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War Of The Worlds - Dvd [1954]
 
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War Of The Worlds - Dvd [1954]

DVD ~ Gene Barry
4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

War Of The Worlds - Dvd [1954]
43% buy the item featured on this page:
War Of The Worlds - Dvd [1954] 4.2 out of 5 stars (23)
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The War of the Worlds: Special Edition (1953) [DVD] [1954] 4.6 out of 5 stars (14)
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The Day The Earth Stood Still [DVD] [1951]
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War Of The Worlds (2 Disc Special Edition) [2005] [DVD] 3.0 out of 5 stars (245)
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Product details

  • Actors: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, Robert Cornthwaite, Sandro Giglio
  • Directors: Byron Haskin
  • Writers: Barré Lyndon, H.G. Wells
  • Producers: Cecil B. DeMille, Frank Freeman Jr., George Pal
  • Format: Black & White, Dubbed, Full Screen, PAL
  • Language English, French
  • Subtitles: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: PG
  • Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: 4 Jul 2005
  • Run Time: 82 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00004UEXL
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 28,147 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

    Popular in this category:

    #92 in  DVD > Classics > Science Fiction & Fantasy

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War Of The Worlds - Dvd [1954]

War Of The Worlds - Dvd [1954]

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Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
After the success of 1950's Destination Moon and 1951's When Worlds Collide, visionary producer George Pal brought the classic HG Wells story of a Martian invasion to the big screen, and it instantly became a science-fiction classic and winner of the 1953 Academy Award for Best Special Effects. It's a work of frightening imagination, with its manta-ray spaceships armed with cobra-like probes that shoot a white-hot disintegration ray. As formations of alien ships continue to wreak destruction around the globe, the military is helpless to stop this enemy while scientists race to find an effective weapon. Gene Barry and Ann Robinson play the hero and heroine roles that werede rigueur for movies like this in the 50s, and their encounter with one of the Martians is as creepy today as it was in 1953. It finally takes an unseen threat--simple Earth bacteria--to conquer the alien invaders, but not before War of the Worlds has provided a dazzling display of impressive visual and sound effects. This is a movie for the ages, the kind of spectacle that inspired little kids such as Steven Spielberg (not to mention Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, whose Independence Day is a remake in all but name) and still packs a punch. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Special Features
1.33 Full Screen
DVD 5
French\German\Italian\Spanish
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital Stereo English\Dolby Digital Mono English French German Italian Spanish
Dolby Digital Stereo
Dolby Digital Mono
Theatrical Trailer
Danish\Dutch\English\Finnish\French\German\Italian\Norwegian\Portuguese\Spanish\Swedish\Turkish


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Customer Reviews

23 Reviews
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 (11)
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (23 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Dated but fun film, 17 Dec 2002
By A Customer
When this film first came out it was considered so terrifying that it was given an x cirtificate. Now it's shown at tea time and is given a PG. How things change.
There are some changes to the book by changing the setting to America and changing some details in the middle. The walking machines are changed to flying machines for the sake of filming. Walking machines would be near impossible to film when this film was made. Walking machines would be laughably bad to watch. It was difficult enough to film walking machines (especially with three legs) in the 1980's for the Tripods TV series.
The powerful ending is still more or less the same. Like all sci fi films seen many years later it's almost cute because it's so dated. However it's not too bad and it's still a fun film to watch. It keeps it's pace throughout.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Earth versus the Enemy Unknown, 4 Aug 2003
Sensationally good, this is one of the all-time greatest sci-fi films. The visual effects are years ahead of their time; the battle sequences are nothing short of brilliant, and the first face-to-face contact with an alien is completely terrifying. The acting is convincing throughout - even the script is pretty good! Despite its age this film is far suprior to such modern "classics" as Starship Troopers or Independence Day, the latter of which was supposed to be a remake of War of the Worlds. Anyone who even vaguely enjoys sci-fi is going to have a fantastic time with this film.
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40 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Dire DVD of an Entertain and Influential Film, 19 Aug 2003
By Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
If you have a VHS version with which you are satisfied, hang on to it: the DVD release of 1953's WAR OF THE WORLDS is a slipshod and very shabby affair.

Loosely based on the classic H.G. Wells novel, WAR OF THE WORLDS moves the original story from late 19th Century England to 1950s California, where a group of scientists confront an invasion from Mars. Arriving in meteor-like projectiles and sweeping across the landscape in strange, birdlike machines armed with death-rays, the Martians prove invincible to human attack. How can mankind survive?

