A fear-inducing opening enlightens the audience about Martians studying the earth and the human species as a scientist would bacteria in a Petri dish, as Earth is the only inhabitable planet.  Consequently, a meteor (we know differently!) lands outside a small Californian town inhabited by 99.99% Caucasians.  Maybe, the exaggerated number of Caucasians is an unconscious reflection on the European colonialism that ousted many native tribes in America while killing millions in the years before while it also brought Christianity to the American continent.  After all, H.G. Wells’ novel was a form of criticism of on the European colonization, and he reversed the table in The War of the Worlds.

Despite historical facts of alienation of natives in the United States, ironically the first three men (maybe a reference to the three wise men that visited Bethlehem) face the deadly rays of the Martians after have attempted to advance the aliens with friendly intentions sharing their Earth.  In a sense, the film both touches on and misses the big points of H.G. Wells’ novel, while it becomes a loose adaptation that depicts the world under siege, which brings the mind to the influences of time such as the recent World War II and the beginning the Cold War.  However, in this adaptation Haskin’s delivers both the negative and positive aspects of humanity with a significant trace by Christianity.

The story closely follows Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) who is on a fishing trip in the area of the first meteor landing in California.  The local government invites him to investigate the meteor, as he discovers that it is still extremely hot and emits radioactivity.  After a bout of square dancing, the invasion begins while Dr. Forrester offers his services to the local government and military.  However, it does not take long before they have to send for help and inform the President about their troubles, as another meteor lands nearby.

Humanity finds itself on the brink of extinction, as these newly arrived Martians have begun to eradicate all life on Earth.  People pray for an answer, while the Martians continue with their systematic genocide of the human race, and the humans cannot find a solution that would stop the invaders.  The destruction is close to complete, when the United States government realizes that there is no other way out than to use the atomic bomb.  The atomic bomb seems like a wondrous and simple solution, but the aftermath of an atomic bomb also has its cost.  Nonetheless, the decision is made, as the nation’s leaders do not see another solution to the invincible creatures, than to drop the bomb.

War of the Worlds does not look like much today, but in 1954, it won an Oscar for best special effects.  The film scared numerous viewers, including my grandfather, who I asked, and watched the film in his small local theater during a Sunday afternoon sometime in 1956.  The film efficiently applied the element of fear in way that suggested a presence of both immediate and looming fear, as if something terrible could happen while it occurs on the silver screen.  A similar fear raised the Iron Curtain between East and West.  The film ends with a vague moral that simultaneously presents both a blessing and a warning, as it should be pondered for the next generation.

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USA

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