the craft that eventually come out of the cylinder. Each cylinder carries 3 craft that are supported by invisible magnetic force field/legs. The preacher uncle is vaporised with a Bible in his hand walking toward a Martian craft to make peace and communicate.The Martians can apply protective invisible domes that allow immunity from all Earth's man made weapons including a super powerful atomic bomb dropped from the Air Force's Flying Wing bomber (The plane looks so cool). Tanks, artillery, lots of men and jets are vaporised as armies and all kinds of military around the world are powerless to stop the rapid deployment of the Martians and the possible conquest of the entire planet in 6 days.I'm an old time car fan and in the movie I liked seeing lots of the early 1950s cars. I gained lots of empathy with the characters in the movie. I felt so sorry when the preacher gets killed. You feel the fear and desperation as people try to escape from being vaporised and the desperation the military feels as nothing they throw at the Martians can stop them.What was so much better than any of the remakes was the global scope of the movie showing humanity fighting and failing to beat the Martians. Plus INMO the acting was much much better.We see Ann Robinson huddled and praying in a church as the Martians are destroying the city. Dr. forester holds her as part of the church crumbles. Then the death rays and slaughter stop. 2 Martian craft wobble and crash into partially destroyed buildings. We see the horrible suction cupped fingered hand coming out of the craft, then bluish coloration as the creature dies. All around the world the hundreds of Martian craft are falling and crashing as all the Martians die.Humankind was powerless to destroy them with our weapons but God in his wisdom created the little bacteria that the Martians had no defense from.If you like GREAT quality science fiction with a superb plot, superior acting and Oscar winning special effects this DVD is for you and your collection. Rated 5 stars plus and INMO one of the top 5 science Fiction movies of ALL time.

Well, this is it.Unless somebody with more imagination than Steven Spielberg, finally decides to make a faithful transliteration of H.G. Wells' Classic.Although it suffers, as many movies of the period (1950s), of primitive special effects, it is one of those legendary tiny masterpieces of the genre.George Pal and Byron Jaskin's Team deliver a splendid and vivid account of the facts that led to the Martian invasion of Earth.Gene Barry (who can also be seen in a short interview in this special DVD version), and Ann Robinson play convincing characters in the 1953 movie.Far more than Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning and Miranda Otto in the 2005 remake.The settings are mostly seen at night (a forced choice, in view that the Alien ships were hung on steel wires and would otherwise, give away their secrets) and this alone makes the entire ambience more eerie than the remake that swings from day to night and back again.Also the storytelling alone, is far more coherent, concise and linear than the newer version.Some people stated that Spielberg added visible Aliens.Big Deal!In the classic movie version, one only sees an eye of one, single Alien and that alone is scary enough to send you a chilling feeling up your spine, while in the newer version, they even study (of all things) a bicycle!I don't know is Steven Spielberg wanted to add humor to the scene, but fact is, that it falls fatally flat and reminds you of very cheap slapstick comedy as employed in the early Twenties when the director had nothing better to offer.At 85 minutes, compared with the almost two hours of the remake, Byron Haskins delivers, while Spielberg is still trying to find out, why the heck he wanted to do his movie in the first place.Musicwise, if one can use the word, there is a big difference as well. While the original version keeps the music in the background, almost perceptible and just in key scenes, in which it is truly needed to enhance the threat feeling, John Williams new score is constantly there, bombastic and fastidious, and more threatening than the Aliens themselves.The choice of colors too are a big difference with the newer version. Despite mostly filmed at night (or at least set at night), the 1953 version has a color harmony in itself, while the modern version is vulgar and shabby, even in scenes playing in plain daylight.What can I say?They don't make them like this anymore!It may sound obvious and repetitive, but it is true.We spend ten, if not twenty times more money to make today's movies and we are not even able to come up with something original and beautiful at the same time.Long gone are the days of truly creative, and yes, genial minds, the years of true visionaries such as Stanley Kubrick, George Pal, Ray Harrihausen and yes, the first George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.In their case, age has truly not made them wiser. Just older.Thank Heavens, we still have movies on DVD, like the present version of "War of the Worlds" and others such as "The Day the Earth Stood Still", "Forbidden Planet", "Fantastic Voyage", the original "Planet of the Apes" and its sequels, and finally the masterpiece of masterpieces "2001: A Space Odyssey", to fill our evenings with true emotions, true visions and true acting.Pity that producers and directors nowadays don't stop to think what their predecessors did to be so fondly remembered.It would be nice if they would reconsider their artistry and care a bit more about us, the audience at the receiving end of their products.Maybe a bit of more respect and consideration for us, as well as for our intelligence, would inspire them much more to do better things and perhaps more simpler things in the future.I am an actor and I was always taught that "Less is more".Maybe, if the movie creators of these days would create less, put less special effects, put less music in their movies and rather put more storytelling and more acting in their place, they may not always fall so short in their efforts.Computers will never replace a man, at least not as long as man is master on this Planet.Stop and consider this, you professionals of the Entertainment Business.And to you, the readers, always stick to the original versions.Except for just a couple of notable exceptions, all remakes ever made in recent years, were just that, unimaginative, flat and boring attempts to outsmart Masters and Geniuses.In doing so they just showed you their mediocrity and their immense arrogance at wanting to surpass masters such as Hitchcock or Peckinpah.I repeat and exhort, stick to the originals.Learn to know them, criticize them if you want, but learn to ask for quality, not quantity.Absolutely a must to own.