John and Eugene try to figure out what science or religion brings to the fight in the War of the Worlds, George Pal’s 1953 extravaganza.
Synopsis
It’s just another quiet night in small town Linda Rosa California when a meteorite strikes nearby, igniting fires. After the danger from fires is quelled, the locals are pretty pleased that an intact meteor has landed nearby. They’ll be able to turn it into a tourist trap. Nearby, a group of scientists from the Pacific Institute of Scientists and Technology (AKA PIST) are fishing, and the authorities ask them to have a look.
Dr. Clayton Forrester investigates, but since it’s too hot to get close to at the moment, he goes into town and enjoys the local square dance with Sylvia Van Buren, a local citizen who also has a master’s degree in science.
The power and phones go out during the dance, and everyone’s watch stops.
Something begins to come out of the meteor, and the deputies left on guard are burned to a crisp by a heat ray.
Returning to the crash site, Forrester sees the charred remains of the deputies, and another meteor comes down. This is an invasion. It’s time to call the military.
As General Mann and troops arrive, reports are coming in from all over the world, meteors are landing everywhere, and soon thereafter, all communication is lost with the area. They prepare to attack.
At dawn, some form of flying machine rises from the crash site. When Sylvia’s uncle, the local pastor, tries to go talk to the alien, they burn him down. The military opens fire with everything they’ve got, including jets from overhead. None works as the machines have protective bubbles around them, and the armed forces are wiped out.
Forrester and Sylvia escape in a small plane, but Forrester crashes it because he’s flying too low in an effort to avoid detection. After their crash, they find refuge in a farmhouse, but soon another meteor crashes into the farm, bringing the building down around them.
They are right inside a nest of Martians and are found by a Martian camera device. Forrester manages to chop the camera off, but then an actual Martian comes to investigate. They scare it off with bright lights. They make a break from the building moments before the heat rays destroy it.
In Washington, with reports from around the world of the failures of the armies of all nations, the use of nuclear weapons is authorized. They plan to bomb the Martians near Linda Rosa.
Forrester and Sylvia make it back to PIST with the Martian camera and a sample of blood. No real hurry to analyze the blood; there’ll be Martian blood aplenty after the nuke goes off. They all make their way to the front to be observers.
The A-Bomb is dropped, and the Martians are unphased. Their protective bubbles are impervious to atomic weapons. The military has failed; now it’s time for scientists to save the world.
The PIST staff evacuate their facility in Los Angeles as the Martians advance on the city. Their plan is to go to the Rockies and set up a new base of operations. They don’t make it that far. Sylvia, driving the school bus with all the other scientists, and Forrester, bringing up the rear with a truck full of equipment, are separated.
Then, crowds of panicked people overwhelm Forrester’s truck, throwing him to the street and driving off. He searches frantically for the bus and eventually finds his truck overturned and pieces of the school bus as the Martians begin to destroy L.A.
All is lost, so he has nothing to do but search the streets for Sylvia. He remembers a story she told him about her childhood where she sought refuge in a church, so he tries all the churches until he finds her.
As they stand together, locked in an embrace, as the Martians attack the church they are in, suddenly it all goes quiet, and the Martian war machines collapse, their occupants dead — killed by the bacteria god used as a biological weapon against them. Praise the lord, hallelujah.
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