Flying machine (The War of the Worlds) far been depicted once on screen in Pendragon Pictures "H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds", where it makes an appearance after the battle with , which is later recounted from the perspective of the artilleryman. However, it appeared briefly in the live adaptation of "Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds", though the album itself does not make any reference to the flying machine. Many more of them appeared in the "New Generation" version of the stage show. Viewed edge on, the roughly boomerang-shaped war machines of George Pal's 1953 film, which bear no resemblance to
The War of the Worlds the serialisation in the "New York Evening Journal". "The War of the Worlds" was generally received very favourably by both readers and critics upon its publication. There was however some criticism of the brutal nature of the events in the narrative. Between 1871 and 1914 over 60 works of fiction for adult readers describing invasions of Great Britain were published. The seminal work was "The Battle of Dorking" (1871) by George Tomkyns Chesney, an army officer. The book portrays a surprise German attack, with a landing on the South coast of England, made possible by the distraction of the Royal