Has anyone bought this and watched it yet? Opinions? I remember watching it long ago, and being impressed by it, but I'm just not sure if I want to buy it.

Also, is the OAR for this movie fullscreen?

To answer the question about OAR, yes, it was shot in Academy ratio (1.33/1.37, can't remember which).

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDRev...dvd_review.htm

Thanks for the link. That review had more of the info I was looking for.

I watched this tonight, and it was pretty good. It's certainly no Warner Brothers 4k 3-strip Technicolor restoration, but I was happy with it.

One question, to somebody who might know... what's with the EXTREME softness during all the shots with military hardware? It's like the shots were out of focus.

OK. Bought it, watched it, enjoy it. Worth picking up, no doubt. There's just an added thrill to watching this movie knowing it's more than 50 years old! And the fact that the leading actors are on the "making of" special is priceless.

And I don't care what anyone says - those Martian ships/machines are still cool as anything. The look, the sounds, love 'em. It was a shame to hear the originals no longer exist - they were melted down for their copper. And yes, you can see the wires holding them up, but it's not really that bad, certainly not as bad I thought it could be going in.

BUT... and you know there had to be a "but"... this disc features those damn forced commercials, two of them. The usual way of getting by them didn't seem to work. Anyone know if it's possible?

And just to mention, along with this, I bought Office Space, and of course that has the forced movie piracy PSA. The usual way got around that POS. What's with these studios thinking we want to see these things every single time we want to watch a movie?!?!??!!

One note about the OAR: After the film had gone into release, Paramount began cropping this and several other titles for widescreen, including (and this is based on my memory of going through 1953 issues of DAILY VARIETY and THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER) SHANE, among others. WAR OF THE WORLDS was shot for full-frame projection, so the wide screen aspect ratio was cropped only very slightly, something like 1.5:1 or so, and technically the full frame DVD release is correct.

I've never seen the wires. It always amazed me that the effects looked so good for something out of the 50's.

Me too. I have always been impressed by this film. I've seen things much newer than this that seemed more "dated."

This has been one of my favorite movies since I was a kid, even though I always hated the whiny female lead (no offense to the actress). To me those war machines are still the coolest Sci-Fi vehicles ever. So I've got nothing but praise for this DVD. The video reproduction is crystal clear, with nice vivid colors and nary a scratch. There's plenty of bass for a 2.0 soundtrack.

Loved the 'Making of' feature. I have to admit I was seriously creeped out by the Ray Harryhausen martian demo clip. What a shame it never made it to the screen.

The only dissapointment was the clarity of the wires in a lot of FX shots. Especially after hearign in the commentary that they were supposed to be practically invisible in 'good' prints of the film. I know it's heretical to even suggest it, but I almost wished a few times that they'd done a little GC masking on the print.
All in all, for $10, this disk is a hell of a bargain.

The military stuff is not as clear because it's probably stock footage. A common thing in movies of the era.

I had the laserdisc and I thought that looked great, but the dvd surpasses that.
This 1950's movie looks as good as the just released WIZARD OF OZ dvd.
Worth the the price to pick this movie up.

Has anyone also gotten the DVD release of the WotW TV series that was based on the movie? I remember watching that show regularly when it was on and really liking it. But the review here makes it sound of dubious quality. Wish I could rent it just to see it again.

www.netflix.com
www.blockbuster.com

I think both still offer 1 month (or maybe it's just 2 weeks) free...