Criterion's edition is spectacular.
“The War of the Worlds” (1953) took a long time to make it to the big screen. Written in 1897 by H.G. Wells, the novel had a number of producers and scriptwriters assigned over time, but those projects never saw fruition. It was George Pal at Paramount Studios who succeeded in transferring the book to the screen, updating its Victorian time period and English setting to then-contemporary America.<br /><br />A mysterious object lands in a small town in California. Clocks, watches, and electricity have stopped. Curiosity seekers gather around one of the objects, in a pit covered with dirt and debris and sizzling hot. Nuclear physicist Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry), on a fishing trip nearby, is intrigued by the object and speculates that it might have come from Mars, the closest planet to Earth. Forrester meets Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson), one of the first to arrive at the crash site. A trio of men are enlisted to guard the object while the rest of the crowd head back to town to enjoy a square dance.<br /><br />Later that night, there is movement in the object and a disc at the top appears to be unscrewing. The three guards, hoping to get their names in the newspaper, try to make contact. Carrying a makeshift white flag, they approach the pit. A cobra-like device rises from the opening and vaporizes them with its heat ray.<br /><br />The military is called in. Eventually curved flying objects rise slowly from the pit as the army and the Martians exchange fire, with the Martians overwhelming even the latest earthly weapons. Soon, every nation on earth is being attacked.<br /><br />In one chilling encounter with the alien, Forrester wounds it and obtains a sample of its blood. He takes it to Los Angeles for testing, hoping to discover the aliens’ weaknesses.<br /><br />The script by Barre Lyndon moves briskly and is at its best in the action sequences. Shot mostly at Paramount studios and its back lot, the 85-minute film belies its limited budget with dazzling special effects as the seemingly powerless earthlings wage an ever-losing battle against the Martians’ superior firepower and machines of destruction.<br /><br />Forrester and Sylvia are conveniently thrown together as they try to elude the roaming machines. This aspect appears contrived. For a couple of people who have just met, there’s an unusually strong bond between them. Barry is effective as the scientist, with a pair of glasses emphasizing his intelligence and authority. Robinson is not the best actress but is pleasant to look at. In her intense scenes, she is over the top, shrieking and widening her eyes in horror. Her basic emotion is hysteria.<br /><br />The Martian aircraft are beautifully designed by Albert Nozaki and convey both menace and awe. Slow moving, they hover like helicopters but seem to be supported by invisible beams as they deliberately move through the countryside and down Los Angeles streets. Their bright yellow heat rays and deep green skeleton rays shoot from the cobra head and the tips of the aircraft, destroying everything in their path.<br /><br />In terms of 1950s science fiction films, “The War of the Worlds” is one of the best. Director Byron Haskin prioritized special effects above performance, knowing this is what audiences would pay to see. The film follows Wells’ explanation of how the Martians are eventually defeated. This was unusual for the period, since such movies typically concocted an explosive last-minute method to destroy the monster and save the day.<br /><br />Just as Orson Welles updated his 1938 radio adaptation of “War of the Worlds” to contemporary times, George Pal drew upon concerns of the Eisenhower era — the Cold War, space travel, and purported sightings of flying saucers. The film has endured the test of time because of its lean screenplay, memorable special effects, and optimistic ending.<br /><br />The Blu-ray release, featuring 1080p resolution, is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.37:1. Opening credits jump out in deep red block letters that quickly change to green. The rest of the credits are in bold primary colors and often flash as if by periodic lightning strikes. The painting of Mars by Chesley Bonestall, which tended to look more blue than red in the Paramount/Imprint release, now has the appropriate reddish hue, with a touch of blue and a white polar ice cap, and is once again the Red Planet. The other Bonestall paintings are beautiful, especially the surface of Jupiter with its mountains and lava cascading down a steep cliff, and the clouds of cosmic dust surrounding Saturn. The Martian war machines have a green “cockpit” and green tips which fire off their deadly, spasmodic skeleton rays. The heat ray is a series of bright yellow streams that appear to be the Martians’ equivalent of a shotgun, since the rays disperse over a wide area. Faces feature a creamy texture, and details of clothing, especially in the square dance sequence, show up