Special Effects for "War Of The Worlds" (1953)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- Fascinating and very informative documentary about the making of special and visual effects for one of the best and most influential motion pictures in the movie history - George Pal's "War Of The Worlds" (1953). The documentary refers to the making of innovative special effects and giving background information by providing some illuminating facts about the production. Commentaries by actress Ann Robinson (Sylvia Van Buren), special effects historian Bob Burns, assistant director Mickey Moore and amongs them, a few words from two times Academy Award Winner - visual effects designer Robert Skotak from 4-Ward Productions, Inc., who participated in creation of such modern classics and visually astonishing films as "Aliens" (1986), "The Abyss" (1989) and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" (1991).
This cut is from the video documentary "The Sky Is Falling: Making "War Of The Worlds" (1995).
www.imdb.com/ti...
The martian war machines in this film are still the most awesome looking ships I have ever seen. This movie still rocks!
Not bad for 1953!
What about the tripods in the 2005 version?
They were more impressive on Robinson Crusoe On Mars, without the goose-necked ray-gun
@@MsXizan Not bad for NOW.
I have 3. Occasionally have to reglue a part. The plastic is different stuff
This movie was so good even for 1953. In terms of special effects, script and story, acting, and directing. Its just so good. It was ahead of its time. The kind of movie you can watch over and over.
The ambition of it is remarkable. This movie practically invented the modern alien invasion film. Absolutely amazing!
@Marvel Fan dude, the movie was made in the 50s, of course the effects aren't always gonna age well
@@MegaCrocosaurus92 It was the book this movie is based which invented modern alien invasion film.
I remember when I was about 10 years old. Our family went to New York to visit my father's older sister who lived on Long Island. My father took us to Times Square and playing was "The War of the Worlds." The photo of the theater brought up what I recall of that time. I asked my father if we could see the movie. He looked at his watch and said, "The prices have changed." The matinee price was out at the time. I had to wait something like 2 years before the film got to our local theater. It was always one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time.
Well, it's science fiction, OF COURSE it was ahead of its time. That's the definition of science fiction. You wouldn't say it was behind its time, would you?
Ann Robinson aged extremely well. And at 93, she lives on. Gene Barry died at age 90, but will live on forever in film.
5:10 Such a shame that the original martian ships got melted down. They should have ended up in the Smithsonian.
+Catzilla check out the ships in ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS - directed by Haskin!
Encore1234567890 definitely. When I’m reading _War of the Worlds_ or _Massacre of Mankind_ , I can’t help but picture the 1953 ships whenever the Martian flying machine makes an appearance.
The sleazo Canadians made fiberglass copies for their TV series from 1988
@wayne pitty MOST movie props were just pitched after a movie was made. The films were tossed after the initial run. The idea of TV and re-runs never occurred to a studio. Almost all of 20th Century Fox's productions of the 1930s were simply thrown out by the studio, lost forever.
@Dennis Mitchell Forrest J Ackerman
This movie for 1953 is outstanding for it's special effects. It puts many of those today using CGI to shame.
The problem with CGI is that there is Too much of it. The CGI effects today doesn't look realistic. Looks less real than the special effects 70 years ago.
Wouldn't go that far, you can clearly see the buildings are models. The Tom cruise version has much better effects
For 1953 those effects were truly amazing.
This movie along with The Day the Earth Stood Still are both groundbreaking and timeless. Much better than today's sci fi efforts
These FX were excellent, todays are excellent. One builds on the other. The effects of today would not exist without these people, same people with a love of the art of SFX, just another generation.
Don't forget Forbidden Planet too.
Don’t forget Forbidden Planet!
It's not just the effects that made them great. They had terrific scripts and were well acted and directed. They also let the imagination work! That is so important for such films. Today, everything is thrown in your face. One does not need imagination.
Why make it a competition? There's plenty of amazing modem sci-fi with incredible digital effects.
If you can't say something nice about one thing without shitting on another, then don't speak.
I love how Ann Robinson says "No computer had to do that!"
You are using a computer every day: your phone. 😂
this movie definitely deserved to win an oscar for best visual effects it's both a great story with ground breaking visuals, sound effects, and mother ships that look so amazing
@@runidjurhuus3937 yes
Oscars wins don't indicate quality.
This movie scared the crap out of me as a kid in the early 1960s. Still holds up today. Love it.
I saw it when it was released, and it scared the crap out of me too. All kinds of space invasion movies were coming out at that time. I loved them all, but this was one of the best.
An incredible film that will always be the ultimate alien invasion film. Ann Robinson & Gene Barry had great chemistry and the story that they were a part of makes this one of the best Sci Fi movies of all time.
