Too bad about the wooden cast, the tackily conventional romance, and a draggy religious message; but at least, given the time it was made, it isn't imbued with Cold War hysteria.
Comment
01/26/06
The War of the Worlds (1953)
84
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:25
Fresh:21
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.2/10
Consensus: Though it's dated in spots, The War of the Worlds retains an unnerving power, updating H.G. Wells' classic sci-fi tale to the Cold War era and featuring some of the best special effects of any 1950s film.
Runtime: 88 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Synopsis: H. G. Wells' sci-fi classic about the invasion of Planet Earth by aggressive creatures from Mars. Arriving in green-glowing spaceships shaped like metallic stingrays, the Martians blast their... [More]
Starring: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, Jack Kruschen
Director: Byron Haskin
Reviews for The War of the Worlds
Top CriticAs 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.
06/08/07
This version has more soul than the remake.
12/02/05
No review available.
04/30/03
For a movie that already succeeded in scaring the Grape Nehi out of every ten-year-old in the audience, how disquieting it must have been for the Cold War-agitated grownups to witness U.S. might, tanks and A-bombs alike, brushed away helpless...
04/05/06
No review available.
07/27/02
Well, it's not called a classic for nothing.
03/18/03
No review available.
07/23/05
No review available.
10/06/05
peculiarly fifties-bound
03/06/06
This is vintage Cold War-era sci-fi, and one of the best films in the genre.
01/25/05
A great Cold War re-imagining of Welles' classic tale.
10/03/02
A half-century after its creation, the film's best moments are still so enjoyably unnerving that they easily carry a viewer through the necessary but inevitably dated exposition.
12/06/05
Top CriticNo review available.
05/14/04
Incredibly overrated version of the Wells novel.
05/29/03
Mind those heat rays!
10/31/06
Top CriticNo review available.
07/26/02
The acting was wooden, the romance was blah, and the religious messages tacked on were pathetic.
09/06/01
A classic that should be seen by anyone who really likes genre of science fiction in the cinema.
01/01/00
...a so-called "classic" that couldn't possibly be more overrated.
11/26/05
Latest News for The War of the Worlds
July 03, 2006:
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