La nuit qui terrifia l'Amérique

I am not generally a fan of movies made for television, but "The Night America Panicked" is a clear Exception. I was fourteen years old when I watched it with my mother who boasted a firsthand experience of the original Orson Welles broadcast of "War of the Worlds," and the resulting mayhem. She had told the story to me many times when I was younger and it was interesting to see it recreated. My mom was so impressed with the late Paul Shenar's enthusiastic portrayal of Orson Welles that she became a lifelong fan. I became of fan of Orson Welles and I loved "Citizen Kane" as well as the humor behind Citizen Kane's promotional trailer (the girls are here for the purpose of ballyhoo). Like other fans, I would like to see this movie preserved on DVD. I would buy it so I could watch it again.

The Night That Panicked America (1975)

*** (out of 4)

Orson Welles and his fellow actors arrive at the radio station on October 30, 1938 to begin their performance of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. Around the country various people turn the radio on and hear the broadcast but don't understand that it's fake.

This dramatization of the events of that day have been told countless times in both books, television shows and movies but this here is one of the better examples even though it too is far from perfect. THE NIGHT THAT PANICKED America has some terrific stuff in it that makes it worth viewing but at the same time the subject is so great that you can't help but wish one day someone really nails the material. With that said, there are some fun performances throughout and there's no doubt that it remains fun.

The best thing going for this film is the actual re-enactment of the radio station. I thought director Joseph Sargent did a terrific job at showing us what it was like in a radio station back in these days and seeing the re-enactment of the broadcast was a lot of fun. A lot of screen time is devoted to this so that means that very few of the surrounding stories are built up. The character development is pretty much missing and I think one flaw with the picture is that there are so many characters that we just don't really get to know any of them.

The film offers up a rather nice cast including Vic Morrow, Eileen Brenan, Tom Bosley, Will Geer, a young John Ritter and Paul Shenar as Welles. The supporting stories range from mildly interesting to some pretty bland stuff including a man trying to get a woman to marry him before the invasion. Still, THE NIGHT THAT PANICKED America is worth watching and especially if you're familiar with the true story.

This film was an excellent portrayal of the radio broadcast and the actor who played Orson Wells did an excellent job. The sound effects at the radio station was unbelievable accurate as to the sound of an alien space craft both landing and the sound of the hatch coming off, very scare as was suppose to happen especially back in the 30's. The acting to go along with the radio broadcast was out of sight. This was a very entertaining movie and i wish it was also available on video as stated by Mike Spangler, if that is not possible than it should be made available to be shown on TV again, so people could record it as I did some years ago, but have a very poor copy of. If this is available to be replayed on TV, than this Halloween should be appropriate to re-broadcast this fine movie

This film was an excellent look at the perhaps one of the most notorious instances of mass hysteria ever. This film made me interested in the actual play and I think that this was pretty much an accurate portrayal of the event. Also, the little stories of how people were affected by the broadcast and what they went through as the story unfolded. The one story that I felt really conveyed what happened was the one featuring Vic Morrow and Eileen Brennan as the couple on the brink of divorce who forget their differences and are brought back together because of the broadcast. If anyone wants a good example of a good TV movie, this is it.

An okay telefilm about the famous (infamous?) radio broadcast. It certainly deserves good marks for adhering closely to what occurred during the original broadcast and, of course, dramatic license is to be expected with the various stories of Americans reacting to the show. But, still, it IS a TV movie from 1975 which means that it's low budgeted---therefore it seems underpopulated. For instance, Orson Welles (Shenar) arrives at the CBS Radio studios walking in at a leisurely pace in the early evening down an empty, quiet street... when in fact Welles was always rushing in at the last minute from a stage show rehearsal, and New York streets at 7PM would be bustling with people and noise (sometimes Welles hired an ambulance to get him to the CBS studio on time---now that would have been a great opening for this film!) Not to nitpick, but it's this kind of flatness in sound and direction that hurts the film. Additionally, Shenar looks nothing like a young Orson Welles (who looked very much like Bob Hope) and plays him with too much control. Welles was dynamic and explosive and very much a young man (in his early twenties in 1938) while Shenar is too aloof and too much older (he was nearly forty when he played this part). But Shenar does have the rich deep Wellesian baritone (probably the main reason for hiring him). A great subject for a movie and one that deserves another try... although this one is adequate.