War of the Worlds

[jim48]

Okay. Which War of the Worlds movie do you prefer, the George Pal or Steven Spielberg version, and why? Also, what are your thoughts on the 1938 War of the Worlds radio drama done by Orson Welles?

 

[MeteorWayne]

To be honest, I vastly prefer the book. If you've never read it, I'd suggest checking out the library for a copy. It's a great read, and since the one place I've been in the UK was Woking, home of HG Wells, and all the story took place in the surrounding countryside, I was able to explore the locations of the storyline as it developed.

The Radio play was too short to give full depth to the story. Coincidentally, the first craft landed a dozen or so miles from where I now live, so I have a local connection there as well. Amazing how easily the scientific illiterate of America can be panicked.

As far as the movies, nothing compares to the 1953 version starring Gene Barry, directed by Byron Haskin.
It won the 1954 Oscar for Best Special Effects! (remember, 56 years ago )
It also won the 1953 Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation, well earned IMHO.

Then again, jim, IIRC we've had this discussion before. I prefer the old Twilight Zone, you, being younger probably preferred the more "monster oriented" Outer Limits (if you even remember that)

The TZ terror and drama was forced to take place in your mind, like the 1953 WotW.

Now it's all flashy graphics, and the last two WotW deviated even further from the original story. Yuck!

I had to force myself to watch the two recent movies (fighting nausea) just so I had something to judge them with.

Wayne

 

[Smersh]

I agree with MeteorWayne - the book was great (along with all other HG Wells' novels that I read.)

As for the movies, I only saw the earlier version on tv a couple of times and I thought it was quite entertaining. I always remember the part where the preacher was approaching the aliens with his bible, reading the 23rd Psalm out loud, then gets zapped by the plasma beam ...

I haven't seen the Spielberg version.

As for the Orson Welles broadcast - what can I say? Went down in history didn't it ...

 

[jim48]

I haven't read H.G. Wells in decades. Hollywood never did figure out how to do his work. I thought Speilberg's War of the Worlds was surprisingly good, but I still prefer the George Pal version, which scared the bejeezus out of me when I was a kid! I've always been fascinated by the Mercury Theatre production of War of the Worlds in 1938, so much so that it comprises the bulk of the first chapter of my UFO book. Comparing Outer Limits to Twilight Zone is like comparing apples to oranges. Both shows worked quite well and updated versions of them, while okay, lacked the magic of the originals, IMO.

 

[vogon13]

The 1950s WotW is vastly superior to the Spielberg epic, except for one scene:

when the giant placenta eats Tom Cruise.

 

[JasonChapman]

The fifties version is better, however both film are nowhere near like the orginal story. H.G Wells, was a British Scifi writer and set the story in a quiet sleepy village, before moing on and levelling London.
My argument for Speilberg's verion is that; If Peter Jackson could gether the money together to recreate Middle Earth then why couldn't Speilberg have recreated Vitorian London, he's certainly got the money.

 

[Smersh]

... when the giant placenta eats Tom Cruise.

Guess that might be one of your planned forthcoming avatars, is it? :twisted:

 

[crazyeddie]

Okay. Which War of the Worlds movie do you prefer, the George Pal or Steven Spielberg version, and why? Also, what are your thoughts on the 1938 War of the Worlds radio drama done by Orson Welles?

Science-fiction nut that I am, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I never saw the Spielberg version, because I loath Tom Cruise. I might catch it on TV someday, but after I heard the reviews, I didn't want to waste my money.

However, George Pal's 1953 movie remains as one of the greatest sci-fi flicks of all time, and one that I never get tired of watching. From the Chesley Bonestell paintings of the planets at the beginning, with narration by Cedric Harwicke, to the electrifying Martian war machines, unlike anything ever seen before, to the amazing sound and special effects, which were incredible for it's day, there just isn't much to criticize about the movie. So what if it the story diverges from the H.G. Wells original novel.....it still captures the essence of the plot: humanity laid helpless before an enemy with vastly superior technology. The memorable scene in the farmhouse where the Martian creeps up on Forrester and Sylvia and places it's hand on Ann Robinson's shoulder, and the terror it elicits in her, has got to be one of the most suspenseful in the history of cinema.....and one that still gives me goosebumps when I watch it.

 

[thebigcat]

About the best thing I can say about Steve's movie is that it wasn't as bad as all of the other treatments that Hollywood has given it since Pal's classic. I watched the first half of it on TV and felt sorry for anyone who spent money to see it in a theater. Of course, most of the reason that I turned it off is that, well, Tom Cruise...it's difficult to enjoy a movie as the director intends when you find yourself hoping the Martians will eat the protagonist. And his daughter was a grade A brat so when the Martians grabbed her and Tom let himself be captured to get her back I just shut it down right there and invented my own happy ending. :lol:

 

[jim48]

There's probably only a handful out here old enough to remember hearing Orson Welles' radio War of the Worlds. My dad was a teenager back in 1938 and he listened to it on his car radio--a major thing back then--with his girlfriend. They found it quite entertaining and couldn't understand all the fuss over it a couple of days later. Alas, H.G. Wells was a good writer as well as a socialist, which of course sometimes showed up in his fiction. Mars has always had our curiousity and he knew that, as did Orson Welles. Or perhaps I should say monsters from Mars. At any rate, The War of the Worlds has become a Halloween staple, thanks to boy genius Orson Welles. It's also good late-at-night, rainy afternoon stuff!!!

