Line #12 Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds1953


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2	[[caption-width-right:310: Once they begin to move, no more news comes out of that area.]]
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4	->''"In the First World War, and for the first time in the history of man, nations combined to fight against nations using the crude weapons of those days. The Second World War involved every continent on the globe, and men turned to science for new devices of warfare, which reached an unparalleled peak in their capacity for destruction. And now, fought with the terrible weapons of super-science, menacing all mankind and every creature on the Earth comes [[TitleDrop the War of the Worlds]]."''
5	-->-- '''OpeningNarration'''
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7	This 1953 ScienceFiction film is the first of several [[TheFilmOfTheBook screen adaptations]] of Creator/HGWells' [[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898 seminal alien invasion novel]], produced by Creator/GeorgePal and directed by Byron Haskin. It stars Creator/GeneBarry as the scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester[[note]]Yes, this is where ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' got the name[[/note]] and Creator/AnnRobinson as Sylvia Van Buren, as they must survive a full-scale invasion of Earth by Martian forces.
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9	It is a PragmaticAdaptation of the novel, taking only the premise and ending with little else from the source material. Nonetheless in an age of alien invasion films such as ''Film/EarthVsTheFlyingSaucers'', ''Invaders From Mars'' and ''Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld'' this film is regarded as one of the best of that category.
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11	Many years later the film would get a sequel in the form of a [[Series/WarOfTheWorlds1988 television series]]. Due to ScienceMarchesOn, the series {{RetCon}}ned several aspects from the original film, namely the aliens coming from the planet Mor-Tax instead of Mars. Elements of the film would also inspire future science-fiction media, such as ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'' and ''Film/IndependenceDay''.
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13	For the 2005 Creator/StevenSpielberg film, see ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds2005''.
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15	----
16	!!This film contains examples of:
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18	[[foldercontrol]]
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20	[[folder:Tropes A-M]]
21	* AdaptationExpansion: The movie gives a fairly decent look into the larger picture of the Martian invasion of Earth as we're shown glimpses and both some characters and the narrator mention of what's going on in other countries, whereas in the book the invasion was limited to Southeast England.
22	* AdaptationalBadass: Subverted. While the Martians themselves die the same way as in the novel, their war machines are a significant upgrade compared to the Tripods in the book due to having a protective shield allowing them to NoSell everything Humanity throws at them including a ''nuclear bomb''.
23	* AdaptedOut: Both the red weed and the factor of the Martians drinking human blood is nowhere to be seen.
24	* AdmiringTheAbomination: Dr. Forrester can't help but be fascinated by the Martians and their technology. Even when Sylvia tells him that she spotted one of the creatures nearby, he says that he needs to get a good look at them before they escape.
25	* AmericaSavesTheDay: Downplayed in that God himself is the one that truly "saves the day", but America is the nation that spearheads the fight against the Martians, including being the ones leading the research and using the (strangely untouched) city of Washington D.C. as the location where all information regarding the Martians from around the world is pooled to try to determine the best strategy.
26	* ApocalypseAnarchy: While driving to a lab in the mountains, looters scamper aboard Dr. Forrester's truck, throw him out of the cabin, unload the research equipment and samples, and drives off with anyone able to hang on. When someone tries to bribe his way on board, he's thrown off while being told that [[MoneyIsNotPower his money's now worthless.]]
27	* ArtisticLicenseSpace:
28	** Apparently whoever revised the opening narration just plumb ''forgot'' the existence of Venus when specifying why all other planets in the solar system except Earth are unsuitable for the Martians to migrate to. The Narrator's description of Jupiter actually fits Venus. [[note]] The omission of Venus is ironic as the novel implied that the Martians went there next, and succeeded in conquering it.[[/note]]
29	** The narrator also describes Jupiter as being Mars' closest neighbor, even though Earth is far closer.
30	* AudioAdaptation: Believe it or not, there was one done by Lux Radio Theater starring Dana Andrews as Forrester. Can be heard [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2cnntmB3Kw here]]
31	* BehindTheBlack: When the police and Dr. Forrester arrive at the landing site to find the deputies have been vaporized, they [[RuleOfDrama fail to notice]] the eye stalk looming over them, which should have been in full view.
32	* BeliefMakesYouStupid: Averted in a strange way. The source material (at least the second half) is a firm criticism of religion, and there are religious characters who eventually turn out unhinged and dangerous in the wake of the invasion. The film is almost the complete opposite - the main religious character is kind and righteous and is given a meaningful death (one that shows that the Martians are incapable of being approached in any peaceful fashion), and the closing narration comments on how the smallest creatures of God's kingdom defeated the invaders. Even in the original, despite his experience with the lunatic curate, the protagonist gives a prayer of gratitude for deliverance. And although it's far more leaning into the nature of a divine miracle in this story, the following is direct from the original story and is echoed in the movie's ending:
33	--> And scattered about it, some in their overturned war-machines, some in the now rigid handling-machines, and a dozen of them stark and silent and laid in a row, were the Martians--''dead!''--slain by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared; slain as the red weed was being slain; slain, after all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon this earth.
