The 1953 adaptation of H.G.Wells science-fiction classic The War of the Worlds produced by George Pal has been long absent from Blu-ray, I thought I’d do a quick review of the 1080p iTunes HD version.
After Paramount purchased the rights to the book in the mid 1920s the project went though a number of false starts. After being offered to Cecile B. DeMille, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, it finally landing in the lap of George Pal, who was by that point a science-fiction veteran with Destination Moon and When Worlds Collide already under his belt.
Alien war machines at play. Some digital artifacts are visible in this shot.
George Pal and screenwriter Barré Lyndon update the story, moving it to small-town America while at the same time keeping true to the ‘spirit’ of the original story.
H.G.Well’s estate was so pleased with the outcome, that they offered Pal his choice of the remaining H.G.Well’s works of which Pal chose ‘The Time Machine’.
The last ten minutes of the film are a much emulated orgy of end-of-the-world material, condensing the decent into panic and chaos into a mere ten minutes that would normally take most of the second act in a modern film.
The only disappointment is the straight-from-the-book ending, that leaves us with the same Indiana Jones problem that all Deus Ex-Machina endings leave us with: The hero doesn’t influence the outcome in any way.
Plot quibbles aside : special-effects master Albert Nozaki‘s update of the alien war-machines is a truly iconic piece of work. Gone are the ungainly tripods from the book replaced with graceful elegant war-machines, echoing the organic shapes of Swans, Manta-rays and Cobras, effortlessly sweeping aside all human resistance.
The Martians themselves though only seen fleetingly are very effective, ugly monsters too different to be understood. And they are Red. Red monsters slithering around 1950s America. Really.
War of the Worlds iTunes 1080p Review
The iTunes 1080p download clocks in at 2.9GB and has an average bitrate of 4.5Mbps with peaks as high as 13.6Mbps with a 120kbps AAC stereo track. Total running time is one hour and twenty five minutes twenty three seconds. The feature is presented at an approximate aspect ratio of 1.33:1.
This is very much a warts and all presentation. Some light grain is present where you would expect it, and some sequences feature moderate Technicolor scratches, especially in special effect and stock footage. The image isn’t tack sharp, but looks about right for a 1950s color feature.
Colors and overall appearance seem to line up with the 2005 Special Collectors Edition DVD, though I note that the scratches present in the iTunes version match the original 1999 DVD and are absent in the 2005 DVD edition. I suspect that an archival HD transfer was made for the 1999 DVD, which was over-sharpened when it was down-converted for DVD, resulting in the extremely grainy 1999 DVD image. The same transfer was used as the source for the 2005 DVD, but given either a manual or automatic clean-up in standard def to remove some of the blemishes. And therefore the iTunes version is a version of the same transfer but without any clean-up.
I’m not clear if it’s a effect of the compression or pre-filtering done as part of the compression process – but I believe there has been some digital grain removal applied to the image. It’s not massively objectionable, but not desirable either.
The stereo soundtrack provided is a ‘recreation’ of the original stereo track which was played in only a handful of theaters. It’s not bad, but unfortunately the original mono soundtrack isn’t provided.
Conclusion
Good: four out of five. The soundtrack would be better as the original monophonic, and the picture does intermittently take on a processed look, but it’s just such a great picture. The flicker of scratches and minor dirt tells me this hasn’t been through the DVNR wringer.
Definitely an upgrade over both DVD editions, and a very reasonably priced rental. Recommended.
iTunes 1080p Screenshots
Deus ex Machina endings aplenty, an Indiana Jones type resolution.
1950s gender politics: Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) and Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) meet. Note the minor damage to the upper right of the frame.
The Cobra inspiration is pretty clear in this shot from the iTunes HD version of War of the Worlds.
Atomic blasts make everything go a little Scarface. Note the slightly artifacty grain in this shot.