Agent 86 yes they are great films but have become quite outdated with some of the sci fi films now and the effects we can do always got these old guys hating on cgi when there is actually a lot of good films with them even the 2005 war of the worlds had great special effects in it
This is why its still watchable today
The sound effects in this movie were incredible. The eerie sound the tripods made when they moved and the sounds when they fired their ray guns were so good.
War of the Worlds, The Thing From Another World, Body Snatchers and The Day The Earth Stood Still are my all-time favorite and always will be - what I consider the definitive classic sci-if’s. Todays stuff can’t touch ‘em.
Agree but would add This Island Earth. Who doesn’t want to build their own interocitor !!!
*It Came from Outer Space.* - Not great with special effects but set a mark of it's own. The professor from Gilligan's Island was in the movie.
@@JamminClemmons yes. Russell Johnson. He was in This Island Earth also.
I’ve watched them on the tv when I was a kid. Now I have war of the worlds.the thing and the day the earth stood still on dvd. I would get them out and watch them. I know the made reboots of these movies and watched them, but I like the originals.
Don't forget Forbidden Planet!!
It just goes to show that good design lives forever. Those flying machines are still beautiful and elegant today. I never tire of seeing the 1953 War of the Worlds. The later one with Tom Cruise was pale in comparison.
I know this might be unfair, but i think this one pales in comparison to the Spielberg film. I really love this movie and the effects are incredible for it's time, but the newer one is closer to the book and the characters are better imo.
SoundsOfMars 2000-Except for that damn kid! The other thing that bothered me was no matter Cruise drove that minivan it was obstacle free. Even when the airliner was knocked out of the sky, with all that debris around the house, there was still a clear lane for Tom!
@@tiggersboy Yes, it has flaws. I really hate that Tom Cruise plays the role of the lead character, he breaks my immersion. Also, how the hell did Robbie survive?!
@@tiggersboy Which kid do you mean? Do you mean Rachel? I didn't find her annoying like everyone else did. She acted just like a kid would have during an alien invasion.
@@timrosswood4259 It's too bad that the 2005 movie is stupid, with logical inconsistencies that boggle the mind the moment you give them any kind of thought beyond a superficial level. The aliens had to - HAD TO - land in some kind of mother ships for credibility's sake, because the replacement methodology for their arrival would require them to be clairvoyant over "millions of years", and even THAT makes no sense. Why send fighting machines to battle creatures that didn't even exist yet when you sent them? And who buried them, and why? If you landed on the planet when there were no humans, or extremely primitive human ancestors at the very least, in order to bury the machines, why not just invade it then? Spielberg didn't want to fall back on the "trope" of aliens landing, but for the aliens to have watched us for millions of years, when they could have teleported to vehicles they didn't even know they would need long before they needed them when they sent them, is inconceivably, flabbergastingly moronic. Spielberg set Friedman and Koepp an impossible task, and it just doesn't work.
For me is the most spectacular
film of science fiction for all time
thanks mister pal for you movies
6:28
You can tell that she tried not to say "scared the piss out of me" right there, lol.
1953... little to no computers and yet still intrigues and sends shivers down your spine.
Well no computers they had access to. The ones that did exist( like the Univacs) filled rooms.
I was 10 when I saw this film in its first re-release to theaters in 1958. Trust me when I say that the effect on all of us kids who saw it was electrifying, scary, and absolutely impressive! A major afternoon at the movies! Nozaki's manta-like war machines were spectacularly alien then, and after 70 years, they manage somehow in 2022 to exude that same timeless strangeness and malevolence.
Agreed. And the sounds the alien weapons made were out of this world too!
I'm only twenty-six and have seen every ****ing horror movie you can imagine from hostel to saw to all sorts of Japanese horror movies, but this was my worst nightmare, no; my WORST night-terror when I was a child. I can never shake the dread I feel when those machines on the march. they are in my deepest nightmares to this day, hunting me down without mercy.
Me too its shit me up.
For me it was the Flying Monkeys from wizard of Oz. I'm 52 and they creep me out to this day...
@@erikhafer1415 .....I was terrified of the flying monkeys also. It was made worse by my dad - who would tease me and my
brothers with " the monkey face spookers will get you" ! I woke up more than once - in the middle of the
night - screaming that the monkey face spookers were coming to get me !
One of the top 10 science-fiction movies ever made, in my opinion. When I saw it as a kid in the 1970's, it both amazed and terrified me. It is so creative and yet so believable. One of the great aspect is that the aliens have this three eyes structure, which they replicated in their machines! What great sci-fi!