34	* BiologicalWeaponsSolveEverything: ZigZaggedTrope. The film maintains the original ending where the Martians die from regular Earth germs that humanity is immune to, but the emphasis here is that it's ''regular'' Earth germs. When nuking them does nothing, the military asks the scientist at Cal Tech to figure out a bio-warfare method to kill the Martians out of desperation... and the trucks carrying the equipment are robbed by desperate Angelenos trying to evacuate, destroying all of the equipment (in Forrester's words, "they sliced their own throats!"). The implication being that the bio-warfare attack ''would'' have worked, had the story not decided to stick to the original's ending and letting [[DeusExMachina God do the job]].
35	* ChekhovsGun: When Dr. Forrester brings a Martian probe with blood samples to a group of scientists, they see that the blood is highly anemic. This foreshadows how they were eventually killed by terrestrial bacteria.
36	* CitywideEvacuation: When the Martian war machines approach the city of Los Angeles, the population is evacuated to the nearby San Gabriel hills. The announcement is made via loudspeakers mounted on trucks.
37	-->''"Everybody, listen carefully! The Martians are coming this way! We must evacuate the city! Take food and water and extra clothing with you! All major highways have been marked to lead you to shelter and welfare centers in the hills!"''
38	* CoolPlane: A Northrop B-49 flying wing is used to drop the nuke on the Martians.
39	* DarkestHour: The film's final act is among the darkest and bleakest acts ever put into a 50's alien invasion film. There's absolutely no hope left for humanity, and the protagonist's only goal is to spend the remaining minutes of his life with his loved one. Fortunately, like in the book, things take a turn for the better at the very end, if through no effort of humanity's own.
40	* DawnAttack: During the night before the big Marines/Martian battle, General Mann says "They'll probably move at dawn." He turns out to be correct: the Martian war machines start to move out as the light of dawn appears in the east.
41	* DefiantToTheEnd: General Mann declares that the army will establish a defensive line and fight the Martians for as long as they can while civilians are evacuated to the mountains, even after it's clear humanity's entire arsenal is useless.
42	* DeflectorShields: The Martian war machines have these, and they're powerful enough to be ImmuneToBullets as well as artillery and explosives, including the latest model of atomic bomb.
43	* DeusExMachina: [[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898 Like the book that inspired it]], the Martians are defeated, not in a final battle against humanity, but by germs.
44	* ExpositionIntuition: Doctor Forrester is able to deduce how the Martian heat ray works, how the war machines levitate, and even determines ''based on nothing more than seeing what we do'' that an alien weapon which causes its victims to light up with XRaySparks then fade to nothing works by "cutting across the lines of electromagnetic force" that holds matter together.
45	* FirstContact: The three men who see the meteor open up quickly realize they'll become famous for being the first to make contact with the Martians, only to be vaporized in response.
46	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: As a fire watcher phones in a report his companion peeks at his playing cards.
47	* HellIsThatNoise: The sounds of the Martian fighting machines moving and the sound of the heat ray firing-[[StockSoundEffects a sound that is now oft-copied]] as a generic "energy weapon" noise in homage.
48	* HeroicBSOD: Dr. Forrester suffers this after his truck is taken by rioters and he finds that Sylvia and the rest of his colleagues suffered the same fate. He is founded by a pair of [=MPs=] while the Martians destroy the city around them, ignoring their offer to flee in favor of finding Sylvia so that he won't die alone.
49	* HoverTank: The book's Tripods are changed here to what is more a style of tank that floats above the grounds on a trio of beams instead of legs.
50	* IdiotBall: Uncle Matthew approaches the war machines in a misguided attempt to parley with them. He says that no real attempt has been made to communicate with the Martians, even though they've fired unprovoked on people who come near the cylinder and there are reports of them leaving a path of destruction in their wake. Although, in fairness, Uncle Matthew is well aware that they could easily decide to kill him. He recites [[Literature/BookofPsalms Psalm 23]] as he approaches the Martian War Machines.
51	* MoneyIsNotPower: As Los Angeles is being evacuated, people are rioting in the streets. One guy tries to buy his way onto a truck, only to be thrown off while being told "Money's no good anymore!"
52	* MonumentalDamage: The Eiffel Tower gets its upper half torn off as seen in photos during the debriefing in Washington and is later shown fully burnt by the end in the ruins of Paris, and the Taj Mahal ends up destroyed as well. Likewise in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles City Hall gets destroyed during the climatic raid. [[note]]Since it was the only landmark the city had back in TheFifties, as the Hollywood Sign and the US Bank Tower wouldn't be built until decades later.[[/note]] Oddly enough Washington went untouched.
53	* MythologyGag:
54	** The scene where the reporter's transmission is cut short during the plane observation by his equipment getting destroyed by the heat-ray is a deliberate reference to Carl Phillips' fate from the 1938 radio adaptation.
55	** The Martian war machines are still ''technically'' tripods, just using "legs" of electromagnetic force instead of mechanical legs. The three beams are quite visible in the first appearance of the machines, and the "ports" they emanate from are clearly depicted.
