The War of the Worlds

Character mistake: On several occasions, scientist (Clayton Forrester) refers to the impacting objects as "meteors". Any scientist knows (or should), that when a meteor impacts the the ground, it becomes a "meteorite".

Character mistake: During the first big battle between the Martians & the U.S. Army, the Martians use their heat ray to vaporise people and equipment. Dr. Forrester, a physicist, then quickly speculates, "It neutralises mesons somehow. They're the atomic glue holding matter together. Cut across their magnetic lines of force and any object will simply cease to exist." During the '50s mesons were theorised to hold atomic nuclei together strongly. But if the Martian rays worked as the Dr. guessed, then objects wouldn't just vaporise. They'd explode with the ferocity of nuclear weapons.

Revealing mistake: In the first scene of the crashed meteor, on the extreme left of the scene where the smoke is, it seems to be billowing up from behind a stage wall, as there is a definite vertical line and a gap between the smoke and the left edge of the frame.

Movie Nut

More mistakes in The War of the Worlds

Forrester: If they're mortal, they must have mortal weaknesses. They'll be stopped, somehow.

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Trivia: The reporter speaking into the tape recorder just before the atom bomb is used is Paul Frees. Even today (though he passed away years ago) Frees is still the voice of the 'ghost host' in the Haunted Mansion rides at the Disney parks, as well as Ludwig Von Drake and many other cartoon characters.

Nicki

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