War of the Worlds

The story was first written as a novel in 1898 by H.G. Wells. The story then escalated as a radio broadcast on Halloween night in 1938 narrated by Orson Welles. Until at last, Paramount, producer George Pal, and director Byron Haskin released the story as the sci-fi movie classic "War of the Worlds" in 1953. The movie, reflecting the classic novel, showed what it would be like if the world was invaded by Martians.

The opening first follows a narration of pictures of the planets in our solar system then showing last why the Martians find Earth the only world worthy of invasion. Once the Earth is shown for a few minutes, a meteor comes out of the sky and goes crashing to the ground. The town people of Linda Rose, Ca. witnessed the crash and rush to see this big surprise from the sky. One of the cast members is Dr. Clayton Forrester played by Gene Barry, who portrays a scientist, happened to be on a fishing trip in the area of this small town of Linda Rose. He discovers that the meteor is giving off radiation and suggests that all the town people to stay away. Once it has cooled off, a part of the meteor starts to unscrew and the martian is shown for the first time. It's a pulsing mechanical cobra-shaped head supported by the long neck of a martian war machine. The authorities quickly notify the military who immediately surround the original landing site. They then find out that these same machines have landed all over the world. The military's first attempt to battle with the martians are unsuccessful against the martians' fire power. They retreat and try to to decide on what the next step will be against these more advanced creatures. The government decides on going with the plan of dropping the a-bomb on top of the martians. Unfortunately, due to the martians' force field, the a-bomb is a total failure. The humans are devastated. They have no idea what will it take to defeat these monsters. A narration then begins of how the martians attack the world and cause mass destruction. As the movie moves towards the end, the scene shows the town people hiding in a church. The martians are destroying the buildings near the church. As soon as the martians come to fire on the church, it crashes. The people are puzzled and wonder what happened. It is soon discovered that the all-powerful invaders are dying. The reason is that the martians have no defense against the Earth's viruses and bacteria. The smallest creatures that "God in His wisdom had put upon this Earth" has saved mankind from extinction.

It was a well done science fiction feature that uses excellent special effects and provides that suspenseful and chilling adventure which will remain one of the top classics through time.

Lizzy    =)