War of the Worlds [Limited Edition]

Orson Welles | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 28, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Limited Edition
• Label: Collectables
• ASIN: B0009HLDB4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #179,226 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. War of the Worlds

Editorial Reviews

This is an original recording of the famous Orson Welles broadcast that frightened the nation in the Fall of 1938. Intended as a Halloween prank, this broadcast caused mass hysteria throughout New York and New Jersey. People abondoned their homes and fled in their cars - all roads were jammed, and never before had people in all walks of life become so suddenly disturbed as they did on this night. The original broadcast took place at 8pm on the evening of October 30th, 1938. Orson Welles and a group of his Mercury Theatre actors took their places before the microphones in the studio, little realizing what the outcome would be. This recording is now over 70 years old and we have attempted to digitally remove the many of the noises present on the original. However as this is a very old recording the quality is not as clean as you may be used to. None-the-less we feel it is important to release this historic recording. We've included the main portions of the broadcast. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars MP3 artifacts ruin an otherwise terrific tale., August 24, 2008

By 

Dotan Cohen (Haifa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The War Of The Worlds (MP3 Download)

I won't discuss the content of the mp3 file, as if you are reading this then you probably already know that this is one of the most entertaining and convincing products of the entertainment industry in history.

However, in addition to the obvious artifacts of 1930's era recording technology (cackling which do not distract from the content), there are many metallic whistling mp3 artifacts as well. If this were available in another format, such as an uncompressed wav or possibly a lossless flak, it would be much better.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars phenomenal, October 2, 2007

By 

Edith Miller "mom of 2 boys" (Burbank, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: War of the Worlds (Audio CD)

I always wondered why this radio program caused so much panic back then. So after listening to this, I realized how people could've easily mistaken it for the real thing had they missed the beginning. This is a kind of a radio program that was way ahead of its time in 1938. We're used to it now, we are more jaded and habituated to this type of broadcast. But if you transpose the Mars aliens to terrorist in planes etc.. we could just as easily believe it and create panic now. Orson Wells in incredible!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holds up well, October 28, 2008

By 

Presbyteros "This Is the Record of John" (Glassboro, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: War of the Worlds (Audio CD)

I was running errands on a Saturday with my 13 year old son. We had WOTW in the car CD player, and after some silence, he suddenly remarked, "I can't believe I'm being drawn into this". He and I realized that we would actually stop breathing, listening to the story unfold. A great father/son moment, like watching "Casablanca". With material like this, you can't miss. It still has the power to grab you, if you let yourself go for an hour. This truly was a "Golden Age".