The War of the Worlds (1953)

HG Wells' classic novel about Martian invasion has been adapted a number of times for radio, film and stage. Byron Haskins' 1953 film 'The War of the Worlds' is one of two film adaptations, along with Steven Spielberg's 2005 version. Whilst Spielberg's version undoubtedly has its merits, Haskins' movie is the most successful, being a solid and entertaining slice of 1950s sci-fi.

The film relocates the action from the Victorian London suburbs of Wells' novel to 1950s rural America, where a strange meteor crash lands in the desert. It soon transpires that the meteor is in fact the first of many cylinders containing Martian invaders determined to conquer Earth. These scenes involving the strange unearthly cylinder contain the same air of expectant menace as Wells' book, and when the cylinder opens the Martian reveal is just as scary.

There's one very noticeable difference between Haskins' Martians and those of Wells, and that is that there isn't a tripod to be seen. Instead of towering fighting machines striding across the landscape, the film depicts the fighting machines as hovering spacecraft with a cycloptic eye. The tripods are so iconic to the book that you'd expect such a fundamental change to their appearance to be detrimental, but in fact it works very well, their silent, watchful eyes being full of impenetrable malevolence.

When the invaders finally attack, the special effects department do a tremendous job at conveying a sense of their awesome, inescapable power. The screen is filled with fire and showers of laser fire, and characters and vehicles are literally vaporised in the fighting machines' path. Special note should be made of the sound effects department who bombard the audience with the sounds of this weapons fire to the point where you want to run for cover yourself.

The story then opens up to show the progress of the invasion worldwide while our protagonists desperately search for a way to combat the seemingly invincible Martians who have so far withstood tanks, aeroplanes and even an atomic bomb. When the 'route of civilisation' finally takes place, and the streets are filled with panicking citizens trying to escape the major cities, Haskins does a terrific job of conveying mankind's desperation, and the final scenes taking place in various churches and cathedrals while the city collapses around them are poignant and humane.

The film isn't without its flaws. It makes the mistake of revealing the Martians who pilot the fighting machines midway through the film. The creatures are somewhat silly in appearance (and I would say influential in the design of Spielberg's 'E.T.') which undermines the overwhelming sense of power that the invaders have had until that point. There's also some jarring and unconvincing use of stock footage of military vehicles which the film could easily have done without.

But these are minor quibbles. Exciting, visually arresting, and occasionally moving, 'The War of the Worlds' is 1950s science fiction at its best.