"in the end it was the little things which god in his ever infinite wisdom, put on this earth".....at the end was pretty poignant ya gotta say! classic movie----how can anyone criticize this movie based on todays standards.....maybe i'm just an old movie geek but to me, the last 45 mins of this movie FAR more entertaining than the Cruise remake-----almost a different movie
shareI agree. I can't understand the hostility many have shown just b/c it contains some elements of Christianity in the ending. I've seen far more movies attack & stereotype Christians in movies today & I don't protest these. For a film made in 1953 it's great fun & far ahead of it's time!
share[deleted]
👍
SpiltPersonality
FAR more entertaining than the Cruise remake-----almost a different movie
It's not the Christianity itself that I find uncomfortable. It's the inconsistency.
First, the Big Christian of the show, the uncle, says that if the Martians are so advanced, "they must be closer to the Creator". A few seconds later the Martians blast him away. Irony? I doubt it. Although this is a great film, metaphorical double-sense depth just doesn't apply. The Martians are implacable enemies of humankind, and God does nothing to destroy or even impede them.
So the ending,
where the Martians are destroyed by "the littlest creatures that God, in His wisdom, has placed upon the Earth", is radically inchoherent with "God's" activity or lack thereof throughout the bulk of the film. Not to mention that the Martians' defeat does not come from God or God's intervention, but from the evolutionary accident that their blood is inherently anemic, and is no match from Earth's (randomly, indifferently) evolved bacteria.
So for me, the God card is misplaced, coming as it does in a rush at film's end, with Gene Barry running from church to church (with time duly given to major denominations except, of course, Jewish) in order to locate the "frightened little girl" Sylvia. A case of too much, too intrusive, and too late.
Otherwise an outstanding film, except that the Martian Way of War is clumsy, demanding a huge number of ships that must cruise down city streets in order to destroy anything. Apparently long-range attack just wasn't their thing...
The minister was just naive to say the least. Just as being highly educated doesn't make one less dangerous. Aliens, while vastly advanced in their technology, might easily be more hostile. They might see us as a threat to their existence. Perhaps they needed Earth for some purpose & just decided to take it.
God doesn't stop all evil before it takes place b/c the Bible teaches that our fallen nature is responsible for the evil in the world. If God stopped all evil & intervened at every possible moment then we'd be nothing more than robots, capable of no emotion, love or reasoning. He allows us to makes choices and we have to face the consequences of those choices (eventually).