56	[[/folder]]
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58	[[folder: Tropes N-Z]]
59	* NuclearCandle: When the lights go out at the square dance, a candle is lit - lighting the room far brighter than a candle should.
60	* NukeEm: The military tries to kill one of the tripods using a nuke, when all other weapons have been exhausted. When the shields of the Martians turns that into a NoSell, Forrester says that attacking the machines is of no use, and they need to focus on trying to kill the Martians themselves (through biological warfare).
61	* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Sort of; it's more of an omnidisciplinary lab group: Forrester, an astrophysicist, is not only in the same department but actually shares the same lab space with an electrical engineer and a biochemist.
62	* PragmaticAdaptation:
63	** The original novel took place in late 1800s England and the aliens piloted towering tripod walkers. This film takes place in 1950s California, and the aliens pilot hovering manta-ray/scorpion spacecraft.
64	** Originally the spacecrafts were meant to be tripods, but since a tripod effect was difficult to achieve, the film instead states that the spacecraft hover via invisible tripod "stilts". In a few shots you can see vague outlines of the "stilts" along with sparks on the ground.
65	** In the novel, the fighting machines were NOT ImmuneToBullets, they were just too fast and agile for contemporary artillery to hit before being overwhelmed (in fact, at least two of the tripods are destroyed in the book - one by a lucky artillery shot, the other by a ship that manages to close the distance before opening fire). This had to be changed to keep it believable that the 1950s army doesn't mop the floor with them immediately.
66	** The novel also featured three different forms of spacecraft as opposed to just one. Besides the Tripod, the novel also featured a "Handling Machine", as well as a flying spacecraft of its own.
67	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: General Mann is deeply concerned for the safety of civilians in the face of the Martian onslaught, wanting Los Angeles to be ready to evacuate on a moment's notice. He also tells Dr. Forrester that his science team is now humanity's last hope.
68	* RuleOfThree
69	** The Martian cylinders come down in groups of three. Each cylinder carries the components for three war machines. Once deployed, the machines operate in groups of three.
70	** When searching for Sylvia, Forrester enters three churches, finding her in the third.
71	** The Martians eye has 3 pupils and their probe have 3 lenses, presumably because their natural eyes do. Lampshaded by Forrester.
72	** They also have 3 fingers. The Martians' grouping of 3 is Lampshaded by Bilderbeck.
73	** The Martian war machines have three beam shooters (the heat ray on the "eye stalk", and two disintegrators), and projects three hovering beams underneath (in place of the novel's three legs).
74	* ScreamingWoman: When Forrester and Sylvia encounter a Martian in the flesh, Sylvia at least waits until it's driven away to lose her composure. But when she does, her wailing is downright blood-curling.
75	* SensoryTentacles: A viewing device attached to a long cable was inserted into the farmhouse where Professor Forrester and Sylvia van Buren were hiding. Professor Forrester manages to sever the device with a crowbar and escape with it.
76	* StockFootage: The scenes of people listening to the radio, along with some of the destruction footage, were taken from Pal's previous film ''Film/WhenWorldsCollide''. Footage from World War II was also added in.
77	* TooDumbToLive: Yes, it's a noble thing Matthew did, but he apparently forgot three ''other'' people had already approached the machines with peaceful intentions and been ''summarily erased.'' Why exactly did he think it'd go any different for him? Faith, apparently.
78	* TheWarRoom: We're treated to a war room in the Pentagon, including a [[TheBigBoard map of the world]] with [[SpreadingDisasterMapGraphic small black triangles indicating areas that have been wiped out]] by the Martians.
79	* WashingtonDCInvasion: Averted and even lampshaded: the Martians never mobilize towards the city, for some odd reason, and so this provides the opportunity to utilize it as the headquarters for the world-wide effort to fight the Martians.
80	* WatchTheWorldDie: When it's clear nothing can stop the Martians from destroying the cities, a lot of people can be seen camping out in the hills just outside UsefulNotes/LosAngeles.
81	* WaveMotionGun: The secondary weapon of the war machines, in the form of a DisintegratorRay - people, vehicles, even entire buildings vanish when they are hit by it, leaving no trace but an ashy silhouette. They still have their signature heat ray, which also qualifies. We never see ''anything'' survive being hit by either weapon.
82	* AWizardDidIt: Rather well put in-universe, actually. Dr. Forrester acknowledges that it doesn't matter if it ''should'' be possible or not if it's happening right in front of you.
83	-->'''Major General Mann:''' Pattern-wise, one lands, then two, making groups of threes joined magnetically. Is that possible?
84	-->'''Dr Clayton Forrester:''' If they do it, it is.
85	* WorthlessCurrency: Near the end of the film, a group of refugees starts looting a truck. When one of them offers another a generous amount of money in exchange for the goods, he is told that money is worth nothing anymore and thrown off the vehicle.
86	* XRaySparks: The Marine commander gets hit by a Martian DisintegratorRay right in front of the camera. As the ray takes effect, his skeleton shows through his glowing silhouette before he vanishes into nothingness.
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Context Film / TheWarOfTheWorlds1953