nicely. In a scene with Forrester and Sylvia hiding in the farmhouse as the alien examines the structure, its three eyes are reflected on their faces as they attempt to avoid detection. This effect is repeated later as intense white light on Forrester’s face reflects an atomic bomb explosion. Cinematographer George Barnes creates a suspenseful moment when an ominous shadow approaches as the two try to find a way out of the surrounded farmhouse. The effect of the heat ray is shown as weapons and soldiers turn green, then bright white, and then disappear, an impressive effect for the early 1950s. The rich Technicolor photography shows off the special effects to maximum advantage. “The War of the Worlds” is one of only a handful of 1950s science fiction films that were made in color.<br /><br />There are two audio tracks on the Criterion Collection release: English LPCM 1.0 and English DTS-High Definition Master Audio 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are available for the main feature. Both tracks feature clear dialogue, but the 5.1 track does give the film greater depth. The sounds of the Martian machines really come front and center. The intermittent sound of the heat-ray eye, the levitation tone, the heat ray warming up and firing, and the pulsating skeleton ray come across effectively. Sound mixing combines all of these when the Martians attack, providing an unsettling cacophony of destruction. The Martian capsules crashing on Earth are somewhat disappointing and sound kind of muted, when a bigger “boom” might have been more fitting.<br /><br />Bonus materials on the unrated Criterion Collection Blu-ray release include an audio commentary, a featurette on the film’s visual and sound effects, a program about the movie’s restoration, audio interview with producer George Pal, a making-of documentary from 2005, the original radio adaptation of “The War of the Worlds,” a radio show from 1940 featuring a discussion between Orson Welles and H.G. Wells, theatrical trailer, and a booklet with a critical essay.
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 {"Genre": "Science Fiction & Fantasy, Horror", "Format": "Blu-ray, Subtitled", "Contributor": "Ann Robinson, Byron Haskin, Robert Cornthwaite, Les Tremayne, Vernon Rich, H.G. Wells, Henry Brandon, Sandro Giglio, Gene Barry, William Phipps, Paul Frees, Cedric Hardwicke, Houseley Stevenson Jr., Jack Kruschen, Lewis MartinAnn Robinson, Byron Haskin, Robert Cornthwaite, Les Tremayne, Vernon Rich, H.G. Wells, Henry Brandon, Sandro Giglio, Gene Barry, William Phipps, Paul Frees, Cedric Hardwicke, Houseley Stevenson Jr., Jack Kruschen, Lewis Martin  See more", "Studio": "The Criterion Collection", "MPAA rating": "G (General Audience)", "Product Dimensions": "0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.89 Ounces", "Director": "Byron Haskin", "Media Format": "Blu-ray, Subtitled", "Release date": "July 7, 2020", "Actors": "Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, Robert Cornthwaite, Sandro Giglio", "Country of Origin": "USA", "Number of discs": "1"}

Here is a brief synopsis of the title : A mysterious, meteorlike object has landed in a small California town. All clocks have stopped. A fleet of glowing green UFOs hovers menacingly over the entire globe. The Martian invasion of Earth has begun, and it seems that nothing—neither military might nor the scientific know-how of nuclear physicist Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry)—can stop it. In the expert hands of genre specialists George Pal and Byron Haskin, H. G. Wells’s end-of-civilization classic receives a chilling Cold War–era update, complete with hallucinatory Technicolor and visionary, Oscar-winning special effects. Emblazoned with iconographic images of 1950s science fiction, The War of the Worlds is both an influential triumph of visual imagination and a still-disquieting document of the wonder and terror of the atomic age. Blu-Ray Special edition features • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack • New alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, created by sound designer Ben Burtt and presented in DTS-HD Master Audio • Audio commentary from 2005 featuring filmmaker Joe Dante, film historian Bob Burns, and author Bill Warren • Movie Archaeologists, a new program on the visual and sound effects in the film featuring Burtt and film historian Craig Barron • From the Archive, a new program about the film’s restoration featuring Barron, Burtt, and Paramount Pictures archivist Andrea Kalas • Audio interview with producer George Pal from 1970 • The Sky Is Falling, a 2005 documentary about the making of the film • The Mercury Theatre on the Air radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds from 1938, directed and narrated by Orson Welles • Radio program from 1940 featuring a discussion between Welles and H. G. Wells, author of the 1897 novel The War of the Worlds • Trailer • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing • Plus: An essay by film critic J. Hoberman..