Still The Best “War Of The Worlds”

There’s no end to adaptations of H.G. Wells’s “War of the Worlds.” (There were two television adaptations just last year.) The 1953 movie version is still the best. Of it, Jeff Wells writes: ‘It was shot by George Barnes, whose dp credits include Spellbound, None But The Lonely Heart, The Bells of St. Mary’s, Samson and Delilah and The Greatest Show on Earth. The poor man died of a heart attack in May 1953, or roughly three months after The War of the Worlds opened in major markets.
I can’t imagine…no one can imagine how the upcoming Criterion Bluray version (July 7, “new 4K digital restoration”) could possibly top the Amazon or iTunes UHD versions. The Criterion disc will look fine, of course, but what’s the point? It can’t beat the Amazon or iTunes streamers, certainly not to a point that any half-knowledgable film fanatic could would sit up their seat and call it a serious bump.’

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