I love the soldier pushing the burning papers off of the table while a guy is running around on fire.
That's dedication!
This is my all time favorite Si Fi movie, so Glad, I saw this! Thanks for the first special people who made the special effects at that time.
Charlie Gomora also created the Salt Vampire and the original Gorn for Star Trek TOS!
It was and still is one of my favorite movies from that era.
I love the special effects guy and his daughter. How lovely, and what an experience for a 12 year old.
30 years later, when they decided to make another War Of The Worlds movie, people would say shit like "the tom cruise version beats the 2043 version by a mile"
You don't have to wait 30 years. Now that the book's finally public domain and Jeff Wayne's stranglehold on the international rights is kaput, the BBC will be remaking it later this year in the original Victorian-Edwardian setting. So there'll be a more book-leaning version to have for comparison.
Quite frankly I hate the Tom Cruze version. Just like the Keanu Reeves version of The Day The Earth Stood Still,I hated it. There’s nothing like the original.
Will forever remain one of the greatest Sci Fi movies of all time.
This is my all time favorite Sci Film. Much better then any remake made today.
I agree with WOTWs, but you cannot argue that ALL remakes are bad? The Thing was an incredible remake.
Hands down BEST SCI FI movie of the 50s...The effects , cinematography,Awesome COLOR and those classic machines. Just wish Bob Burns did NOT have a part in this Lil' docu' He is just an overrated collector that stores HISTORIC items in his BASEMENT.. all over the floor and deprives the adoring public to see these things that have become national treasures. I of course refer to the King Kong armature that should be housed in the Smithsonian...not in this seriously selfish guy that so many of these treasures were SHARED with him. You can't take it with you Bob...so just go away already and leave these things to the places where the WORLD can appreciate them. That felt really GOOD!!!
Still one of my favorites.
The alien encounter still freaks me out to this day. That scream it makes! :(
[Reeeees in Martian]
REEEEAAAAAAAAARGH
I was 5 years old in 1970 when my parents let me watch this for the first time. It scared the living sh*t out of me. I think it's the only movie to ever do so. But it also hooked me on sci-fi, especially space-related sci-fi. It was and is an amazing film.
What I love about the Tom Cruise version of the film apart from the jacket which I bought from Wested Leather, is that Ann Robinson and Gene Barry played the grandparents which I thought was a great nod to the original film.
Movie paramount pictures.
The Martian "Swan Ship" is the most graceful, beautiful and frightening weapon of war ever created.
This is truly a great film. Truly. It was not, however, the first scifi film. There was A Trip to the Moon in 1902 by by Georges Méliès, and also Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS in 1927. Additionally there were all the Buck Rogers films, from 1939. Perhaps War of the Worlds really opened Hollywood's eyes to the financial potential of the genre, but it was not the first in its genre. That said, it is indeed a masterwork which perhaps paved the way for this sector of the industry.
Which God and his wisdom, had pout upon this earth...
One of my favorite movies of all time.
One of my favorite movies of all time. I was an 80s kid and despite all the movies out at the time I still rented this every chance I got. This is what got me interested in HG Wells and WotW. I've read the book multiple times. The 2005 adaptation was pretty good but this is the best one. I had no idea they originally wanted the walking tripods but couldn't afford it so they went with flying machines. I always tell people that it's not terribly off because at the end of the original book they found flying machine prototypes that the Martians were working on but never finished before they got sick.
In the book there is mention of a working flying machine
A movie decades ahead of its time.
Why isn't this classic film out on blu ray ?
I for one think both the 1953 and the 2005 films are great. Only strike against the Spielberg film is that the aliens aren't as good as the aliens from the George Pal film and I wish Spielberg had used & updated the alien design from the 1953 film.
I've always wondered what Orson Welles thought of the 1953 WAR OF THE WORLDS film because of the 1938 Halloween radio broadcast that he did. It would be interesting to find out if he enjoyed the film or not. Hopefully he did. What's not to like?
Bruh
A true classic.
The first time l saw this movie was in 1967 on NBC Tuesday Night Movie. I was over at a friend's house and we watched it together. Unfortunately, we had to watch it in black & white, but we still enjoyed the movie. I still enjoy it, 46 years later.
My dad was a sci fi freak and I remember seeing this which was 20 years old before I was born, lol.
Great seeing all the talented people who put this together. Hard work!!!
I'm 63 now in 2020. I believe I may have been around 10 (1967) when I first saw this film. It was scary for a 10 year old. I watched the movie several times thereafter and looked forward to see it. The special effects were outstanding for a picture made in 1953. Same for Forbidden Planet. I saw the Tom Cruise movie as well and of course Mr. Spielberg did a fine job. The second movie was darker with more humanity throughout I think. I liked both and both great movies for their timeframe.