The great attraction of the film is its special effects, which is early 1950s state-of-the-art in its combination of rear-screen projections, miniatures, and truly imaginative design. But the film also has an additional interest, for it is very much of its time, presenting us with some of the most relentlessly stereotypical characters to ever reach the screen. This is particularly true in terms of gender roles, for seldom has any film before or after created such a hysteria-prone and clinging leading lady as Sylvia Van Buren, played here by the hapless Ann Robinson. Not only would the special effects and story prove tremendously influential, so too would the film's gender stereotyping. While the slightly earlier THE THING offered a strong female lead, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS would generally set the tone for every sci-fi leading lady well into the 1960s.

But all of this is analytical criticism. We may hoot a bit at the incredibly broad performances, the frequently silly dialogue, and the truly ludicrous gender roles, but WAR OF THE WORLDS is a tremendous amount of fun to watch. It makes you want to break out a bag of popcorn and curl up with friends and family in true Saturday matinee fashion. And it is a great pity that the DVD release is so... well... dire.

The DVD was transferred from a poor-condition print riddled with artifacts. In an effort to compensate for this, the technicians have toyed with the contrast, and as a result the picture quality varies from foggy to grainy--and in the process quite often reveals the wires used to manipulate the famous Martian machines. Adding insult to injury, the technicians have also fiddled with the color balance, often reducing the film's brilliant colors to a grayish hues. There are also problems with the sound; when I watched the DVD I found that the sound levels of several scenes were so faint I had to turn up the volume... and then, quite naturally, when the soundtrack returned to normal the blast almost blew me through the wall.

It seems almost beside the point to note that there are no bonus features beyond the original movie trailer--which, sadly, is in better visual condition than the film itself. I purchased this DVD with the idea of replacing my VHS copy, but it was money wasted. Get the VHS and hope that someday someone will give this film the DVD release it deserves.

--GFT (Amazon.com Reviewer)--

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars The fear ideology of H.G. Wekls shows too much
The original novel by H.G. Wells reveals the darkest side of the author, his extreme fear of extra-terrestrials and his hatred for all those who could bring the human "race" down,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jacques COULARDEAU

5.0 out of 5 stars War of the Worlds as it should be.
This DVD release is great. The movie is back in its true glory as only seen when shown on the big screen. Now you can see it in all its Technicolor glory. Read more
Published 21 months ago by M. A. Ramos

2.0 out of 5 stars oh dear!
Ok, i won't complain about the effects etc because to give it credit, it is old. However this movie just isn't worth the time of spending over one hour watching. Read more
Published on 1 April 2007 by crazykat

5.0 out of 5 stars Out of this World
"War of the Worlds" was released in the mid-50's and film technology has made great advances since that time. Read more
Published on 2 Sep 2005 by C. K. Harrison

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastika!
What can I say. 1950's film, feels like a classic Star Trek episode, sounds like an episode of the classic Battlestar Gallactica and is about as scary as Finding Nemo. Read more
Published on 26 Jul 2005 by Cannonade

5.0 out of 5 stars War Of The Worlds
I Thought This Movie Was Amazing When I seen It! It's Brilliant For a 1954 Movie. It has Really Good Special Effects and A lot Of Action. Read more
Published on 25 Jul 2005

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the basis of all total Si Fi movies
We rented this to see the original before going to our local cinima to see the latest version. We suggested you rent this as it is easy to see the clues taken from this movie for... Read more
Published on 20 Jul 2005 by Mr. Paul Higbee

5.0 out of 5 stars ACE!!!!
A suberb movie! Watched this years ago and still enjoy this just as much. Ace effects for the time full of technicoulour brilliance. Read more
Published on 13 Jul 2005 by bombamon

4.0 out of 5 stars All we can do is pray for a miracle
This is a film that I've watched and enjoyed many times since I was a child - and I'm almost as old as the film. Martians leave their dying planet to colonise Earth. Read more
Published on 10 April 2005 by Sally-Anne

4.0 out of 5 stars We'll find their mortal weaknesses and destroy them that way
With the big budgeted blockbuster Tom Cruise vehicle entering cinemas in June, it's only fitting that one should revisit this newly released 1953 classic where aliens - perhaps... Read more
Published on 4 April 2005 by M. J Leonard

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