The date was Oct. 30, 1938. Europe and Asia were on the brink of war. Americans kept a wary eye on the globe, hoping and praying that the New World would escape the horrors that loomed. But that night, CBS radio broadcast a radio drama based on the H.G. Wells novel, "The War of the Worlds." It was the 17th episode of The Mercury Theatre of the Air. Most CBS stations across the country broadcast the play, beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
Orson Wells produced and directed the drama. To make it more real, the drama was punctuated by a series of fake news updates. The Mercury Theatre ran without the usual commercial interruptions. That lent a further sense of reality to the broadcast. CBS announced the play and format in advance, and told the radio audience what to expect. But, later listeners tuned into the CBS stations after the play had begun. They had no way of knowing that the news flashes were not real, but part of the play. And in areas of the U.S. Northeast, panic ensued among a small portion of the public, who thought the earth had been invaded by Martians.
While the breadth of public panic, which was mostly in New Jersey and New York, has been disputed, the criticism and outcry of the press afterwards was widespread. And, the one undisputed result of the event was the skyrocketing of Orson Wells as an actor and broadcaster.
This 1957 television movie is a story of that famous night in 1938. It recreates the broadcast as it occurred, but intersperses snippets of various people who react on hearing the program. These were based on known or reported incidents involving people from that October night in 1938. One wonders if they had just waited one more night for the broadcast (Monday, Oct. 31) instead of the regular Sunday night broadcast. Would the public have thought differently about an invasion broadcast on Halloween night?
A notable aspect of this film is the inclusion of Edward R. Murrow as himself. In the early decades of the 20th century, Murrrow was the most well-known and listened to news broadcaster and commentator on radio. This is an interesting look at an event in broadcast history that many movie viewers may find interesting well into the 21st century.
Orson Wells produced and directed the drama. To make it more real, the drama was punctuated by a series of fake news updates. The Mercury Theatre ran without the usual commercial interruptions. That lent a further sense of reality to the broadcast. CBS announced the play and format in advance, and told the radio audience what to expect. But, later listeners tuned into the CBS stations after the play had begun. They had no way of knowing that the news flashes were not real, but part of the play. And in areas of the U.S. Northeast, panic ensued among a small portion of the public, who thought the earth had been invaded by Martians.
While the breadth of public panic, which was mostly in New Jersey and New York, has been disputed, the criticism and outcry of the press afterwards was widespread. And, the one undisputed result of the event was the skyrocketing of Orson Wells as an actor and broadcaster.
This 1957 television movie is a story of that famous night in 1938. It recreates the broadcast as it occurred, but intersperses snippets of various people who react on hearing the program. These were based on known or reported incidents involving people from that October night in 1938. One wonders if they had just waited one more night for the broadcast (Monday, Oct. 31) instead of the regular Sunday night broadcast. Would the public have thought differently about an invasion broadcast on Halloween night?
A notable aspect of this film is the inclusion of Edward R. Murrow as himself. In the early decades of the 20th century, Murrrow was the most well-known and listened to news broadcaster and commentator on radio. This is an interesting look at an event in broadcast history that many movie viewers may find interesting well into the 21st century.