War of the Worlds – 1953 (WINNER)
This was an incredible movie on so many different levels, from the special effects to the music, from the editing to the directing of Byron Haskin. This is the first example of an Oscar nominated sci-fi film that had the look and feel of, for lack of a better term, a modern movie. Produced by George Pal, it was an exciting sci-fi/ action film that, I think, could hold its own against many films being made today. That’s not to say it was perfect, but it was pretty darn good!
The only thing that caught my attention as sub-par may not have been the movie’s fault. So Earth is invaded by mysterious creatures from Mars. The awesome alien War Machines, designed by Al Nozaki, were shaped like manta rays with a cobra-like head protruding from the top. The problem is that I watched the movie in HD, and there were times when I could see the strings holding up the floating ships. I’m sure the illusion would have been more complete for the audiences of the 1950s.
The first effect that really caught my attention was the interesting matte-paintings of the surfaces of the other planets in the Solar System like Saturn and Jupiter. Of course, today we know that those planets, for all practical purposes, do not have surfaces, but never-mind that. They still looked great! After that was the first of several blue-white flaming meteors that fell from the skies, which were the invasion forces in disguise. The ships were cool, firing two different kinds of destructive beams. They also had shields that looked like glass bell-jars. The alien technologies devastated both man and machine, using heat rays which disintegrated everything, an effect which took one hundred forty-four separate matte-paintings to create.
We actually got to see the aliens themselves! While certainly not human, they could be considered humanoid. They had arms, presumably legs, faces, and a great cycloptic three colored eye. They had long fingers with suction-cups at the ends of its fingers. Another cool effect was the detonation of an atom bomb, a horrifying human technology which the world had, only a few years previously, been introduced. The blindingly bright light, the mushroom cloud, the fierce blast wind, were all pretty incredible. And the fantastic destruction of Los Angeles was very exciting to watch!
And lest I forget, the sound effects that were created for this movie were quite unique. They were perfect for depicting the terrifying and destructive power of the Martian War Machines. The sound effects were so masterfully created that many science fiction movies and TV shows that followed used them, as well. Listen to the War Machines firing their heat rays, and you just might hear the Enterprise from Star Trek firing its phasers! The wing weapon sounds were also used for photon torpedoes! As I’ve said, this movie really had the look and feel of a modern movie, and while some of it story contents might seem pretty dated, the special effects certainly didn’t.