Nonureva Really Surprised!

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Michael_Elliott Battle of the Worlds (1961) 1/2 (out of 4)Italian nonsense from director Antonio Margheriti has a planet coming into the same solar system as Earth and it appears it is going to collide with us. At the last second the planet misses us but starts to hover around, which causes a brilliant scientist (Claude Rains) to think that the planet is being controlled by aliens who are going to use it to attack us.There are awful science fiction movies like PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE that are so bad that you can actually have fun with them. Then there are cheap movies like THE COSMIC MAN, which rip-off better movies and deliver a quality project even if it's certainly nothing too special. Then you've got movies like BATTLE OF THE WORLDS, which is just downright awful on every level even though it appears they're working with a decent budget and they have a terrific actor in the cast.At one time I called BATTLE OF THE WORLDS the worst movie I had ever seen but revisiting it nearly twenty five years later I've come to see it's not really that bad but there's no question that it's quite awful and pointless. The biggest issue I have with the film is that it's downright childish on every level. The story itself is pretty darn stupid and it seems like something a group of five-year-olds would come up with in their monster club meetings. Even worse are the special effects, which, again, are better than something you'd see in an Ed Wood movie but at the same time they are so badly made and the lasers are so silly that you can't help but shake your head.The performances are also pretty bad but you've got a legend like Rains on hand who I'm sure took this project for the paycheck. I've never blamed an actor for taking a paycheck and especially later in their career. While the performance by Rains isn't "good" at least he does go over-the-top and gives some energy instead of sleepwalking through the part. BATTLE OF THE WORLDS is awful on pretty much every level and sadly it never reaches the "so bad it's good" level.

MartinHafer On IMDb, a score of 4.0 is pretty poor, but STILL I think this is wild overrating this film. IL PIANETA DEGLI UOMINI SPENTI ("Battle of the Worlds") is a truly terrible sci-fi film with nothing to recommend it. A small part of the rottenness of this movie isn't the fault of the film makers. The DVD I just watched had one of the worst prints I have ever seen. The color was almost 100% drained out of the film. While there were some patches of the film that had very dull and muted color, other parts looked like the film was originally shot in black & white--it was that faded. However, the ravages of time cannot explain away most of the awfulness that was this film!For some inexplicable reason (it had to be money or they were holding a family member hostage), the well-respected British/American actor Claude Rains was featured in this film. This is pretty sad, as his part in the film was rather annoying and one-dimensional. He played a brilliant professor who seemed to have super-human knowledge and could use calculus to pretty much explain EVERYTHING. In addition, he had the social skills of a hyena and spent most of the film yelling at everyone and acting very, very superior. He didn't play a person, really, but more of a caricature. The plot involves some planet that just shows up in the solar system. Amazingly, no one seemed to spot it until it practically was ready to seemingly collide with the Earth. Now here's the stupid part. When the governments on Earth realize the collision is coming, they don't want to tell anyone because it will cause panic! What part of "giant planet colliding with the Earth" don't they understand?! If this IS inevitable, let the people panic--they're all going to die anyway in a few days! In the meantime, we are treated by lots of ground-breaking special effects such as the space station on Mars as well as the high tech rocket ships. I once saw similar effects--back when I had "Major Matt Mason" toys when I was a kid. I know this dates me, but for those in the 40-50 age range, you probably know what I am talking about here. In other words, these things all looked like very, very cheap toys...at best. Heck, in some cases, you can see the strings on the rockets and the explosions and lasers were so very obviously drawn in later. The folks at studios like American-International or Ed Wood would have laughed at the amateurness of the special effects.In addition to looking craptastic, the plot was amazingly dull and I had a hard time staying awake to see the movie to completion. The movie, in essence, consisted of toys flying about, Claude Rains overacting and embarrassing himself and a plot so amazingly uninteresting I just wanted to see everything collide and end the film...as soon as possible!Dull, dull, dull...and stupid. This one clearly has earned the lowest rating of 1.

Matthew Conn Wow. Really, wow. This movie has tons of potential, and goes absolutely nowhere! The special effects are top notch considering the time in which it was made. The technology smacks of the odd "computer" style of the sixties where lighted buttons with no labels dominated the sci-fi realm. Very "Star Trek"-esquire.That aside, the only saving grace of this film is Claude. His charatcer actually has life to it. It is a bit much, but considering his co-stars, it is no wonder why.The whole film is perfect to be ripped on. Get your sci-fi buddies, grab a bag of chips and some cheese dip, and wail away at this one. Tom Servo and Crow would be your best co-pilots on this journey into the horribly lame.

scifiguy-2 I happened to see this many times in the 1960's, at kiddie matinees in the theater. Imagine 50 cents for a triple feature every weekend, for years on end. There were a lot of dog films, but this one stood out with decent f/x and unique sound effects. It's one of the earliest space-operas depicting dog fighting ships in space, preceded only by the 1959 Toho production of "Battle In Outer Space". Say what you want about the bad voice dubbing and the unknown Italian cast. Films like this were not being produced in the U.S. during this period, due to lack of effects technology, and budget constraints. At the time, it was a bold attempt in a genre that was just beginning. Jaded modern viewers should see this in context within the history of fantasy films. Pure science fiction was rare during this period, and a treat for fans at the time. Claude Rains has some very good dialouge, as a cynical mathmatician guiding efforts to thwart alien invaders. The ships are well conceived, with the footage re-used in later films. Unfortunately, the editing is choppy and the video transfers that exist are very poor. It would be nice to see a widescreen restoration.