#338: Close Encounters, Pt. 1 — The War of the Worlds (1953)

The Next Picture Show

Telegraph Road Productions

Tv & Film, Film Reviews, Film History

4.6 • 819 Ratings

🗓️ 26 July 2022

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jordan Peele’s latest film, NOPE, tells a flying saucer story decades removed from the Atomic Age concerns of Byron Haskin’s 1953 adaptation of H.G. Wells’ WAR OF THE WORLDS, but both operate from a similar understanding that an encounter with hostile aliens is never just an encounter with hostile aliens. There are other forces at work in both films, and this week we’re digging into WAR and its effects on science-fiction stories to come, from its reflection of contemporary anxieties to the unexpected bleakness of its supposed happy ending. Plus, a bevy of new feedback prompts some lightning-round responses about IP hypocrisy, alternate Baz Luhrmann timelines, and candid vs. scripted monologues. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about WAR OF THE WORLDS, NOPE, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Outro music: “Two Little Men In a Flying Saucer” by Ella Fitzgerald Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Adobe Express is the quick and easy create anything out.
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0:06.7	From videos and social posts to flyers and logos,
0:10.7	search for Adobe Express to find out more and use it for free.
0:14.9	Hello, Next Picture Show listeners.
0:16.6	If you enjoy the Next Picture Show,
0:18.0	you'll really enjoy getting more Next Picture Show by subscribing to our Patreon.
0:21.9	You can get our weekly newsletter for $3 a month and unlock bonus episodes for $5 a month.
0:26.4	We recently released episodes on Thor, Love, and Thunder, Stranger Things, and we have more in the works.
0:32.2	You can find it at patreon.com slash next picture show. That's patreon.com slash next picture show.
0:39.1	It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.
0:42.8	You believe that someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living being?
0:49.5	We may be true with the past, but the past is not through with us.
0:57.1	Welcome to the next picture show, a movie that we podcast devoted to a classic film and
1:01.7	how it shaped our thoughts on a recent release. I'm Keith Phipps here with
1:05.8	Tasha Robinson, Scott Tobias, and Genevieve Koski. We're here to talk about hostile aliens, both recent and vintage, and why we're afraid of them.
1:14.0	Before that, however, we should talk about a problem raised by this week's pairing.
1:17.5	We can't repeat ourselves.
1:19.4	We're happy with what we have lined up for this week, but our main selection could have also worked with close encounters of the third kind or jaws or the host.
1:29.1	The only problem? We've done all those already. Is anyone else worried we're going to run out of movies? I'm not, but also we could
1:34.1	have done contact with us too. We could also. Yeah. And signs. Well, we haven't done signs.
1:38.1	If we were willing to give classic status to signs, we could could have we could have done that as well yeah that
	...

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