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By
WAYNE KLEIN
The '50s produced lots of
classics. The first filmed version of H.G. Wells'
"The War of the Worlds" among them. Paramount has
done a great job in this gorgeous transfer
capturing the rich three strip Technicolor look of
the original film and putting the shoddy previous
DVD release to shame.
Transplanted to 1953 and California from turn of
the century England, Producer George Pal's film
has hints of the "Red Menace" of the time; the
paranoia of the Cold War with the USSR and values
of the 50's inform this film classic just as
Spielberg's contemporary version flirts with the
elements of terrorism that permeates our time.
When the Martians arrive they arrive in secret.
Appearing as meteorites that strike outside a
sleepy California town, the first ship begins
causing death and disaster within the first day of
landing. Dr. Clayton Forester (Gene Barry) a
physicist at Pacific Tech happens to be fishing in
the area when the first meteorites arrive. Called
in by the local authorities, Forester quickly
realizes that there's something wrong with the
meteor; it's either hollow or a lot different from
other meteors he's seen before because of the way
it skid along the surface. After the first attack,
Forester calls in the army recognizing the threat.
When the Martians attack the town is blacked out
and Forester with Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson)
unsuccessfully tries to escape the area. Suddenly
Earth is under siege.
Featuring two commentary tracks, one featurette
and one short documentary as well as the original
theatrical trailer and a stereo soundtrack, "The
War of the Worlds" has never looked this good on
DVD. The commentary features film director Joe
Dante ("Gremlins") a big fan of Pal's work as well
film historians Bill Warren (author of the book
KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES!) and Bob Burns. Appearing
on a second track is actors Gene Barry (a chipper
86 when this was shot) and Ann Reynolds (who looks
great at 70). Barry makes occasional comments but
Reynolds carries most of the commentary with great
recall of the making of the film. The film is
presented in stereo as well as the English mono
track.
The documentary "The Sky is Falling" runs almost
30 minutes and features interviews with the
actors, Ray Harryhausen (who wanted to produce his
own version of "The War of the Worlds" and worked
with the film's producer George Pal on the
animated "Puppetoons" series of shorts), Forrest
J. Ackerman (former editor of "Famous Monsters of
Filmland") as well as production crew remembering
the discussing the intricate nature of the film.
The featurette "H.G. Wells: The Father of Science
Fiction" features a member of the Wellsian Society
and author/film director Nicholas Meyer ("Time
After Time" which features Wells as the main
character, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and
"The Seven Percent Solution") discuss Wells, his
rivalry with Jules Verne and how he helped create
the science fiction genre telling stories that
were more than cautionary tales.
Speilberg did an exceptional job with his
retelling but Pal's film remains a classic (it
ranks on AFI's Top 100 films list at #28). It's
nice that Paramount has finally done a decent job
with their DVD transfer of this classic film. |
