D: Byron Haskin
S: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson
Relatively straightforward filmization of H.G. Welles' classic novel, updated
to the mid twentieth century and slightly softened from the original text,
but containing most of its key elements. A crash landing meteorite turns
out to be an alien spaceship which precedes a full-scale invasion from the
red planet, causing civil, military and religious forces to respond without
success. Stolid scientists, sincere soldiers and passive women fill out
the character list, but Haskin effectively creates and sustains an atmosphere
of dread and terror, aided by excellent, Oscar-winning effects which have
become symbols of the period (animator and effects guru George Pal was the
film's producer).
Much of the essential despair of the novel is captured, though the ironic
resolution is replaced by a happy romance (in the novel, the narrator walks
up to the aliens to surrender because nothing is left to live for, only
to find they have all died from earth diseases. Here Barry and Robinson
are reunited in a church.) But plot questions are moot in the face of the
film's triumphant production design and sleek special effects. These have
dated only insofar as the actual technology is now apparent, but the film
still works remarkably well even though it is dependent on them.
It is popular now to read the film as part of the mid-1950s communist hysteria
which gripped the United States (the Martians representing a relentless,
unreasoning force which overwhelms ordinary, decent individuals), and this
is true to the extent that the context of its original reception and its
historical placement support that reading. But it is only as central to
the text as it is specific to the reading, and the fear of invasion can
be taken as a universal constant. This makes the film watchable today, even
though the circumstances under which it was produced no longer exist. It
is perhaps less engaging, and certainly less shocking, than it once was,
but it helps to view the film within its original context insofar as it
allows the rather upright and stuffy characters to elicit some sympathy.
Worth seeing though, especially when its progeny are enjoying such a high
profile (Independence Day, Mars
Attacks!, etc)
Review by Harvey O'Brien copyright
1997.