H.G. Wells and The War of the Worlds - A Documentary

Starring:Hg Wells & the War of the Worlds
Studio: Delta
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Description
H.G. Wells and The War of the Worlds - A Documentary DVD

An invading alien race bent on conquering humanity. The fear of the unknown. Intelligent insects, apocalyptic musings, time travel, mutant half-breeds, invisibility formulas, and mad scientistssuch is the rich fantasy world imagined by H.G. Wells. With this exciting DVD, explore the motivations, the societal pressures, and the inspirations behind some of Wells' most popular works, including The War of the Worlds. Learn more about the man whose political and sexual views were every bit as revolutionary as his fiction.

When H.G. Wells began his literary career he both shocked and thrilled the world by exposing the flaws and hypocrisy of Victorian society with his futuristic thinking and alternate views. The Time Machine was his first major work, a tale that modern readers would consign to the genre of Science Fiction, and it was a phenomenal success. Rapidly followed by The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, and his most popular work of allThe War of the WorldsH.G. Wells opened a door into the future that took his readers on a unique adventure far away from the social constraints of 19th Century England.

This program offers a remarkable insight into the life and work of H.G. Wells, a man who proves to be as fascinating as his far-reach-ing imagination. It will also give the viewer plenty of opportunities to experience The War of the Worlds and explore the impact this truly exceptional piece of writing has made on every new genera-tion to turn its pages.

APPROX. 90 MIN. COLOR

EXCLUSIVELY PRODUCED BY DELTA ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION

Customer Reviews:

NOT Leonard Nimoy.......2006-12-03

This dvd lists Leonard Nimoy on the credits but in fact he does not appear at all.
Fans have been badly misled by this error.

The Day That Panicked America.......2006-03-09

VERY DISSAPPOINTED!! I was looking for the movie with the same name, not the documentary on Orson Welles or highlights of what occurred from an announcer, BUT THE MOVIE!! The movie was an excellent movie and had a very strong impact on me.
Anyone know where I can get THE MOVIE VERSION? Email me at: italiangwmjcnj@yahoo.com THANKYOU

The Day that panicked America.......2005-11-14

Amazon provided a poor representation of this product.
It leads you to believe that the movie is also included
but its not.

A waste of my time and money. Last time I will by
from Amazon

Disappointing.......2005-09-29

After watching this documentary on cable TV, I was so impressed I had the DVD ordered to show to the university communications class I teach, as part of our unit on radio.

What a disappointment! All of the interviews with experts and witnesses which made the TV version so informative about radio and its place as a medium in 1930s American society are gone. I assume they must not have been able to secure the rights from the participants. Even the narrator is different. It's not Nimoy.

To make up for the time lost from the deletion of the interviews, they've padded it with useless digressions into things like the history of Flash Gordon, yet another rehash of the supposed UFO crash in Roswell, N.M., and other elements which bear little or no relevance to the "War of the Worlds" broadcast.

Worse, the box description reflects the better TV version, not what is actually on the disc.

It comes with a second CD of the actual broadcast. So what? You can hear that for free online.

My suggestion is, avoid this purchase and tape it when it comes on TV again.

An essential DVD/CD set for the Orson Welles aficionado.......2005-08-30

This is a very good and inexpensive DVD/CD combination, one essential for the Orson Welles (1915-1985) fan. The DVD rogram is very well done and is essentially a minibiography of Welles, with emphasis, of course, on the circumstances surrounding the 30 October 1938 Halloween radio broadcast of Welles's adaptation of H.G. Wells's (1866-1946) novelette, The War of the Worlds (1897). The DVD is copyright 2005 and was newly written, directed, and narrated by John Ross, who also did the music--facts not noted on the packaging (this information is from the credits).

The DVD runs for 75 minutes, not the claimed 70 and is a mix of B&W and color; format is 4:3, and sound is in Dolby digital stereo. There are 8 scenes:
1) Sign of the times [5:13]
2) Orson Welles [6:08]
3) The Mercury Theater [10:58]
4) Grover's Mill, New Jersey [6:37]
5) 1930's sci-fi [7:31]
6) Are we alone? [13:27]
7) Panic on the streets [6:53]
8) The aftermath [18:24]
The actual program has lots of biographical and historical ackground, including extensive clips from Welles's two early films, Hearts of Age (1934) done when he was only 19, and We Work Again (1937), done for the WPA (Works Projects Administration). Scene 5 on "1930's sci-fi" is interesting,but the overlong scene 6, "Are we alone?," on alien phenomena, including the 1947 Roswell affair, is rather tedious. Scene 8 includes clips from Welles's The Trial (1963) as well as his interview remarks on War of the world.

