sddavis63 In October of 1938, the world was on the brink of war and in the midst of a depression. People were frightened about the present an frightened about the future. One part of this movie, at least, is about fear - the fear felt by people facing tough situations and how easy it is to tap into that fear."The Night That Panicked America" is the story (accurately told for the most part) of the night of October 30, 1938. The CBS Radio Network and Orson Welles broadcast their version of H.G. Wells' "The War Of The Worlds." Largely taking the form of news broadcasts, and with people tuning in and out and not necessarily catching the disclaimer at the start, panic began to spread, as people heard the fake news reports and actually believed that Martians were attacking. The portrayal of mass hysteria is very interesting; how easy it was to convince people that this was real was actually rather frightening. I've seen estimates that about 6 million people heard the broadcast, 1.7 million of them believed it and 1.2 million were actually very frightened by what they thought was happening. Fascinating to think how easily manipulated the masses could be by someone deliberately setting out to do it - and, in 1938, CBS wasn't setting out to manipulate; they were just setting out to entertain with a scary Halloween Eve broadcast. Fascinating.The other interesting aspect of the movie is the technical side. It was also fascinating to see the re-creation of how a 1938 radio show was put together. That alone made this worthwhile viewing - especially to see what they did for something that we today would think of as being as simple as sound effects.Is this is a great movie? Probably not. It's not exactly what I would call riveting. But it is a good look both at early radio and at the phenomenon of mass hysteria. (7/10)

nitalouise As the line between entertainment and news becomes increasingly blurred, this important film cautions us about the media's power over our lives. I was lucky enough to get a copy of this recently and am using it in a Western Studies class to teach my high school students about the role of radio in the Modern Age. Both FDR and Hitler understood very well how to use the radio, and this concept is even more relevant today in our age of sound bites and podcasts. More than ever, we need to teach our children how to wade through the information tidal wave that swamps them daily. This film serves as a powerful reminder that we must be far more discerning about what we read and hear, regardless of the source.

phantom110 This was a very good movie. The acting was good, not too cheesy and not to serious. The characters were a bit shallow, but the movie rightfully paid more attention to the broadcast and the reactions, not character's motives.Great job by Paul Shenar as Orson Welles, and honorable mentions to both De Young and Bosley. Watch it if you can find it!

Edward W. Gildner This film was an excellent portrayal of the radio broadcast and the actor who played Orson Wells did an excellent job. The sound effects at the radio station was unbelievable accurate as to the sound of an alien space craft both landing and the sound of the hatch coming off, very scare as was suppose to happen especially back in the 30's. The acting to go along with the radio broadcast was out of sight. This was a very entertaining movie and i wish it was also available on video as stated by Mike Spangler, if that is not possible than it should be made available to be shown on TV again, so people could record it as I did some years ago, but have a very poor copy of. If this is available to be replayed on TV, than this Halloween should be appropriate to re-broadcast this fine movie