The Night That Panicked America

Plot

The Night That Panicked America tells the story of the 1938 broadcast from the point of view of Welles and his associates as they create the broadcast live, as well as from the points of view of a number of different fictional American families, in a variety of locations and from a variety of social classes, who listened to the broadcast and believed the imaginary Martian invasion was actually occurring, with some people even committing suicide.

Cast

This telefilm starred, among others, Vic Morrow, Cliff DeYoung, Michael Constantine, Eileen Brennan, Meredith Baxter, Tom Bosley, Will Geer, and John Ritter. Paul Shenar played Orson Welles.

Following

Especially through the 1980s, some local stations in various areas of the United States made an annual tradition of rebroadcasting this made-for-TV movie on October 30 (the anniversary of the original radio broadcast) or on October 31 (Halloween). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction praised the film's recreation of events in the radio studio, but was unimpressed by its depiction of the resulting panic, calling it "a routine disaster movie with hackneyed characters reacting in predictable ways."

The Welles broadcast and the reaction to it had been earlier dramatized on network television as The Night America Trembled, a live presentation that aired September 9, 1957 on Studio One. The cast of this top-rated TV recreation of Welles' radio broadcast included Alexander Scourby, Ed Asner, and Warren Oates. James Coburn made his television debut, and John Astin appeared uncredited as a reporter. In one of his earliest acting roles, Warren Beatty appeared in the bit part of a card-playing college student.

DVD release

The film was released for the first time on DVD by CBS Home Entertainment on October 28, 2014. This was the first time that the film became available in any home video format.