This makes me emotional. Such an amazing movie and such amazing people made it happen ♥️
Practical effects FTW!
Am I the only one who was a little sad during the evacuation sequence? I don't know if I was sad during it or scared, but they were probably going for horror for this movie likely.
It shows the tragedy of war moreso than films that focus on action shots.
Best sci fi sound ever those heat rays have.
3 electric guitars on reverb in reverse.
@@JAMESLEVEE really, cool, thanks.
I always imagined it was the sped up sound of a hard-starting Chevy
Remember seeing as youngster, was awesome then still awesome now!⭐⭐⭐
The WAR OF THE WORLDS,FORBIDDEN PLANET, and a lot of other films are still the best ever made.
The scene where she reminisces about her Uncle Matthew must have been restored, because I remember it.
Everything was better in the past…this proves that film studio artist were better in the old days…when special effects were real hand’s sculpting art (called practical effects)with artistic ‘blood , sweat & tears’.
I love the sound that came out of the alien crafts glowing green wing tip weapons, definitely out of this world!
My favourite film of all time👽👽👽
Fascinating! Thanks for posting this. Great movie. Far superior to that Tom Cruise piece of crap.
Shut up
Why arent movies done like this today ? Forget all that cgi crap. Go back to doing it good
Still the best Sifi film ever alien ships never been beaten for effect
I must agree with you all. I've been watching this movie in awe & admiration since I was a little guy in the 50's. They did a brilliant job on this film that will always stand the test of time. Even with what we know about particle beams & plasma bolts,etc nowadays. Pretty darn close. I have it on DVD with this making of in it's entirety on it. I'll have a book coming out soon on Kindle Fire where I try to follow in HG's & George Orwell's footsteps. I'll have to go some to equal this kind of brilliance...
We didn't have micro computers & CGI back then. remember that before criticising. And modern remakes of it pale by comparison. This is brilliant by the old standards of moviemaking. And the new one doesn't use the same machines, but modern adaptations of the ones in the book I have by HG.
i admire the suit driver actors . period . takes a special kind of person to do that.
This is what happens when imagination and brilliant artistry combine to triumph over practical constraints and achieve powerful, lasting impact. I almost feel sorry for young folks who grew up watching lavish SFX and photorealistic CGI and believe this to be cheesy and inferior. This fired my imagination 50 years ago and still does today.
Great movie way ahead of its time
I always found the sound to be the best part of the film. The ships emerging from the ditch, heat ray sweeping around. One of Speibergs MANY mistakes in his version was not using this sound somewhere.
i just love the behind the scenes specials to these great films.war of the world is one of the greatest classic sci-fi films of all time,right up there with the day the earth stood still.
5:10
The originals were melted down for a BOY SCOUT COPPER DRIVE??? Crazy to think such cinematic treasures were given away so frivolously back then.
Cinema was not considered an art form then, the way it is today. In fact many early T.V. shows have been lost due
to the fact that the video tape used in the cameras was reused and the previous images were recorded over.
Additionally, the nitrate film used in early films deteriorated quickly and was flammable - lots of films have been lost.
I wonder how much of the design of the Klingon battlecruisers from Star Trek TOS was inspired by the Martian ships in this film. If you take the "cobra head" periscope weapon and reposition it on the front of the ship pointing forward and add warp nacelles at the tips of the "manta ray" body, you have the basic contours of the Klingon design.
Who else thinks the little Martians remind you of ET? Especially the shot where the guy is running away.
Loved this movie as a kid, probably on its second-run. I was only six when it came out. Still love it today.
Ann should be reassured. The version I saw a couple of years ago had her favorite scene restored. The one with Gene's tie reminding her of her uncle. I believe I also saw the other one she said had been cut. The one where Gene is shaking her.
Still a GREAT sci-fi flick.
This film and......Destination Moon....The Day The Earth Stood Still....When Worlds Collide....This Island Earth.....Them!....The Blob.....and more; a great time to be a cinemagoer!
This movie along with the original The Thing and The Day the Earth Stood Still are my absolute favorite SciFi flix. Loved them as a kid watching them with my older brother and Dad on a SciFi n Horror show that would come out at midnight on Fridays called Project Terror and I still love even to this day.
Forbidden Planet, This Island Earth, and When World's Collide were also on my list of favorites!
