Every War Of The Worlds Adaptation: Ranked Worst To Best
3. The Classic Film
The first version of The War Of The Worlds to come to our screens is perhaps one of the least closely aligned to Wells's original vision (well, except for that weird Polish media satire), but it has nevertheless established itself as an enormously influential classic on its own terms.
The 1953 film, from big name sci-fi producer George Pal and filmed in glorious technicolour, came to define a lot of how 1950s sci-fi alien invasion stories looked, felt and even sounded (the shriek of the Martian death ray became the standard sound for sci-fi blaster weapons for years afterwards). It drops Wells' tripods (too difficult to achieve with the effects technology of 1953), but its eerie hovering manta ray-shaped ships with their green glow became iconic in their own way anyway.
Wells would not have had a lot of time for turning his vision of the clergy as largely ineffectual and cowardly into a "God saved us all" kind of conclusion, which is just one way in which the film's message is a little hokey. Meanwhile, its visual effects may have been Oscar winning at the time, but have not aged brilliantly. Nevertheless the 1950s War Of The Worlds remains a classic of its type.