In August we’re thrilled to be a part of ‘Check the Gate’, a new season dedicated to presenting films on film at The Prince Charles Cinema.
CtG is a collaborative celebration of the big screen celluloid experience with a touring programme produced by some of the nation’s finest independent programmers, journalists and film fans, who have scoured Park Circus Films‘ extensive collection of film prints to compile a diverse programme united by a common passion.
Original poster design // Rosie Ryott
Prints // shop
When a meteor lands in small town California, Dr Clayton Forrester (Gene Barry) and Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) are first on the scene. Soon after, a Martian war machine emerges from the crash site and begins killing indiscriminately, and even the army, whose weapons prove ineffective against the Martians seemingly impenetrable force fields, are forced to retreat. But Forrester and Van Buren manage to obtain a sample of Martian blood, which they hope will identify the aliens’ weakness…
Byron Haskin, USA 1953, PG, 85mins
“As the perfect crystallization of 50s ideology the film would be fascinating enough, but the special effects in this 1953 George Pal production also achieve a kind of dark, burnished apocalyptic beauty”
–Chicago Reader
“War of the Worlds is a socko science fiction feature, as fearsome as a film as was the Orson Welles 1938 radio interpretation of the H. G. Wells novel”
–The New York Times
The screening will be preceded by a talk from Barry Forshaw, author of the BFI study of The War of the Worlds, who will discuss everything connected with H. G. Wells’ massively influential novel – Wells himself (particularly the many science fiction concepts he originated), the classic George Pal/Byron Haskin film (with its groundbreaking realisation of the collapse of civilisation), the Steven Spielberg remake, and the many alien invasion films from the 1950s to today’s major successes, including the Independence Day films and The Avengers.
Where: The Prince Charles Cinema, 7 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BY
When: Wednesday 10th August 2016 // 8:45pm
Tickets: £6 members // £8.50 non-members, via the PCC website
Event page: Join us on Facebook
Science Fiction Theatre 