On Blu-ray - David Hare revels in WAR OF THE WORLDS (Dir: Byron Haskin, Prod: George Pal, USA, 1953)

Ann Robinson, Gene Barry

Paramount's recent 4K restoration of the 1953 George Pal/Byron Haskin movie of the great H.G Wells' War of the Worlds has just been released for the first time worldwide on Blu-ray in Australia on the newly created label Via Vision through its "Imprint" line. With more Paramount titles in the pipeline, several of them of unknown provenance or image quality, most of them not restored. The Haskin movie may be the best of them technically. In fact, I understand there's a rumor it may be going to Criterion in Region A-ville for last quarter this year. 

"...quite beautiful colour grading..."

I'm very glad to report that Paramount has done nothing at all to botch this superb 4K to Blu-ray transfer in any way. The restorers went back to three strip O-negs with IB Tech prints for reference and the mastering has been executed with lovely fine grain management, super clean optical and lab process work with nary a hint of dupe material, and totally solid texture with quite beautiful color grading. 

This is actually one of the very best three strip O-neg to 4K to Blus I've seen, only perhaps comparable to the superb Film Foundation work on the restored Technicolor Powells, or Warner's most recent work on other 40s and 50s 3 strip titles like (forthcoming) Curtiz' Romance on the High Seas. 

This clearly came from Paramount's A-team, certainly none of the various hands who were responsible for the disaster that is the new over scrubbed, DVNR'ed to death, misframed, waxy and soft botch of To Catch a Thief released last month that looks like somebody's very first and failed mastering project in tech high school. 

I have always been fond of War of the Worlds, if not for aspects of the screenplay which really lays on the god stuff with a trowel at the end, in complete antithesis to Wells' own deeply secularist vision and his relatively subtle treatment which his original novel gives to the clergyman who is in fact apparently benignly demented. 

"...a stunning reverse shot from inside the Martian ship..."

As if to signal his own very personal take on this nonsense, Haskin does something quite unexpected and extremely moving at the end of the picture. Just as Gene Barry and the cowering mob come out of the church to meet their fate, they witness the first death of one of the creatures. Haskin tracks onto the creatures' arm, doing a death probe with operatic slowness, and then cuts to a stunning reverse shot from inside the Martian ship with the mere humans now in the distance out of focus in a clearly sympathetic POV to the creatures who had decided humanity was unworthy of continuing to live.

"...Haskin tracks onto the creatures' arm, doing a
death probe with operatic slowness...

That sentiment, along with Haskins' extremely violent scenes of looting (white) mobs and vile nihilistic savagery by rioting humans in the last act takes moral authority way over and above the final ecclesiastical waffle enunciated by Dame Cedric Hardwicke in a turgid VO over the final credits. 

Haskins' vision, like Wells is far more incisive.