The War of the Worlds Movie Information

Movie Information

Overall Rank: 2252

Average Rating: 2.8/4

# of Ratings: 98

Theatrical Release Date: 08/26/1953

Blu-ray/DVD Release Date: 07/07/2020

Language: English

Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama

MPAA Rating: NR

Director: Byron Haskin

Actors: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, Robert Cornthwaite, Sandro Giglio, Lewis Martin

Plot: A meteor hits in a small town outside of Los Angeles California. A scientist investigates only to discover the beginning of a deadly alien invasion.

Quick Movie Reviews

Rating of
2.5/4

Indyfreak - wrote on 02/03/2022

The destruction scenes are well staged. The designs for the Martian spaceships is unique;almost like a devilish manta ray. But other effects like the obvious matte paintings look terrible. Gene Barry and Anne Robinson aren't too bad I suppose. But few of the human characters stick out as memorable.

Rating of
3/4

Logan D. McCoy - wrote on 07/17/2019

Not as interesting as the H.G. Wells novel, but it manages to get the point across.

Rating of
3/4

Chris Kavan - wrote on 10/09/2009

Classic Sci-Fi effort. Despite its decided age with dated effects, this is still one of the better early efforts. It's not at all cheesy and actually has a decent story. A must for any fan of 50s sci-fi.

Full Movie Reviews

Daniel
Daniel
Producer

Rating of
0.5/4

Leave this movie in the ground; stop digging it up

Daniel - wrote on 09/26/2020

.5 star out 4. Stop bringing back movies that are meh. That is really the only thing i can call it. It is still better than what i can do with a camera phone, but at this point, it aged so much, that you have to convince yourself to like it. I used to watch these types of movies, when i was a kid. These movies, were still watchable back in the 80's and even 90's. But outside of a history of cinematography class, this has little relevance. The film is obviously intended for a 1950's audience, which i am not complaining about, seeing what Netflix is doing, for example. However, it is so out of place today. If you are a movie buff for the retro, then yes, academy aware winner movie The War of the Worlds from 1953 is not a bad movie, but for me, it is a dead title.

SmokeScreener
SmokeScreener
Director

Rating of
1.5/4

War of the Worlds

SmokeScreener - wrote on 03/03/2009

Sadly, the original "War of the Worlds" (1953) was a very unfocused movie. It wavered between trying to be a character drama and a disaster movie, but it really failed at both.

For starters, the lead actor (Gene Barry) portrayed a smug, unlikable character. This made it hard for me to care whether or not he survived, or whether he and Ann Robinson would actually fell in love.

Without a core group of characters to care about, you are forced to focus on the disaster movie elements, which in this case involve a bunch of hovering spaceships blasting their way through Los Angeles and the rest of the world. Most of this plays in documentary/newsreel style in an attempt to recreate the success of the Orson Welles radio drama that created so much panic. If like me you are bored with …

Related Movie Lists

Recent Movie Talk Posts

No posts have been made on this movie yet. Be the first to start talking about The War of the Worlds!

Write Post

Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
  
Are you sure you want to delete this post?