The War of the Worlds (Special Collector's Edition) [DVD]

Starring: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, et al.

H.G. Wells' chilling novel of a Martian invasion of Earth becomes even more frightening in this 1952 film adaptation that's widely regarded as one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time. An Oscar.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: DVD
• Language: English
• Release Date: May 2003
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Publisher: Paramount
• Director: Byron Haskin
• Starring: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, Robert Cornthwaite, Sandro Giglio, Lewis Martin, Houseley Stevenson Jr., Paul Frees, William Phipps, Vernon Rich
• Number of Disks: 1
• Other Video Info: Collector's Edition; Color; DVD; Full Screen; Silent; Special Edition; NTSC
• Weight: 0.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.5" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Necessary for any collection.

In the world of movies and the minds of many, this is the definitive “War of the Worlds”. For those who may have read the book, there is no justification for the many changes other than to say that someone had to take a book that could be a mini-series and to do a little triage. Of course, movies must have a love interest, and the more controversial religious aspect (of the book where the pastor wavers in his faith) would not pass in the movie. If they made the movie today, they could show a little blood-sucking and not be out of line. But I am afraid that the aliens would be popping out of stomachs or exploding dogs, as in the remake of “The Thing”; we would still not get a true rendition of the H.G. Wells story. Unfortunately, it looks as though Spielberg has his eye on it. The movie starts with a great narrative from the book about aliens on a dying planet coveting our Earth. Naturally, we focus on the Los Angeles area as a microcosm of what is happening over the world in 1953. Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry), a well-known atomic scientist, is out fishing. He spies a meteor that comes down at a mysterious angle. The crater it makes has him suspect that the meteorite is hollow. He lets a local pastor’s niece, Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson), talk him into a square dance while waiting for the meteorite to cool. Soon the lights go out. And they will go out all over the world as we experience “The War of the Worlds”.