The War Of The Worlds (1953) is the first film version of H.G. Wells’s 1897 science fiction novel. The film’s narrative follows the residents of a small town in California, who are excited when a flaming meteor crashes into the hills above the town. However, their excitement turns to fear as they realise that the meteor is actually a magnetic travelling machine from Mars and its occupants are far from friendly.
Classification Issues
- Violence
- Occasional scenes of violence occur during the alien attack, in which humans fire guns and canons at the alien machines. The aliens use a heat ray which causes human characters to disappear, sometimes leaving the outline of their bodies in ash on the ground, or in one scene two soldiers are very briefly seen on fire.
- Threat and horror
- There are occasional scenes of mild threat in which characters run or hide from the aliens.
- Language
- There is infrequent use of mild bad language.
Cinema classification
When the film’s distributor, Paramount, first submitted The War of the Worlds for classification in March 1953, the BBFC considered some of the film’s scenes to be “very alarming”, noting that “a number could certainly be described as ‘horrific’”.
A letter from the BBFC to Paramount states that: “The number of such scenes makes it impracticable, we consider, to suggest cuts for an ‘A’ certificate… We have no alternative, therefore, but to place the film – without any cuts, of course – in the ‘X’ category.”
At the time, the X rating meant that no persons under 16 would be admitted to a screening.
Release
Some local authorities were asked by exhibitors to reconsider the X awarded by the BBFC.
Letters from some local councils, including Great Yarmouth in Norfolk and Blackburn in Lancashire, asked the BBFC for an explanation as to why the X had been awarded. In his letter to Charles Robinson, Blackburn Town Clerk, the BBFC Secretary Arthur Watkins stated: “The Board considers that a number of scenes would be very likely to frighten younger children who, under an ‘A’ certificate, would be able to see the film with their parents.”
Mr Robinson later replied that he had refused the application of the cinema who requested the lower certificate, but “permission has been granted to show it in this Borough in accordance with the ‘X’ certificate granted by the Board.”
Paramount sought to have the film’s certificate reduced from an X to an A in 1961, but received a letter from the BBFC’s new Secretary, John Trevelyan, stating that this was “carefully considered” but that “there are too many scenes in it which would be unacceptable for any category that would admit children.”
Cinema reclassification
The film was eventually reclassified A in 1981.
By that time, the meaning of A had changed from requiring that under 16s should be accompanied to meaning that parents were warned that some content may be unsuitable for under 14s.
One of the Examiners viewing the film said, “When this film was first issued, I was not old enough to see it with its X certificate. However it, like me, has aged and today’s television-reared generation shouldn’t find it too alarming either in theme or treatment.”
Video classification
The War of the Worlds was classified PG for its home video release in 1986. While violence and horror remained the dominant issues, the film’s age had, by the 1980s, reduced their impact, and audience expectations at lower categories had shifted in the intervening years.
The strongest scene, noted throughout the history of its submission to the BBFC, shows two men on fire, collapsing to the ground and screaming. However, there is no close-up detail and the scene quickly moves on. The alien attacks largely consist of zaps of red and green light, flames and explosions, with very little focus on victims. Where there are victims they simply disappear on the spot, as if teleported elsewhere, or are shown as human-shaped piles of ashes.
Given the lack of visual detail and the fantastical context in which the violence occurs, the film remains appropriately classified at PG by modern standards.
