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<blockquote data-quote="Willie Oleson" data-source="post: 385378" data-attributes="member: 8">THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953)[ATTACH=full]50363[/ATTACH]Oh bah, what a stinker.Overall, the visual special effects are fine and the sound effects maybe even better - but still not nearly as good as the 1939 tornado in THE WIZARD OF OZ.The flashy green colours can carry only so much of the film, but the real problem is that TWOTW is completely and utterly devoid of drama and suspense.Regardless of what&nbsp; would crash into planet earth, the American army would be all over it from the very beginning. In this story they had to be informed.Even after some of the Californian citizens - and complete towns elsewhere in the world (so there was&nbsp; communication after all) - have been vaporized by the aggressive Martians, the strongest emotion we get is curiosity.It&#039;s only at the end of the film, when half of planet earth has gone up in smoke, that people start to panic and run for the hills.The acting is very wooden, but &quot;non-existent&quot; would be a closer approximation to what is - well, isn&#039;t - going on in TWOTW.They all look very bored, sometimes a little amused and every now and then we get an hysterical scream from Sylvia van Buren played by Ann Robinson.She provides the coffee and doughnuts, you know, being a woman and all that.[ATTACH=full]50364[/ATTACH]Are these characters in&nbsp; the movie or watching the movie? It&#039;s hard to tell.It seems that the expert in this story, played by Gene Barry, has read the novel since he knows all the ins and outs of Martian technology. It isn&#039;t even questioned if they are indeed Martians or not.Now I understand that Sci-Fi B-movies from the 1950s are an easy target for the ridicule, but TWOTW actually is&nbsp; genuinely ambitious in some parts, but it&#039;s those parts that are unintentionally hilarious.[ATTACH=full]50365[/ATTACH]Besides, the idea that films of that era (not to mention the ones that preceded it) are all excusably bad simply isn&#039;t true, and as I said before the technical Sci-Fi effects are (for the most part)&nbsp; watchable enough. Although the use of real war footage is lazy and in poor taste imo.This film needs to removed from the US National Film Registry a.s.a.p. It&#039;s rubbish.[ATTACH=full]50366[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Willie Oleson, post: 385378, member: 8"] THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953) [ATTACH type="full"]50363[/ATTACH] Oh bah, what a stinker. Overall, the visual special effects are fine and the sound effects maybe even better - but still not nearly as good as the 1939 tornado in THE WIZARD OF OZ. The flashy green colours can carry only so much of the film, but the real problem is that TWOTW is completely and utterly devoid of drama and suspense. Regardless of [I]what[/I] would crash into planet earth, the American army would be all over it from the very beginning. In this story they had to be informed. Even after some of the Californian citizens - and complete towns elsewhere in the world (so there [I]was[/I] communication after all) - have been vaporized by the aggressive Martians, the strongest emotion we get is curiosity. It's only at the end of the film, when half of planet earth has gone up in smoke, that people start to panic and run for the hills. The acting is very wooden, but "non-existent" would be a closer approximation to what is - well, isn't - going on in TWOTW. They all look very bored, sometimes a little amused and every now and then we get an hysterical scream from Sylvia van Buren played by Ann Robinson. She provides the coffee and doughnuts, you know, being a woman and all that. [ATTACH type="full"]50364[/ATTACH] Are these characters [I]in[/I] the movie or watching the movie? It's hard to tell. It seems that the expert in this story, played by Gene Barry, has read the novel since he knows all the ins and outs of Martian technology. It isn't even questioned if they are indeed Martians or not. Now I understand that Sci-Fi B-movies from the 1950s are an easy target for the ridicule, but TWOTW actually[I] is[/I] genuinely ambitious in some parts, but it's those parts that are unintentionally hilarious. [ATTACH type="full"]50365[/ATTACH] Besides, the idea that films of that era (not to mention the ones that preceded it) are all excusably bad simply isn't true, and as I said before the technical Sci-Fi effects are (for the most part) watchable enough. Although the use of real war footage is lazy and in poor taste imo. This film needs to removed from the US National Film Registry a.s.a.p. It's rubbish. [ATTACH type="full"]50366[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]

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