The War Of The Worlds is one of four of his books that are considered masterpieces and have been made into films. (The others are The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The First Men In The Moon.) The War Of The Worlds gained tremendous fame when Orson Wells made it into a radio drama in 1938, and, because he presented it as a series of news flashes, many people thought we were actually under attack by Martians and panicked. It is today the most famous radio program ever produced, and, even though he was consider irresponsible, launched Orson Wells' career.

In 1953, producer George Pal - who was given the rights by the Wells estate to produce all his novels - director Byron Haskin and writer Barre Lyndon adapted The War Of The Worlds to film. It starred Gene Barry. It is interesting for a number of reasons. For one, Barry is wonderful as scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester, who investigates the first landing of Martians while on a fishing trip near the town of Pine Summit. For another, the story has been contemporized, with 1950's Los Angeles substituting for 1890's London. Another change is with the invaders and their machines: the 50's fascination with television makes the Martians almost organic TV cameras, and their machines Art Modern sculptures that float above the earth. And finally, there is a strong Christian theme that didn't exist in the original work.

In 2005, there were three versions of The War Of The Worlds released on film, and all three in the month of June: Stephen Spielberg's version starring Tom Cruise; Timothy Hine's verson, which, though faithful to Well's story and time period, was an abysmal failure; and David Michael Latt's version, which, like Spielberg's, is set in the present day and, like Hine's, was low-budget and a failure at both the box office and among critics. So, after Pal's 1953 film, only Spielberg's version is worth considering.

I think Spielberg has a lot of the feel of Wells' story, especially in how the machines look and how the creatures "harvest" people for food; but it lacks the human element. I really thought Cruise's character was going to hook up with his ex-wife (Miranda Otto) and her boyfriend (David Alan Basche), and that together they were going to have an interesting triangular relationship as they tried to escape the invaders; but that didn't happen. The ex-wife and boyfriend appear at the beginning and then disappear until the end.

I didn't like the relationship between Cruise and his two kids (Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin). Tim Robbins was interesting as a whacked-out survivor-in-hiding, and it was nice to see Gene Barry and Ann Robinson make re-appearances from the 1953 film as the grandfather and grandmother. Overall the film is lackluster and ends on a note of despair, rather than hope as the 1953 version does. The 1953 version is still the best filmed version of this classic, and that is not saying a lot. We still need a strong version that is set in the 1890's like the novel. It is interesting that when George Pal produced Well's novel The Time Machine in 1960, he did use the author's 1890's setting, and it is a vast improvement over his War Of The Worlds.

Waitsel Smith, September 25, 2007

Text © 2007 Waitsel Smith. Images © 1953 Paramount and 2005 Dreamworks Video. All Rights Reserved.