Cast & Info War of the Worlds [1953]

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1953
Running Times: 85 mins
Format: Technicolor     35mm
Ratio: 1.37:1
Sound: mono / Western Electric Multi-Track Magnetic Stereophonic

CREDITS

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Paramount
Executive Producer: Cecil B. DeMille [uncredited]
Producer: George Pal
Associate Producer: Frank Freeman Jr

SCRIPT

Script: Barré Lyndon
Novel: H.G. Wells

DIRECTION

Director: Byron Haskins
Assistant Director: Michael D. Moore

PHOTOGRAPHY

Director of Photography: George Barnes
Chief Gaffer: Soldier Graham

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION

Editor: Everett Douglas

MUSIC

Music: Leith Stevens

SOUND

Sound Recording: Harry Lindgren, Gene Garvie?
Sound Editor: Lovell Norman
Sound Effects: Howard Beals, Gene Garvin, Dan Johnson, Harry Lindgren, Tommy Middleton, Walter Oberst

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES

Make Up Supervisor: Wally Westmore
Costumes: Edith Head

SPECIAL EFFECTS

Special Photographic Effects: Gordon Jennings, Wallace Kelley, Ivyl Burks, Jan Domela, Irmin Roberts
Special Visual Effects [A-Bomb Sequence]: Walter Hoffman
Special Effects: Paul Lerpae, Chester Pate, Bob Springfield, A. Edward Sutherland
Miniatures: Marcel Delgado
Matte Artist: Jan Domela
Special Optical Effects: Jack Caldwell, Aubrey Law
Process Photography: Farciot Edouart
Astronomical Art: Chesley Bonestell

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION

Art Directors: Hal Pereira, Albert Nozaki
Set Decorators: Sam Comer, Emile Kuri
Property Master: Gordon Cole
Props: Romaine Birkmeyer, Ivyl Burks, Charles Davies, Milt Olson, Lee Vasque

MISCELLANEOUS

Technicolor Consultant: Monroe W. Burbank
Technical Advisors: Dr Robert S. Richardson, Chesley Bonestell
Assistant to Producer: Gae Griffith

LOCATIONS

Locations: Florence, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA; Simi Valley, California, USA

STUNTS

Stunts: Mushy Callahan

CAST

Gene Barry ..... Dr Clayton Forrester
Ann Robinson ..... Sylvia Van Buren
Les Tremayne ..... Major General Mann USA
Lewis Martin ..... Pastor Dr Matthew Collins
Bob Cornthwaite ..... Dr Pryor
Sandro Giglio ..... Dr Bilderbeck
Bill Phipps ..... Wash Perry
Jack Kruschen ..... Salvatore
Vernon Rich ..... Colonel Ralph Heffner USMC
Houseley Stevenson Jr ..... aide to General Mann
Paul Frees ..... radio reporter
Henry Brandon ..... cop at crash site with spot light
Cedric Hardwicke ..... narrator
Edgar Barrier .....Professor McPherson - uncredited
Russ Bender ..... Dr Carmichael - uncredited
Ann Codee ..... Dr Duprey - uncredited
Alex Frazer ..... Dr James - uncredited
Ivan Lebedeff ..... Dr Gratzman - uncredited
John Maxwell ..... doctor - uncredited
Hugh Allen ..... Brigadier General - uncredited
Mushy Callahan ..... burning soldier at pit - uncredited
Jim Davies ..... Marine commanding officer - uncredited
Stanley Orr ..... Marine Major - uncredited
Fred Zendar ..... Marine Lieutenant - uncredited
Martin Coulter ..... Marine sergeant - uncredited
Dick Fortune, Charles J. Stewart ..... Marine Captains - uncredited
Douglas Henderson ..... Staff Sergeant - uncredited
Don Kohler ..... Colonel - uncredited
Anthony Warde ..... M.P. officer in L.A. - uncredited
Joel Marston ..... M.P. in jeep in L.A. - uncredited
James Seay ..... bomber pilot - uncredited
Freeman Lusk ..... Secretary of Defense - uncredited
Herbert Lytton ..... Chief of Staff - uncredited
Teru Shimada ..... Japanese diplomat - uncredited
Al Ferguson ..... Police Chief - uncredited
Walter Sande ..... Sheriff Bogany - uncredited
George Cisar ..... Deputy - uncredited
Robert Rockwell .....Forest Ranger at crash site - uncredited
Peter Adams ..... pine summit fire watcher - uncredited
Jimmie Dundee ..... Civil Defense official - uncredited
Bud Wolfe ..... rescuing Civil Defense worker - uncredited
Bob Morgan ..... injured Civil Defense worker - uncredited
Sydney Mason ..... Fire Chief, Crew #3 - uncredited
Bill Meader ..... P.E. official - uncredited
Ralph Montgomery ..... Red Cross official in L.A. - uncredited
Edward Colmans ..... Spanish priest - uncredited
Russ Conway ..... Reverend Bethany - uncredited
David McMahon ..... minister in 1st church - uncredited
Eric Alden, Pierre Cressoy, John Mansfield .....men - uncredited
Ruth Barnell ..... mother - uncredited
Paul Birch ..... Alonzo Hogue - uncredited
Hazel Boyne ..... screaming woman - uncredited
Ralph Dumke .....Buck Monahan - uncredited
George Pal ..... bum #1 listening to radio - uncredited
Frank Freeman Jr ..... bum #2 listening to radio - uncredited
Ned Glass ..... well-dressed looter in L.A. - uncredited
Fred Graham ..... looter in L.A. - uncredited
Nancy Hale ..... young wife - uncredited
Virginia Hall, Patricia Iannone ..... girl - uncredited
Rudy Lee, Waldon Williams ..... boys - both uncredited
Ted Hecht ..... KGEB reporter - uncredited
Gertrude Hoffman ..... elderly woman news vendor in L.A. - uncredited
Jerry James ..... reporter - uncredited
Carolyn Jones ..... blonde - uncredited
Frank Kreig ..... Fiddler Hawkins - uncredited
Mike Mahoney ..... young man - uncredited
Alvy Moore ..... Zippy - uncredited
Walter Richards ..... reporter - uncredited
Cora Shannon ..... old woman - uncredited
David Sharpe ..... looter in L.A. - uncredited
Gus Taillon .....elderly man - uncredited
Morton C. Thompson ..... reporter - uncredited
Dale Van Sickel ..... looter in L.A. - uncredited
Dorothy Vernon ..... elderly woman - uncredited
Edward Wahrman .....cameraman - uncredited
Charles Gemora .....Martian - uncredited

SUMMARY

A meteor crashes to Earth outside a small town in the USA.
It turns out to be one of a whole fleet of Martian ships that
have come to this planet with conquest in mind. Before long
the Martians are attacking everything in sight aboard their
force-field protected flying machines and even nuclear weapons
are useless against them. Will anything be able to stop them?

CAPSULE REVIEW

Wells purists are, understandably, less than impressed with the
liberties taken by this big screen adaptation of his best novel and
certainly the updating and relocation to an anonymous mid-West
setting seems wholly unnecessary now. That said, taken as a
film in its own right, War of the Worlds is a fabulous movie,
boasting great special effects just ignore those wires holding up
the war machines solid performances and a cracking pace that
never flags. It's everything the bloated and tedious Independence
Day [1996] should have been in fact.

AWARDS

1954
Academy Awards, USA
Best Effects, Special Effects [Gordon Jennings] - winner
Best Film Editing [Everett Douglas] - nominated
Best Sound, Recording [Loren L. Ryder - Paramount
Sound Department] - nominated