This War has not one, but two prologues: one is a rousing March of Time-style newsreel, followed by a montage of Chesley Bonestell’s astronomical art that wonderfully evokes the mysterious vastness of our galaxy (as we then understood it), as well as explaining why the Martians chose our planet to conquer. Then a strange meteor crashes somewhere along the Southern California coast, not far from where Dr. Forrester and his colleagues have been camping.
Of course, that was no meteor—it was the first ship of the Martian armada in disguise. Forrester stays in town to examine the surprisingly radioactive space rock once it cools, but he won’t get the chance. At least he spends a pleasant evening with the locals, including USC library of science instructor Sylvia Van Buren and her uncle, Pastor Matthew Collins. Unfortunately, the Martians start zapping people and power grids during the square dance—and the devastation spreads exponentially as more ships land.
Arguably, Haskin & Pal’s War represents the best use of color in a genre film certainly during the 1950s, but perhaps of all time. The special effects won an Oscar and they continue to shape our visual image of Wells’ alien invasion tale. Like Orson Welles’ radio play and Spielberg’s mediocre remake, Barre Lyndon’s screenplay updates the story to its time of production, but it also departs from Wells’ original in a way that is decidedly for the better. The novel’s knee-jerk hostility to religion is gone, replaced by Lewis Martin’s sympathetic, heroic, and ultimately poignant portrayal of Pastor Collins. Since this is a review for hyperbole, let’s go ahead and say it could be the greatest supporting performance in a science fiction film.
