The Night That Panicked America

The Martians are coming, the Martians are coming!!!

On the night before Halloween, 1938, Orson Welles directs a radio adaptation of HG Wells' novel The War of the Worlds from forty years prior. The "breaking news" style of ominous storytelling convinced many listeners throughout America to take it seriously, causing a panic. The illusion of realism was reinforced by the lack of commercial interruptions, which meant that the first break didn’t come until after all of the alarming "news" had been given.

A television production, “The Night that Panicked America” (1975) works well enough to help you see how Welles’ show could deceive those who failed to hear the opening announcement indicating that the show was a work of fiction. Paul Shenar does a good job playing Welles and there are several familiar faces, like Vic Morrow, Eileen Brennan, Meredith Baxter, Will Geer, Tom Bosley and John Ritter just before his success with Three’s Company.

The ending fittingly mentions the town of Concrete, Washington, which is located 96 miles northeast of Seattle. During the midpoint of the broadcast a coincidental power failure plunged the town of (then) one thousand people into darkness. Needless to say, they were probably the most terrified listeners in America.

It runs 1 hour, 32 minutes, and was shot in Los Angeles.

GRADE: B