 

[cosmictraveler]

I saw them both. Matter of fact I even saw the earlier version again right after watching the new one. The old one was on Turner Classics about a month after the new one was released. I think the old one gave a much better adaptation of the book than the new one but if you never saw the first one you might just like the new one, MIGHT is the key word there. I'd give it 4 stars aout of ten. An afternoons 2 hours to kill do nothing movie for TV.

 

[buckeyeba]

Spielberg has an unparalleled eye for the camera, but let's face it: there's nothing buried underground on this planet that we haven't found. That was a very stupid premise.

His "Americans have never been refugees" principle is yet another bunch of liberal guilt crap.

The actors from the 1953 original remind me of Alec Guinness in A New Hope: pedestrian dialogue made good by great acting and dialects. But those same (main) actors looked like they'd just sharted on cue at the end of the 2005 crapfest.

The other two film treatments are just ghastly. The version straight from the book (page by page by 3-hour page) was filmed through panty house or something. Sepia worked in the Kansas scenes of Wizard of Oz but hardly here. Visual effects looked like someone's 8mm home movies. The other one, shown endlessly and pitilessly on ScyFy, is somehow worse. The most laughable director's commentary in the history of DVD has to be: "We never would have been able to make this film without C. Thomas Howell. He's our hero!" Other than the fact that nobody else would have been inane enough to appear in it, I can't imagine why.

 

[10_stone_5]

Okay. Which War of the Worlds movie do you prefer, the George Pal or Steven Spielberg version...

George Pal's -- hands down.

Though Spielberg too often gets the short shrift, the bum's rush.
He actually did a really good variation on the theme. I hate to say it, but this was a case where special effects really brought something to the film. And again, someone who gets pounded on regularly, Tom Cruise, did one of his more nuanced portrayals.

...what are your thoughts on the 1938 War of the Worlds radio drama done by Orson Welles?

Unbelievable.

The Mercury Theatre as headed by Welles was in a class of its own. You really can't compare it to anything else. The closest analogy I can come up with in artistic output is, maybe, the Sid Ceasar writers, the Actor's Studio of the 50s, the 70s Hollywood American New Wave era, and Andy Warhol's The Factory.

Anybody that can cause a large scale panic, though quaint by today's standards, with Welle's radio broadcast of War of the Worlds - deserves a special place in science fiction.

 

[jim48]

Okay. Which War of the Worlds movie do you prefer, the George Pal or Steven Spielberg version...

George Pal's -- hands down.

Though Spielberg too often gets the short shrift, the bum's rush.
He actually did a really good variation on the theme. I hate to say it, but this was a case where special effects really brought something to the film. And again, someone who gets pounded on regularly, Tom Cruise, did one of his more nuanced portrayals.

...what are your thoughts on the 1938 War of the Worlds radio drama done by Orson Welles?

Unbelievable.

The Mercury Theatre as headed by Welles was in a class of its own. You really can't compare it to anything else. The closest analogy I can come up with in artistic output is, maybe, the Sid Ceasar writers, the Actor's Studio of the 50s, the 70s Hollywood American New Wave era, and Andy Warhol's The Factory.

Anybody that can cause a large scale panic, though quaint by today's standards, with Welle's radio broadcast of War of the Worlds - deserves a special place in science fiction.

This Halloween everyone should listen to the Orson Welles show!

 

[docm]

In the film genre the original WoW has no peers. Even giving that all didn't follow the book, the Spielberg, "H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds" direct to DVD (Even hear of this one? Starred C. Thomas Howell) and syndicated TV series (based on the son of Gene Barry's character) versions were way too contrived.

 

[jim48]

Well it is October and thanks to modern technology we can access the Mercury Theatre on the Air's production of H.G. Well's The War of the Worlds, starring Orson Welles. Simply go to YouTube. Let's have a discussion on this. In my UFO book I devoted the entire first chapter to that radio drama. Then was then and now is now. The first 40 minutes of that show was superb!!! The rest, more in line with the novel, was well written but slow moving, but so what? No one was listening by then because they had taken the first 40 minutes seriously and were fleeing for safety! I'll be happy to post excerpts from Chapter I. I'd love to post the whole thing but the moderators won't let me do that here. My dad listened to the broadcast from his car radio with his girlfriend. He was a senior in high school and they listened to the whole show and thought it was terrific stuff! They couldn't understand all the fuss over the next few days.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Our country has a Radio Theatre and always do a live show this time of year.