...ya' know?? One really has to hand it off to cult film director Antonio Margheriti (...or, Anthony Dawson, per his domestically coined moniker), for his ever-changing versatility and his ability to smartly adapt to many film genres, adding his unique style to whatever genre he takes on, without necessarily procuring a sense of 'copycat' or 'knock-off', in whatever 'flavor-of-the-moment' genre, which happens to be 'big', at that particular time and place. Whether it's spaghetti westerns (...1968's "Vengeance", 1967's "Dynamite Joe", etc.) ...swords, sandals & sorcery (...1964's "Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules", 1983's "Yor, the Hunter from the Future", etc.) ...spy thrillers (...1966's "Lightning Bolt" and "Killers are Challenged", etc.) ...edge-of-seat giallos (...1968's "Naked, You Die", 1973's "Seven Deaths in the Cat's Eye", etc.) ...'Raiders'-like high adventure (...1982's "Hunters of the Golden Cobra", 1984's "Ark of the Sun God", etc.) ...mixed genres (...the 1975 blaxploitation western, "Take a Hard Ride"...the 1974 martial arts western, "The Stranger and the Gunfighter", 1973's "Hercules Against Karate", etc.) ...war flicks (...1980's "Hunter of the Apocalypse", 1983's "The Last Blood", etc.) ...cannibals, aliens, sharks & shockumentaries (...1980's "Invasion of the Flesh Hunters", 1989's "Alien from the Deep", 1979's "Killer Fish", 1964's "Mondo Inferno", etc.) ...and horror, of course (...1963's "The Virgin of Nuremberg", 1964's "The Long Hair of Death", and this viewer's favorite of Antonio's, the 1963 gothic horror/romance, "Castle of Blood", amongst others). Indeed, if Antonio is guilty of anything, it's the odd occasion where he quite literally 'rips' himself off (...for instance, with 1971's color remake of "Castle of Blood", called "Web of the Spider"). However, for the purpose of this review's study, it's Antonio's contribution to the genre of science fiction, which stands out as prominently as the other genres, which he has tackled...the films of which are as numerous and varied, including 1966's "War of the Planets", 1960's "Assignment: Outer Space", and an intelligent, tension-filled little sci-fi gem from 1961...offered to us, from the fine folks over at Cheezy Flicks...called "Battle of the Worlds"...
...given the original meaning of 'damn, I hate it when I'm right', Professor Benson...the lead scientist and mathematician on an island-based astronomical site...just can't seem to catch a break, with regards to respect. Despite a world-wide recognized brilliance and years of in-depth experience, not to mention an eccentric sense of flamboyant grandiose, the professor's outrageously rendered theories seem to always get shot down, only to get backing by his embarrassed accusers, when his theories and hypotheses prove to be correct. They lambasted the professor's outlandish suggestion that the speedily looming rogue planetoid...dubbed 'the Outsider'...first observed from a manned Martian outpost, and unanimously claimed to collide disastrously with the Earth, would in fact, merely brush the outer atmosphere; when the strayed planetoid quite literally stops in it's tracks, just short of hitting the atmosphere, and assumes a semblance of an orbit around the Earth, the professor's contractors abruptly back down and praise his keen insight. Diverted and juxtapositioned astronauts, scientists & military representatives, from both the Martian post, as well as Earthbound stations, then all converge upon, and connect with those on the island, to help study the phenomenon. Convinced that the 'outsider' is controlled by a possibly hostile alien intelligence, the professor vainly attempts to convince his scientific peers that the witnessed phenomenon might well prove disastrous to the Earth, and the planetoid should be destroyed; instead, the curious powers-that-be decide to investigate & study the clearly suspicious rogue space body, orbiting the Earth. When exploratory ships, sent to the planetoid, are viciously destroyed by emerging saucer-like spaceships, the embarrassed scientific counsel again calls upon Professor Benson's once-disgarded, now-considered theories and expertise...especially when the planetary 'outsider' begins to inch closer to the Earth, disrupting and twisting natural weather conditions into cataclysmic world-wide disaster, which may well spell an apocalyptic end to the Earth...that is, unless something can be done to stop the looming destruction, once and for all...
...despite being a little wordy and melodramatic (...a side story, involving two fellow scientists on the island, smitten with each other...and a third female scientist...definitely jealous...always trying to butt in on the ideal pairing, gets a bit distracting, at times), "Battle of the Worlds" comes off as surprisingly compelling, logical and intelligent...at least, more so than most science fiction schlock, which had come out, at this time. The best moments in the film clearly lie in both the special effects rendering (...cheesy to look at, in the onset, but respectably realistic, in the sense that the filmmakers clearly did the best they could, with the budget they were shackled with), as well as Claude Rains' performance as the eccentric and quite mad, cigar-chomping Professor Benson; one of his last excursions into the genre of the fantastique...before his passing, four years later...Claude, holding absolutely nothing back, exuded himself herein, in a deliciously over-the-top, influctuatingly 'r'-rolling bravura performance, not actually that far removed from the similar and gleefully maddening characterization, which he exhibited, in his earliest role in the genre...that being the mad, arrogant & power-drunken, bandaged-faced, translucent scientist, in 1933's "The Invisible Man". An interesting note, with this film: it's the first film within the sci-fi meld, which explores the idea of music being used against, or used to communicate with, the alien protagonists...an idea further used, metaphysically in 1977's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", and to an outlandishly farcical sense, the hilarious 1996 Tim Burton-produced, bubble-gum-card-themed sci-fi/comedy outing, "Mars Attacks", amongst others...
...without a doubt, a relishable classic amongst it's assorted genre peers, in that comfortably rainy, lazy 'Saturday afternoon at the matinee' and/or 'TV creature features' sort of meld...and good ol' Cheezy Flicks emphasizes that nostalgic spirit even further, with their typical cache of trailers and concession/intermission ads, included herein...once again, making a great, 'cheesy' genre classic, even better...
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