The War of the Worlds (1953)

“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.” — Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

SYNOPSIS

George Pal’s lavish adaptation of H.G. Wells’s science-fiction landmark began as his ambitious follow-up to the blockbuster When Worlds Collide before becoming the quintessential alien-invasion film of the 1950s. Gene Barry stars as an astronomer who joins scientists and the military in a desperate struggle against seemingly invincible Martian war machines, only to discover that humanity’s fate ultimately lies beyond its own control. At once a vivid expression of Cold War anxieties and a spectacular work of popular entertainment, director Byron Haskin marries pioneering Academy Award-winning special effects to the rich glow of Technicolor, transforming blazing death rays and ruined cityscapes into images of eerie, apocalyptic beauty. A direct inspiration for generations of filmmakers, from Steven Spielberg to Stanley Kubrick, The War of the Worlds ranks among the signature achievements of classic American science fiction.

The War of the Worlds screens as part of our limited series, “In Glorious Technicolor.”