The Night America Trembled 1957 - H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds
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- Опубликовано: 26 мар 2012
- The Night America Trembled 1957 is probably one of the best films I have seen that proves, at least to me, the point that Americans have always been gun happy freaked out paranoid hicks. And that's why I love them, and I love this movie. The Night America Trembled is-as far as I know-the first movie of the events that happened during the radio broadcast of Orson Welles doing H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds on October 30, 1938. (Although not related, on October 28, 1940, Orson Welles met H.G. Wells in San Antonio, Texas; a local radio station KTSA recorded the conversation, which was likely the only meeting between the two)
Oddly enough Orson Welles is never actually mentioned by name in this flick. Bad blood from the radio broadcast still I guess. Anyway, Newsman Edward R. Murrow adds modern perspective to '50s audiences about subsequent events that make this Orson Welles production still seem frightening to anyone who didn't hear the beginning of the broadcast having switched from Bergin and McCarthy on NBC. I first saw the remake "The Night that Panicked America" when I was just a little Lush I couldn't believe how realistic it sounded. I thought myself it was a brilliant joke. In this original movie however the director of the radio play and Orson Welles are depicted as two different people when they were actually one and the same. Also, the sound of the Martians' opening their ship was visualized as the sound man manually spinning a bare record turntable when it was actually the opening of a jar. (The remake shows this magnificently) What makes this Version best though are the Westinghouse commercials with John Cameron Swazee for various nuclear products! Also worth mentioning are the early performances of Warren Beatty, Ed Asner, Warren Oates, James Coburn, Vincent Gardenia, and, for Honeymooners fans, Frank Marth and a very young John Astin on the typewriter! This film was (as mentioned) remade in 1975 as The Night That Panicked America which is also a brilliant film.
![Indestructible Man (1956) [Crime] [Horror] [Science Fiction]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Wt7eedQCDQY/mqdefault.jpg)
It’s fun to read all the comments. I’m 80 now and I played Millie, the babysitter. I didn’t realize until years later when I saw it at The Paley Museum how many of the actors became stars. I was 13 and it interesting I didn’t have a crush on Warren Beatty who was 20. I guess I was too young and innocent. He’s probably one of the few of us who is still alive.
This is so convincing, what a great reminder of how easily people can be convinced and terrified.
My mom was ni e years old, living i n Jersey City when this origin ally aired. She remembers her father as saying, "See if it is on another channel." When they could not find it elsewhere, he realized it was a radio play. She does remember people panicking though. She remembers people running in the streets and knocking on the doors, asking if everyone was okay.
My father was on police duty with the Port Authority at the New York Holland Tunnel that night. As the radio informed the Public that New Jersey was overwhelmed and the Martian Fighting Machines were crossing the Hudson, the police knew nothing about the invasion except crazy drivers entering the one way tunnels from both sides attempting to escape the alien invasion disregarding all attempts at
To this day, folks are still naive ......”don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see”......Ed Asner, Warren Oates, James Coburn, Warren Beatty, Vincent Gardenia, John Astin…..how cool….
Fear. Very good at controlling people.
What Edward Murrow conveniently forgot to include, was the amount of suicides, that were perpetrated in the north Jersey, northeastern Pennsylvania, and southern New York state, because of the panic. As I recall, reading years back, over 400 people, from that region, died from their own hands, or related mishaps, and accidents.
As familiar as I am with the story, the book, the films and even recordings of the original radio broadcast and the reactions to it, I did NOT know of this documentary (which I am enjoying immensely.) Thank you so much for finding and sharing it. The "commercials" are priceless!
James Coburn!
Steve Allen, in one of his many books, related the effect the 1938 CBS broadcast had on him and his Aunts. Hastily packing suitcases, running for the hotel lobby, yelling for everybody to "Run for your lives -the Martians are coming!"
An interesting part of this tale that's often overlooked, is that nearly all the people who were thrown into a panic were adults. Children, who had grown up with radio, and to whom the medium was hardly new, simply changed stations and asked the obvious question-- "How come nobody else is covering this story?"
This is amazing what you can show to me of my childhood. Thanks to youtube and the posts.
My grandmother remembered the actual radio broadcast said it scared the hell out of everyone lol
Remember, this was live tv! So well written, acted, and performed live! Look at all the sets that had to be designed, built, and set in a theater. The cameras had to shoot in such a manner that they’d have one move to the next set in time to cut to it when it was time to switch sets.
I’m so glad I chanced upon this!
I was just surprised they said "What the hell" on broadcast TV in 1958!
Funniest line in this very serious drama (
Awesome movie - I heard about it & this is my first viewing ever, great all around including the original commercials, love the simple enjoyments of life back then including old route 66 , the comic books & movie houses.
This was great. I'm old enough to remember Edward R. Murrow on TV occasionally when I was a kid. I've been an avid science fiction fan all of my life and this was very enjoyable.
Just watching the old commercials is worth the hour of my time. The program is very good also. I did not know Edward R. Murrow had such a subject. Nice!