The CD is of the complete 30 October 1938 radio broadcast of the hour-long Mercury Theater show (the CD runs 58 minutes, 7 seconds). The quality is very good. The scratchiness in the beginning part adds to the atmosphere. The CD is not subdivided. Thus don't lose your place or you will have to fast forward from the beginning to resume listening.

What's missing? There is no inner paper insert. It would have been classy to list the characters and actors of the radio broadcast and perhaps reproduce the 31 October 1938 article in The New York Times about the controversy. However, this information is readily available from the Internet. I printed it out to insert into the DVD case.

H.G. Wells and The War of the Worlds - A Documentary

Average customer rating:

lacklustre, but generally informative
davidglincman
Can we have a proper review of this DVD please??

H.G. Wells and The War of the Worlds - A Documentary
Starring: Hg Wells & the War of the Worlds
Manufacturer: Delta
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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War of the Worlds Collectors Edition

ASIN: B0009NZ79M
Release Date: 2005-06-21

Description

H.G. Wells and The War of the Worlds - A Documentary DVD

An invading alien race bent on conquering humanity. The fear of the unknown. Intelligent insects, apocalyptic musings, time travel, mutant half-breeds, invisibility formulas, and mad scientists—such is the rich fantasy world imagined by H.G. Wells. With this exciting DVD, explore the motivations, the societal pressures, and the inspirations behind some of Wells' most popular works, including The War of the Worlds. Learn more about the man whose political and sexual views were every bit as revolutionary as his fiction.

When H.G. Wells began his literary career he both shocked and thrilled the world by exposing the flaws and hypocrisy of Victorian society with his futuristic thinking and alternate views. The Time Machine was his first major work, a tale that modern readers would consign to the genre of Science Fiction, and it was a phenomenal success. Rapidly followed by The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, and his most popular work of all—The War of the Worlds—H.G. Wells opened a door into the future that took his readers on a unique adventure far away from the social constraints of 19th Century England.

APPROX. 90 MIN. COLOR

EXCLUSIVELY PRODUCED BY DELTA ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION

This fascinating documentary offers a remarkable insight into the life and work of H.G. Wells, a man who proves to be as fascinating as his far-reaching imagination!

Customer Reviews:

lacklustre, but generally informative.......2006-12-23

Version reviewed: 2005 Region 1 dvd entitled "H.G. Wells and the War of the Worlds: A Documentary" 87 min., narrated by Liam Dale.

Language: no language, subtitle, or closed captioning options.

This is a low-budget biography of the life, times and places associated with novelist H. G. Wells. I recommend this to Wells readers who want an overview of his life.

I found the writing to be trite at times, but generally interesting. Sometimes I had the feeling that we were just getting time-fillers and barely on-topic asides. The most annoying was the ongoing reference to Hallowe'en customs.

Despite the title, this video biography is not about the War of the Worlds, and one will find little more about that book than about any other Wells title. I suspect the title was chosen to market the dvd in 2005 and to coincide with the release of Spielberg's version of WotW.

This was a lacklustre biography, with no expert interviews. Visually, the film used panning video of old still photography mixed with contemporary footage of locales associated with Wells' life.

This is worth buying if you want a bio of H. G. Wells in your collection, and if you can get it at a bargain price. I am satisfied with my purchase, but had hoped for a better-quality production.

davidglincman.......2005-08-27

this is a great documentary on the life and times of hg Wells which inspired orson wells and george pal ln giving us the 1953 classic the war of the worlds lf you would like to know the secrets about the man watch the documentary

Can we have a proper review of this DVD please??.......2005-07-15

I've just ordered this.

I don't know who Lynda is but she clearly comes from a different planet!!! ;-) Anyway, she needs to look for "The Night That Panicked America"...

You are perfectly entitled to make more than one documentary about a subject! (Doh!). And it doesn't need to have anything to do with the p*ss poor and inaccurate Orson Welles radio play either - I presume this disc chronicles the great HG Wells story and discusses all its adaptations and effects on the development of science fiction. If not, then I'm sending my copy back!

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