War of the Worlds

xo · Post by xo » 07/02/2005 - 13:25

Did I just hear parts of Culturebag by Virgill in the superbowl add for War of the Worlds?

http://sports.channel.aol.com/nfl/superbowlads

Who made the original music?

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » 07/02/2005 - 15:20

Depends what you mean by original... Jeff Wayne did the musical, that was pretty original... Richard Burton played the main geezer.

If you mean the 1953 movie starring Gene Barry..... a full rundown is to be found at imdb :
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046534/

If you mean the Radio play by Orsen Welles from the Mercury Theatre ~ in which 500,000 americans headed for the hills with shotguns... I believe the intro music was an old Charlie Chaplin tune called "Eternally"
http://www.clown-ministry.com/Articles/ ... light.html All i can tell you about that was that the music was played by Ramon Raquello and his orchestra.

xo · Post by xo » 07/02/2005 - 19:35

I see. Thanks. I think John Williams is doing the new music.

CraigG · Post by **CraigG** » 08/02/2005 - 0:34

For those fans of WotW, there are actually THREE versions in production (seriously):

1. Steven "let's see how many British I can piss off this time" Spielberg is intending to do a "contemporary" adaptation of the book, which means dispensing with the original story's location, setting, ideas and, erm, story. This looks like "Tom Cruise hero vehicle" mode to me, and also, perhaps, ID2...

2. Hines is doing a retelling via Pendragon, which I had high hopes for, especially seeing as they were keeping the original story intact. Unfortunately, I then saw the trailer, which was, at best, laughable.

3. Jeff Wayne is reportedly prepping an all-CGI version for 2007. Although the rumours that it may be a musical make my toes curl (I'm hoping it will include his music, but otherwise be played straight), the test shots the production has so far unveiled look very good indeedÃ¢â‚¬â€particularly the killing machine.

http://www.waroftheworldsonline.com/

xo · Post by xo » 08/02/2005 - 0:46

OMG ID2. I can't stand the thought of that. Let's hope they'll treat this classic with some respect.

CraigG · Post by **CraigG** » 08/02/2005 - 1:21

exoskeleton wrote:OMG ID2. I can't stand the thought of that. Let's hope they'll treat this classic with some respect.

Well:

- It's not set in the 1890s.
- It's not set in England.
- It's set in the present day, where our technology is ahead of the martians in the book.
- It has Tom Cruise in the lead.
- Tom Cruise's role has a daughter, who is a main character in the film.

Aside from the title and the possibility of some tripods, I don't see it having anything to do with the classic novel.

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » 08/02/2005 - 2:52

This to me is just another point of view - remember, the martian war machine was supposed to have landed all over the world - its just that the novel concentrated on the uk, the first film concentrated on the US side of the story ..... same again i guess....

Long as they dont push freekin scientology at the start like they did on Battlefield Earth ill be ok.

tony.rc · Post by **tony.rc** » 08/02/2005 - 5:51

I love Jeff Wayne musical version

And I hate with a passion the the Hollywood movie version.

War of the Worlds has be set in late 19th century industrial England, otherwise it's just an ugly Independence Day

Post by **LMan** » 08/02/2005 - 7:46

The problem is with hollywood movies: many Americans just don't dig it if it's not set in America. And since they make up a large part of the audience....

The same thing is going to happen with the <a href="http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/ne ... ripods"</a>.

CraigG · Post by **CraigG** » 08/02/2005 - 9:07

Matrix wrote:This to me is just another point of view - remember, the martian war machine was supposed to have landed all over the world - its just that the novel concentrated on the uk

Re-read the novel. In those days, there were no rapid world-wide communications, and part of the novel concentrated on the desperation of the British, trying to flee to France, but without knowing whether the martians had conquered that country, too. This was an important part of the book, and you cannot "flee" from the east coast of the USA in the same way, plus you'd already know in 2005 whether another country had been invaded.

Of course, a contemporary setting does make sense with regards to the political aspect of the novel, which was obviously a dig at colonialism in all its ugly gloryÃ¢â‚¬â€the US is effectively the only "empire" of the current world. However, I feel Spielberg has massively dropped the ball in being able to make a truly unique movie. We've already had "aliens in the present day" (ID4) and "aliens in the future" (various); however, "steampunk aliens in the 1890s" has never been done. Imagine: Sharpe vs the aliensÃ¢â‚¬â€aliens that have technology that we'd be able to beat today, but back then we had cannons and an iron-clad.

, the first film concentrated on the US side of the story

No, it didn'tÃ¢â‚¬â€it again completely reworked the original novel, into some kind of cold war frenzy. It also even managed to lack the tripods.

Long as they dont push freekin scientology at the start like they did on Battlefield Earth ill be ok.

I think most people will be perfectly happy with WotW. I just think it's a totally missed opportunity to do something different, and yet another example of a film where the US film industry pisses all over a British classic.

dan gillgrass · Post by **dan gillgrass** » 08/02/2005 - 11:14

exoskeleton wrote:OMG ID2. I can't stand the thought of that. Let's hope they'll treat this classic with some respect.

Heh, lol....... ID sucked ass.....

John Williams doing the music for a Speilberg film...shock horror....

Kenz · Post by **Kenz** » 08/02/2005 - 11:28

I'm a big fan of the Jeff Wayne album and ADORE the design of the fighting machines on the album artwork. I hear Spielberg is basing his more on the floaty things from the old US movie - but the preview pics of the CGI version look BLOODY LOVELY!!! And if it uses music from the Jeff Wayne album then it gets my vote big time!!!

UUUUUUUUULLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

Kenz · Post by **Kenz** » 08/02/2005 - 13:39

http://www.thewaroftheworlds.com/

YESS!!!

*Excited*

xo · Post by xo » 08/02/2005 - 14:00

It would be quite interesting to see a faithful representation of War of the Worlds taking place in the past. I'd love to see that happen. Its not too late for that to happen in our lifetime though, its just not going to happen this time 'round.

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » 08/02/2005 - 14:01

Matrix: the first film concentrated on the US side of the story

No, it didn'tÃ¢â‚¬â€it again completely reworked the original novel, into some kind of cold war frenzy. It also even managed to lack the tripods.

Dude, im talking about the back and white one from the 50's - the one set in America.... was there a film b4 this one ?

another example of a film where the US film industry pisses all over a British classic

I remember the HooHarr when they did U571 ....... same-o-sam-o

Re-read the novel

Fraid i cant, never read it in the first place lol .... Just seen the 50's film, Jeff Waynes musical, and the attrocious tv show...... lol

"To Life Immortal" lol ......

War of the Worlds

War of the Worlds

Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!