On October 30th, 1938, exactly 70 years ago tomorrow, the Martians attacked.Or at least many people thought they did.A radio broadcast by Orson Welles took place that night.The radio version of H.G.Wells' The War of the Worlds was being played on the radio and they made it as realistic as possible.People, who hadn't heard the beginning of that play took it all seriously.They really thought the Martians had invaded the Earth.Joseph Sargent's The Night That Panicked America is a made-for -television movie from 1975.There are some known names in this movie.Tom Bosley,as remembered from Happy Days playing Howard Cunningham, plays Norman Smith.Meredith Baxter, as remembered from Family Ties playing Elyse Keaton, plays Linda Davis.John Ritter, who we lost way too soon, plays Walter Wingate.Michael Constantine plays Jess Wingate.Eileen Brennan is Ann Muldoon.Paul Shenar plays Orson Welles.This movie gives a very good portrayal of those events.Something like this couldn't probably happen today.We know too much now.Our world is filled with knowledge, I could say even too much.If we didn't have all the knowledge, we'd all be escaping the Martians.
Review of The Night That Panicked America
