Book Review: The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells

The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells and others

H. G. Wells's classic novel is wedded to Orson Welles's classic radio broadcast in this two-for-one book. The book has the complete script of Welles's show and a CD with the show and some clips of Orson Welles commenting on the show (including a meeting between Wells and Welles!). The complete Wells novel includes the art that accompanied the serialization of the novel in Pearson's magazine back in 1897.

Both are well worth revisiting. H. G. Wells's story of an invasion from Mars at the end of the 19th century in England is an exciting tale of one man fleeing from the attack. He describes what he sees of the Martians, and more interestingly, what he sees of the locals' reactions. At first, people are mildly curious if not completely aloof. Once the Martians make it out of their crater and start causing mayhem, people flee and civilization starts to break down. A lot of time is spent describing people trying to escape from the trouble. The main character reflects on the superiority of the Martians and how humans are to them like ants are to us--easy to squash and in no way equals. He also hints that the British are a bit like the Martians in their attitudes towards the conquered. The science is outdated but is not the main point of the story anyway.

Welles's broadcast was more an experiment in entertainment that turned into a panic. The broadcast starts with a music program that is interrupted by news bulletins of the aliens invading New Jersey. Listeners took it seriously and many fled their homes. It's easy to say from nearly a hundred years later that it sounds too implausible to be believed, but even today people are falling for fake journalism that is much less well-intentioned. And this book chronicles many other subsequent imitation broadcasts in America and abroad, some of which did inspire local panics. This also is still relevant today.

Recommended.

The H. G. Wells novel is discussed on A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast #188.

Book Review: This is Orson Welles by Orson Wells and Peter Bogdanovich

This is Orson Welles by Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich, edited by Jonathan Rosenbaum

Film director Peter Bogdanovich conducted several interviews with Orson Welles from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. The plan was to publish the transcripts as an autobiography. The project sat on the back burner for them and the book was only published in 1992, seven years after Welles' death. Bogdanovich turned the project over to an editor to complete. The book includes an in-depth chronology of Welles' career in radio, theater, and film, along with an appendix summing up the cuts and changes to The Magnificent Ambersons, Welles's film just after Citizen Kane.

The interviews follow Welles' career mostly in chronological order with a focus on the movies on which he worked. Welles has plenty of fun stories about productions and heartbreaking tales of conflicts with studios. Welles made a big splash in radio with The Shadow and The War of the Worlds broadcast. He came to Hollywood with a lot of ambition and naivety. He had full artistic control over Citizen Kane, resulting in a challenging masterpiece that was divisive in Hollywood. He was working on a special project in South America while Ambersons was being re-edited by the studio. The bad blood over its handling sent Welles out of the studio system as a film maker. He had to scramble to find financing for his projects, often acting in other films or courting foreign investors to get the money he needed. The interviews end discussing Touch of Evil (1958), though they do chat about his work in the 1960s and 70s throughout the book.

Bogdanovich is clearly a good friend and admirer of Welles, so he never presses too hard on difficult subjects (though Welles does occasionally complain about returning to the same topics, like Citizen Kane). Welles lives up to his reputation for bon homie and a certain fullness of himself. He's a talented guy and he knows it. He loves the craft of filmmaking (and art in general) and holds to his own principles and opinions. He's an interesting fellow though not entirely sympathetic. I had the impression that his side of the story was only one side and a lot wasn't said about the other side of the story.

I didn't read through his career or the Ambersons material, so I can't comment on those. I found the book a bit long (322 pages of interviews, another 210 of unread supplementary material) and a bit one-sided. If you're a Welles fan it's worth reading once.

Movie Review: Journey into Fear (1943)

Journey into Fear (1943), directed by Norman Foster

Sound like a good title for a horror movie right? Also it must be a good title for a World War II espionage thriller, since that is what this movie is. The screenplay is co-written by Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten (who both star in the film) from the novel by Eric Ambler. Most of the cast from the Mercury Theater (Welles's troupe that did the War of the Worlds radio broadcast and Citizen Kane) play the various characters, so the acting is top notch. Welles is a little bit hammy in his role as a corrupt Turkish cop but not too much. Cotten as Howard Graham is the star of the show.

Graham works for an American weapons manufacturer and is in Istanbul on his way home from a conference. He's met by the company's local Turkish agent, who browbeats him into going out for some drinks, leaving Graham's wife at the hotel. At the seedy cabaret they visit, Graham is dragged up on stage for a magician's act. The lights go out and a shot is fired. The magician is dead; everyone gets dragged off to the local constabulary to get things sorted. Here, Graham meets Colonel Haki (Welles), who recognizes that the bullet was meant for the "arms dealer" (as everyone else thinks of Graham) and decides Graham needs to leave town by the midnight boat rather than the morning train with his wife. Otherwise he won't escape the Gestapo assassin who is after him. He's still worried about his wife but Haki says he'll reassure her and get her to meet him at the boat's next port of call. Graham reluctantly agrees. He meets some of the performers from the cabaret on board. Who can Graham trust and did the assassin make it on the boat too?

This is an interesting though not great thriller about the Nazi menace. The story is more built around the cat-and-mouse pursuit of Graham and the tension is built around the question of who can be trusted. The ending is a bit of Hollywood standard fare but doesn't ruin the film. At 69 minutes long, a lot is packed into a short running time.

Unfortunately, it's not available on DVD in the USA. I saw it on BBC's iPlayer, where many movies that air on TV are viewable for a week or so afterward. As I write this, the week is already up, so good luck in searching for it!