One off my favorite movies 😊
Ann Robinson...American actress and stunt horse rider, perhaps best known for her work in the science-fiction classic The War of the Worlds and in the 1954 film Dragnet, in which she starred as a Los Angeles police officer opposite Jack Webb and Ben Alexander
Born: May 25, 1929 (age 93 years).
When movies were movies! Love these guys! Used to watch these movies on Chiller Theater on Friday nights in West Liberty, Ohio (WLW Cincinnati). The only days when TV was on all night long. And, they played the National Anthem at night and in the morning.
Chiller Theater doesn't exist here out West
Probably in early 60’s, the local movie theater showed WOTW on the big screen for a Saturday afternoon kids matinee. I believe that is the moment I became a SF fan. Still, a great movie.
That was a great documentary. I finally know who designed my all-time favorite "spaceship'" hull.
This was an amazing movie for it's time and I remember it scared the crap out of me as a kid.
The Martian character, even though on screen for less than a few minutes, was an obvious influence for Spielberg's E.T.
This from the dvd which i also own. According to 1 site we can c the wires now because it was transferred to Eastman color film but in Technicolor 1 couldn't
It shows what sci-fi films could be if a major studio with a big enough for good special effects were behind but sci-fi films in the 50's weren't profitable
CGI blows. At least this can stand the test of time better than say Avatar which in 50 years looking back will be a cartoon.
--Sadly, yes.
PIlotrcm looks like that now, saw it the other day, parts are truly plastic and awful
Una de las películas más ambiciosas y significativas con respeto a efectos especiales, sonido, y tecnológicamente avanzada a su época. Una maravilla.
I saw the 1953 movie as a little kid from TV. Back then I didn't know or remember of the actual Martian entering the house with the two lead characters trapped in. So I thought that the war machines were the aliens themselves XD
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I've been into Sci-Fi for 34 years now. I can honestly tell you my friend, I have seen pretty much everything. This Alien and Flying machine are the best I have ever seen so far. Pay attention to every Alien out there and all Aliens seem pretty much human. Aliens shouldn't look like humans like in every Hollywood movie. The best Aliens I have seen are... The Greys, E.T. and this one from War Of The Worlds. The classic stuff can never be compare to the new stuff. What? You like Pacific Rim? LOL
O:AM You forgot the Xenomorph
Aw man, those saucers should've been in a museum... not wasted just because they were copper.
Kubrick was heavily influenced by WOTW. It's one of the reasons Kubrick was so strict about realistic models in 2001. No CGI in that movie either. Just amazing models and props, shooting via mirrors (the Discovery cockpit scene where Poole is sitting down, and Bowman is standing behind him at right angles) and hidden wires (Bowman being blown into the airlock). and rotating cameras.
I don't think he had the option in 68 of using CGI.
But you could be correct about the influence.
@@brain_jersey_75 There were less sophisticated methods in those days. Like optical printing (Metropolis used that a lot), stop motion, suit actors (Godzilla!) etc.
This movie is a classic.
Gotta love that era of sci fi
An older film, but still very accurate to what Martians look like. I saw one at the foot of my bed once. Scared the Hell out of me. Very creepy. I don't remember what happened after that, but I ran out of my room and that's all I can remember. Great job in accuracy to these filmmakers.
I was 10 years of age when "War" was released...the scariest scene was in the wreaked farm house...when the "cute" Martian made his cameo appearance! One of the great Sci-Fi movies of all time...the others: When Worlds Collide; The Time Machine; and The Day the Earth Stood Still...all from the 50's. The later remakes were duds!
This is still the best version of War of the Worlds, Steven Spielberg's version with that annoying screaming kid is no comparison. Also the sounds in this version rock.
Annoying screaming kids in all Spielberg pictures.
Shut up
Finally gave it a full, uninterrupted watch and...wow. It had no rival in terms of special effects until Star Wars. Definitely deserves a watch by anyone else from younger generations who can appreciate historical context.
You got the bomb drop ALL WRONG!!!!!! ALL of those people within a mile of the blast alone, would if been killed, and then the HEAT would if VAPORIZED EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You failed on that part. Still, a good movie, but you dropped the ball on the bomb drp 💣💣💣💣💣💣
no. if its a small weapon.
One of my favorite movies!! Hard to believe it was shot in 1953….
Every scifi movie needs extras with Bob Burns!
He always exaggerates in his interviews.
Good, smart work like this holds up. It's always a fun to tag along.
Yes,it doesn`t get any better than this!
13:09 the entire meteor is glowing green. I guess the Martians are slowing vaporizing all of it so that all three war machines inside can proceed unhindered.
This version was way better than The Tom Cruise film
Shut up