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THE WAR OF THE WORLDS – Leith Stevens
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1925 Paramount Pictures purchased the film rights to the 1897 H. G. Wells novel “War of the Worlds”. For twenty-six years the studio struggled due to technical challenges to bring the film into production under several producers – Cecil B. DeMille, Arzén Cserépy, Sergei Eisenstein, Alexander Korda, Watterson Rothacker and Alfred Hitchcock. Finally, in 1951, George Pal, who had gained success in the emerging science fiction genre with Destination Moon in 1950 and When Worlds Collide in 1951, was assigned production with a $2 million budget. Byron Haskin was tasked with directing, and Barré Lyndon would write the screenplay. Fort the cast, Pal once again went with lesser known actors, opting to maximize his budget for special effects. Gene Barry would star as Dr. Clayton Forrester, joined by Ann Robinson as Sylvia van Buren, Les Tremayne as Major General Mann, Bob Cornthwaite as Dr. Pryor, and Lewis Martin as Reverend Dr. Matthew Collins. Read more…
WAR OF THE WORLDS – John Williams
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
British author Herbert George Wells first published his alien invasion novel The War of the Worlds in 1898, and in so doing probably invented an entire genre of science fiction storytelling. When Orson Welles performed a live radio adaptation of the story on Halloween night in 1938, he famously scared half of the American public into thinking an actual alien invasion was taking place, such was the believability and sincerity in Welles’s performance. Director George Pal brought the story to life in 1953 in what is now regarded a landmark entry into cinematic science fiction. Composer Jeff Wayne wrote a popular and successful musical concept album in 1978, which featured a young George Fenton playing a variety of instruments. Now, director Steven Spielberg has brought the classic tale to the big screen once more in what promises to be the definitive cinematic retelling, with a starry cast and a budget to match. Read more…
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