World War B

Funny enough, I'd never seen The War of the Worlds (1953) or it's later incarnations, including radio plays. Reason enough to queue it up for Horrorween.

It starts with Sir Cedric Hardwicke giving a tour of the Solar System, illustrated by space artist Chesley Bonestell. He lets us know that Mars is a dying planet, and the inhabitants picked Earth as their new home. Soon, meteors are landing all over. In particular, in Southern California, near where nuclear scientist Gene Barry (Burke's Law) is fishing with some fellow scientists. After they and some local Army men poke at it a little, they put it under guard. I swear, if it hadn't been so hot, they probably would have licked it.

Anyway, a hatch in the meteor unscrewed, and out came a cute little flying metal manta ray, with a cobra head and a heat ray. This little fellow started killing everything around it, including a nice old pastor trying to reason with it. This sets up Barry as protector for his niece, Ann Robinson.

The Martians land all over the world, giving director Byron Haskin and particularly producer George Pal to destroy some miniatures and use some stock footage. Our weapons are powerless against them, and the world seems lost. Then, a miracle - you know the rest.

If you like 1950s scifi, you'll probably like this - I do and I did. It isn't great, but a lot of fun, especially Gene Barry's stolid cheesiness. Best of all for you MST3K fans, his character is named Dr. Clayton Forrester - first in a long line of mad scientists!