It was published in the distant year of 1898 Novel War of the Worlds by HG Wells and formed the blueprint for countless alien invasion stories that were to follow, whether in novels, in the cinema or on the small screen.
One of the best-known of these is the adaptation Battle of the Worlds from 1953. Released in the middle of the Cold War, you don’t expect flying saucers, but rather a surprisingly serious invasion story – with colorful effects that cost more than half of the budget.
In Clash of the Worlds, Martians invade Earth
HG Wells’ novel used the means of the sci-fi genre to indirectly tell the story of the British colonial empire, whose concentrated weaponry cannot do anything against the invaders. In director Byron Haskin’s film adaptation, the Cold War-era United States takes on this role.
A missile crashes in California and most believe it to be a meteorite. Physicist Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) has doubts about this and his objections are soon horribly confirmed. Because the harbinger is followed by an invasion of Martian spaceships (unlike in the book, they are not tripods). deadly rays threaten to destroy all of humanity. At some point the military even resorts to the atomic bomb…
So you can watch the sci-fi classic on TV and via stream tonight
Battle of the Worlds is on Pluto TV tonight. The free, advertising-financed provider has our Moviepilot TV channel. Only films that do well in the Moviepilot community are shown here. With 6.5 out of 10 points and over 770 reviews, the science fiction film is one of them.
The HG Wells film adaptation will be shown on the live channel today, October 10th, from 8:20 p.m Moviepilot TV with Pluto TVwithout subscription or additional costs. You can watch Pluto TV on your TV using the app or via stream, right here on Moviepilot.
Watch Battle of the Worlds today from 8:15 p.m. in the stream here:
At this point you will find external content that complements the article. You can display it and hide it again with one click.
Clash of the Worlds is deservedly one of the well-known adaptations of the sci-fi material
Many UFO films from the 1950s deal with the “red danger” from the Eastern Bloc with semi-costly effects and little nuance. Admittedly, the human interaction in Battle of the Worlds is just as unimpressive, but it is The darkness of the implementation is impressive. Similar (although not quite as good) to Godzilla, which appeared a short time later, the actually absurd scenario is played out with complete seriousness and plenty of realism. The depiction of humanity’s powerlessness is still shocking today. It is clearly noticeable that the memories of the two world wars were still relatively fresh during filming.
In this respect, it is not surprising that Steven Spielberg also took on the material 52 years later to express his feelings after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise.