Fresh
As 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.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
The War of the Worlds
Mighty panorama of Earth-shaking fury as an army from Mars invades!
1953 · 1h 25m · G
Action, Science Fiction
Directed by
Byron Haskin
Free account saves your watchlist and ratings.
The War of the Worlds
Overview
The residents of a small town are excited when a flaming meteor lands in the hills, until they discover it is the first of many transport devices from Mars bringing an army of invaders invincible to any man-made weapon, even the atomic bomb.
Director and cast
- Byron Haskin Director
- Gene Barry as Dr. Clayton Forrester
- Ann Robinson as Sylvia Van Buren
- Lewis Martin as Matthew Collins
- Les Tremayne as General Mann
- Frank Kreig as Fiddler Hawkins (uncredited)
- Vernon Rich as Ralph Heffner
- Sandro Giglio as Dr. Bilderbeck
- Houseley Stevenson Jr. Cast
- Ann Codee Cast
- Robert Cornthwaite Cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
Fresh
War of the Worlds is a socko science-fiction feature, as fearsome as a film as was the Orson Welles 1938 radio interpretation of the H.G. Wells novel.
Variety Staff, Variety
Fresh
Mind those heat rays!
A.H. Weiler, New York Times
Fresh
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.
Douglas Pratt, Hollywood Reporter
Rotten
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.
Time Out
More films
War of the Worlds (2005)
Adventure · Science Fiction · Thriller · PG-13
Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son and young daughter for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.
- Runtime
- 1h 57m
- Director
- Steven Spielberg
- Cast
- Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin
IMDb
6.6
Rotten Tomatoes
76%
Metacritic
73
Independence Day (1996)
Action · Adventure · Science Fiction · PG-13
Strange phenomena surface around the globe. The skies ignite. Terror races through the world's major cities. As these extraordinary events unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that a force of incredible magnitude has arrived. Its mission: total annihilation over the Fourth of July weekend. The last hope to stop the destruction is an u...
- Runtime
- 2h 25m
- Director
- Roland Emmerich
- Cast
- Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum
IMDb
7.0
Rotten Tomatoes
77%
Metacritic
59
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Action · Adventure · Fantasy · PG-13
After losing Captain Jack Sparrow to the locker of Davy Jones, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, and Captain Barbossa journey to the ends of the earth to rescue him. And as the East India Trading Company tightens its grip on the seas under Lord Cutler Beckett—now in control of Davy Jones—the fate of piracy hangs by a thread. Now, they must...
- Runtime
- 2h 49m
- Director
- Gore Verbinski
- Cast
- Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom
IMDb
7.2
Rotten Tomatoes
43%
Metacritic
50
The Invasion (2007)
Horror · Mystery · Science Fiction · Thriller · PG-13
Washington, D.C. psychologist Carol Bennell and her colleague Dr. Ben Driscoll are the only two people on Earth who are aware of an epidemic running rampant through the city. They discover an alien virus aboard a crashed space shuttle that transforms anyone who comes into contact with it into unfeeling drones while they sleep. Carol re...
- Runtime
- 1h 39m
- Director
- Oliver Hirschbiegel
- Cast
- Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jackson Bond
IMDb
5.9
Rotten Tomatoes
20%
Metacritic
45
Mars Attacks! (1996)
Comedy · Fantasy · Science Fiction · PG-13
A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see if the extraterrestrial visitors have, as they claim, "come in peace." U.S. President James Dale receives assurance from science professor Donald Kessler that the Martians' mission is a friendly one. But when a peaceful exchange ends in th...
- Runtime
- 1h 46m
- Director
- Tim Burton
- Cast
- Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening
IMDb
6.4
Rotten Tomatoes
57%
Metacritic
52
The Four Robinsons (1939)
Comedy · N/A
Four friends pretend a cruise to escape their wives and go clubbing, but they are forced to go through face-saving shipwreck, becoming castaways.
- Runtime
- 1h 38m
- Director
- Eduardo García Maroto
- Cast
- Antonio Vico, Mary Santpere, Fernando Rey
IMDb
5.8
La mantilla de Beatriz (1946)
Drama · Romance · N/A
In XVII century Portugal two friends change identities so one of them can escape an unwanted marriage to Beatriz.
- Runtime
- 1h 27m
- Director
- Eduardo García Maroto
- Cast
- Virgílio Teixeira, Margarita Andrey, María Isbert
Comments
Talk about the film with other members