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War of the Worlds DVD Commentary from 2005.

posted 9 years ago by oldschoolhero2006
5 replies | jump to latest

I Am currently listening to the DVD Commentary track by Actors Ann Robinson & Gene Barry on the War of the Worlds special edition from 2005. is it just me or is this not the most one sided commentary ever produced? let me clarify. Ann Robinson did a wonderful job, very interesting & informative. She was the one Bright spot here. the same can't be said of ''Boring'' Gene Barry & his extremely intermittent ''Commentary''. for the most part, i think they did their tracks seperately. many times, Ann is talking directly to Gene & recieves absolutely no response whatsoever, as if she were alone in the room. then here & there Gene actually gives a convoluted response, literally fumbling over his few words that adds absolutely nothing to the enjoyment of the film. it is widely known that Gene Barry was not proud of this film, as he was not a sci-fi fan. this comes through loud & clear in his ''almost'' commentary. thank goodness for the Lovely & Charming Ann Robinson for picking up the Ball & in essence ''saving'' this commentary from being a total disaster.

THE OLDSCHOOL HERO!

[–] rogueforte 9 years ago

There used to be a thread (IMDb deletes them now after a few years) that discussed Gene Barry's miserable contribution to the DVD commentary. The only thing I recall about it was Barry constantly saying, "Who is that young guy?" just about every time he was on screen.

In the now deleted thread, it seems like someone mentioned that Barry may have been in the early stages of dementia or Alzheimers during the commentary. If so, well, he did okay under the circumstances, I guess. But, really, Ann Robinson by herself would have done just as well.

[–] oldschoolhero2006 9 years ago

thanks. it's good to know im not alone in my opinion on this. if mr. barry was indeed in declining mental health, the ''geniuses'' who put the commentary track together should have omitted him. he was never a fan of the film & was just going with ''popular opinion'' by saying what a great film he ''now'' realized it was. those awkward silences after Ann Robinson would say something flattering to him were terrible. he couldn't have choked out a thank you? oh well.

THE OLDSCHOOL HERO!

[–] rogueforte 9 years ago

Well, he was 86 in 2005, and would die 4 years later at 90. Maybe if they had done the commentary 10 years earlier, he wouldn't have been quite so out of it.

A pity since Ann Robinson by herself would have been better. But, then, Barry was the star of the picture, so his appearance on the commentary, as worthless as it might have been, almost certainly sold more dvds than if it had been Robinson, alone. Plus, it seems as if Robinson may have had a script of trivia to read from. Barry may not have wanted to do that and was content to just sit there making the occasional inane remark, letting Robinson carry the whole commentary virtually by herself.

Really, the whole thing was done just to try and capitalize on the Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise remake that was also released in 2005. If not for that, I highly doubt there would have been the commentary version of the original 1953 movie, at all.

[–] oldschoolhero2006 9 years ago

yes, everything youve said makes perfect sense. i guess as long as we have a good version of the film to watch on dvd, that's all that matters. :)
THE OLDSCHOOL HERO!

[–] rogueforte 9 years ago

It could be better. The main problem is the wires. The frustrating thing is that the way the movie was originally made and shown in theaters, the wires weren't visible. It was only when it was digitally transferred that they became painfully obvious.

Instead of a weak documentary, I would much rather have seen a new version where, at the very least, the wires were removed. Of course, that would have been much more involved and expensive, too.