The War of the Worlds (1953) Criterion 1080p BluRay x265 HEVC EAC3-SARTRE

A mysterious, meteorlike object has landed in a small California town. All clocks have stopped. A fleet of glowing green UFOs hovers menacingly over the entire globe. The Martian invasion of Earth has begun, and it seems that nothing—neither military might nor the scientific know-how of nuclear physicist Dr. Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry)—can stop it. In the expert hands of genre specialists George Pal and Byron Haskin, H. G. Wells’s end-of-civilization classic receives a chilling Cold War–era update, complete with hallucinatory Technicolor and visionary, Oscar-winning special effects. Emblazoned with iconographic images of 1950s science fiction, The War of the Worlds is both an influential triumph of visual imagination and a still-disquieting document of the wonder and terror of the atomic age.

Extras

• New alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, created by sound designer Ben Burtt.
• Movie Archaeologists, a new program on the visual and sound effects in the film featuring Burtt and historian Craig Barron.
• From the Archive, a new program about the film’s restoration featuring Barron, Burtt, and Paramount archivist Andrea Kalas.
• Audio interview with producer George Pal from 1970 at the American Film Institute.
• The Sky Is Falling, a 2005 documentary about the making of the film.
• The Mercury Theatre on the Air radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds from 1938, narrated by Orson Welles.
• KTSA Radio Interview from 1940 featuring a discussion between Welles and H. G. Wells.
• Audio commentary from 2005 featuring filmmaker Joe Dante, film historian Bob Burns, and author Bill Warren.
• Trailer

Imprint Blu-ray Extras

• H.G. Wells: The Father of Science Fiction, takes a closer look at the life and legacy of H.G. Wells.
• Photo Gallery features a large collection of vintage materials from the production of The War of the Worlds.
• Audio Commentary 2 features critics Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman. Recorded exclusively for Via Vision Entertainment.
• Audio Commentary 3 features actors Gene Barry and Ann Robinson.