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Paramounts 1953 production of H.G. Wells classic was originally bought by the studio in 1925 for Cecil B. DeMille, but ended up in the story vaults until 1951. Producer George Pal, riding high on his success of "When Worlds Collide", had wanted to do a film version of either"20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" or "The War of the Worlds", but Disney was already planning their version of Jules Verne's novel. Pal was delighted to learn that Paramount owned "War of the Worlds". After checking with DeMille, Pal started pre-production on his version. Taking a cue from Orson Welles infamous 1938 radio scare, Pal decided to update his story from 1800s England to 1950s California. In modernizing the story, it was decided to update the Martians fighting machine that were thought of as:" ..creaky water towers that went around the English country side, scaring old men and horses..", in the novel. The new concept, by Al Nozaki, looked more like a manta ray. Principal photgraphy started on January 14th, 1952. The film would be directed by Byron Haskin and starred Gene Barry as Pacific Tech scientist, Clayton Forrester. As his love interest, 24 year old Ann Robinson was cast as Sylvia Van Buren. Cast as General Mann was veteran character actor Les Tremayne. In updating the story, the crew could now show modern warfare such as the atom bomb and flying wing. Filmed mostly at Paramount studios, some location work was done in the early morning hours on Hill St. in downtown L.A., to show Forresters search for Sylvia. The awesome special effects are the highlight of this movie and mostly stand the test of time. The movies only weakness is the script, with its forced romance between Forrester and Sylvia. It was thought in the 50s that romance was a pre-requisite in all movies. Principal photography ended on February 16th, 1952. The remaing year before the premiere was filled with filming all the F/X including the great matte paintings by Chesley Bonestell, the excellent miniature work, and the fantastic sound mix (the movie was shown in most theaters in stereo, but the older DVD/VHS versions are mono-only the special edition laserdisc & DVD have a "true" stereo sound)The film was released on February 20th, 1953 and went world-wide soon after. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars, and deservedly won one for Gordon Jennings special effects. 50 years on, the movie is still a delight and is required viewing for any action/sci-fi film. |
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