The War of the Worlds

Name: The War of the Worlds
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Released: August 26, 1953
Duration: 85 min
Rating: 78
Cast: Ann Robinson, Gene Barry, Houseley Stevenson Jr., Les Tremayne, Lewis Martin

1953

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Ratings

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7.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Ratings

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The War Of The Worlds

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Movie Details & Credits

Paramount Pictures | Release Date: August 26, 1953 | Passed

Starring: Ann Robinson, Gene Barry, Houseley Stevenson Jr., Les Tremayne, Lewis Martin, Paul Frees, Robert Cornthwaite, Sandro Giglio, Vernon Rich, William Phipps

Summary: A small town in California is attacked by Martians, beginning a worldwide invasion.

Director: Byron Haskin

Genre(s): Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rating: Passed

Runtime: 85 min

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Critic Reviews

Michael Drucker

This is an amazing film, both for what it did in 1953 and what it still does today. It's a far better interpretation of H.G. Wells' novel than Spielberg's abrupt and lopsided film. Read full review

David McDonnell

The definitive alien invasion movie, often imitated, never surpassed. [04 Sep 1987, p.54C]

Staff (Not Credited)

A socko science-fiction feature, as fearsome as a film as was the Orson Welles 1938 radio interpretation of the H.G. Wells novel. Read full review

Dave Kehr

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. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

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. Read full review

Mark Chalon Smith

The War of the Worlds is one of those movies that many who grew up in the '50s remember fondly as a mix of science-fiction melodrama and crashingly good mayhem. Nostalgia goes a long way toward appreciating it today. [13 Aug 1992, p.15]

Staff (Not Credited)

Updated from London 1890 to contemporary California, George Pal's version of the HG Wells novel still works pretty well, thanks to its attractive special effects. Read full review

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User Reviews

Deanomite

Jan 11, 2020

i never really liked this movie and still do not now. Maybe the characters are too thin, the villians are too thin, the plot is nothing, they die pretty much on their own. The most interesting thing is the effects, about 20 years ahead of their time (the sound and video effects were usedi never really liked this movie and still do not now. Maybe the characters are too thin, the villians are too thin, the plot is nothing, they die pretty much on their own. The most interesting thing is the effects, about 20 years ahead of their time (the sound and video effects were used in Star Trek in 1968). Maybe it's the religion, how God killed the aliens. It's like the first Bruckheimer movie. The new one by Spielberg was also pretty blah, if he couldn't make it good nobody can.… Expand

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