THE NIGHT AMERICA TREMBLED

[Harvey Chartrand]

The Spring 2009 issue of FilmfaxPlus Magazine features a review of MARS INVADES THE EARTH!, aka THE NIGHT AMERICA TREMBLED, a 1957 episode of CBS-TV's Studio One anthology series recreating the Mercury Theatre on the Air War of the Worlds radio broadcast. This live television drama is praised for its sharp, on-set edits between multiple cameras and evocative (Wellesian?) lighting. Orson Welles is portrayed by the distinguished character actor Alexander Scourby, who was then 44, a bit old for the part, as Welles was only 23 when he panicked America in 1938. However, reviewer David J. Hogan notes that Scourby is a splendid stand-in for Welles. MARS INVADES THE EARTH! is now out on DVD and available through Alpha Home Entertainment at http://www.oldies.com/product-view/5240D.html.

[Alan Brody]

Actually, it looked to me like there were two actors playing Welles, one doing the narration, and the other doing Proffessor Pearson. The cast also includes Warren Beatty, Warren Oates, James Coburn, and Ed Asner, all looking very young.

[Night Listener]

There's a nice article on the Studio One episode here:

http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/night ... embled.htm

It makes the point that there wasn't a one-for-one correspondence of participants in the original broadcast to actors in this recreation; some characters are composites and others are split in two. Welles' contributions, for example, are split between Robert Blackburn as "Director" and Alexander Scourby as "Host." Interestingly, Welles' name is mentioned nowhere in the program, and neither are any of the other original Mercury players. This gives the whole production a somewhat surreal quality, as if one were to dramatize the election of 2008 without mentioning Barack Obama or the Democratic party.

[Le Chiffre]

Here's the program in it's entirety on Youtube, with nice picture quality:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xydQRuXurk8