Film review: The War of the Worlds (1953)

I see that the BBC has done a swanky new version (set in the period it was written, of course, because the BBC LOVES costume drama) so it's a good time to revisit the first Hollywood blockbuster version.  I remember my dear mother saying that this was the first "X" rated film she ever saw, which just goes to show they were a bit more strict about ratings back then, because there's not even a "damn" uttered or an inch of illicit flesh displayed, and the level of gore would be topped by most Tom Baker-era Doctor Whos.  Probably the most shocking moment is when the three men who have been assigned to guard the "meteorite" that crash lands in central California witness the hatch opening (by unscrewing, which is odd) and a robotic eye-on-a-tentacle snake out, and decide to introduce themselves (and welcome their visitors to California) and it vaporizes them, leaving little Hiroshima-like ash shadows on the ground.  We also later see a dog-collar wearing pastor walking towards the same craft, reciting Psalm 23:4, only to meet the same fate.  This would seem to reflect H.G. Wells's low opinion of organized religion, but I feel he would have been sickened by the treacly ending in a church, and voiceover stating that it was "God in His wisdom" who placed the bacteria on Earth that does for the invaders.
In general, this is not a great film.  The acting is incredibly stiff - the main character (played by someone called Gene Barry, who looks like a bargain basement Rock Hudson knockoff) acts mildly sedated for the early part of the movie and in general nobody distinguishes themselves, the dialog is clunky, the pacing slow (there's no real narrative drive, there are just incidents loosely strung together) and the thing that was amazing about it back in its day, its effects, look quaint today.  Even the ship design is a little disappointing.  Instead of the tripods of the novel and most adaptations, we have floating ships "supported" by three barely-visible "magnetic beams".  The destruction of Los Angeles and the collapse of civilization (a man trying desperately to climb on a truck evacuating the city offers another man $500 for his place and gets the response "money's not worth anything any more" (this after a few days!) and a punch in the face) are pretty well realized, but then of course we have Wells's original bathetic ending, where the Martians just die because they have no immunity to Earth germs.  Having seen (the otherwise superior in all respects) Things to Come I have to conclude that Wells's strength was ideas rather than plotting.  If you have to watch one apocalyptic 50s Hollywood sci-fi, make it Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.  And if you've seen that before, never mind, watch it again.