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Quiz: War of the Worlds
Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds is being billed as a contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells' seminal classic. The first film version was released in 1953 in the age when movie monsters and aliens from outer space ruled the theaters. Of course it all started with H.G. Wells and his 1898 book. It was later popularized by the Orson Welles radio broadcast that panicked a nation. This quiz covers these four versions of the story.
You can read the entire The War of the Worlds novel by H.G. Wells at no charge. It is public domain and Project Gutenberg has documented the novel online.
- Download the file of your choice: Text version | Audio version | PDF version
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1. When was the original War of the Worlds radio broadcast that sent many people in the U.S. into a panic?
October 30th, 1938 (the day before Halloween). The United States experienced mass hysteria — most pronounced on the east coast in New York and New Jersey — in response to a radio broadcast put on by Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater On The Air.
2. What plane was used to depict the Flying Wing in the 1953 film War of the Worlds?
The Flying Wing depicted in the movie is the Northrop YB-49. Two were built and both crashed. Stock footage was used in the movie.
3. What was the budget for the 1953 War of the Worlds film?
The film's budget was $2 million. Of that sum, $600,000 was spent on the live action scenes while $1,400,000 was spent on the extensive and elaborate special effects. The 2005 version reportedly has a budget of $128 million.
4. Byron Haskin directed the 1953 War of the Worlds film. What other big-name directors were considered before Haskin was hired?
Both Cecil B. DeMille and Alfred Hitchcock were considered for directors of the 1953 film. Orson Welles was also being pressured into directing it, but he turned it down. It was eventually directed by Byron Haskin who also directed such classics as Treasure Island (1950), His Majesty O'Keefe (1954) and TV shows such as The Legend of Jesse James (1965) and The Outer Limits (1963).
5. Where was the 2005 War of the Worlds director Steven Spielberg born?
Cincinnati, OH on December 18, 1946.
6. What film did Steven Spielberg win a Best Director and Best Picture Oscar in the same year?
Schindler's List (1993). In 1998 Saving Private Ryan garnered Spielberg another Best Director statuette, but the film although nominated, lost out to Shakespeare in Love for Best Picture.
7. What was the first profession Tom Cruise, star of the 2005 film version, was interested in before acting?
He wanted to become a priest. At age 14, he enrolled in a seminary to become a priest. He dropped out after one year.
8. What actress, who starred in such films as I am Sam and Man on Fire, plays the daughter of Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) in the new War of the Worlds film?
Dakota Fanning, who at the age of 8, became the youngest person to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, for her supporting performance in I Am Sam (2001).
9. What other H.G. Wells book was made into a movie in 1977 starring Burt Lancaster and Michael York?
The Island of Dr. Moreau. Wells also wrote The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The First Men in the Moon (to name a few). All of which have been made into movies. See the complete bibliography of H.G. Wells.
10. In the 1953 film, what did the Martian machines crash into in the final sequence in order for the models to look more realistic?
For the final sequences where the machines "die", they are shown crashing into telegraph poles — this allowed the film makers to hide the suspension wires holding the models with the telegraph wires.
Sources: Internet Movie Database, Oscars.org, The HG Wells Society
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