I bailed out of my last Tom Cruise pic, so all credit to Steven Spielberg for taming Tommy’s tantrummy tics to human scale. But that’s about as far as my enthusiasm goes. The old 1953 version from Paramount* retains a certain naive charm, and the design elements are elegant & memorable, but nothing there (or here) can really touch the panic & terror of Orson Welles’ infamous 1938 radio broadcast.* So, what’s the point? As a 9/11 allegory, the story is insultingly inadequate, and as a scare pic the thrills have been over-masticated. A little dysfunctional family coming together under distant/divorced dad seems flimsy recompense for all the slaughter while Dakota Fanning’s over-rated combo plate of E.T.’s Drew Barrymore & Fay Wray screams almost make you want to leave her and her constant perils. And can anyone explain the lost & found teenaged son storyline? A puzzle of a pic.
DOUBLE-BILL: *As mentioned; 1953's WAR OF THE WORLDS. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/06/war-of-worlds-1953.html
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Here's a personal WAR OF THE WORLDS story: New Jersey: Hallowe'en 1938, my 11 yr-old mother is having a sleepover with a neighborhood friend and listening to Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy. Suddenly, the friend's mom comes crashing into the house in a panic. She's hysterical but manages to switch the radio dial over to catch the 'news' which is (oddly) only being put out by a single station. Yep, the one that normally broadcasts Orson Welles & the Mercury Players in this time slot. Why isn't this news on all the other networks? What news? Why, Martians have invaded New Jersey. It's the end of the world! And then this mother starts sprinkling Holy Water over the door to the house, over the girls (including my non-Catholic mother), over herself and, of course, over the blessed radio. Ten minutes later, someone calls to let her know it was all a prank. Now that's story-telling!
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