Review of Day That Panicked America, The

Introduction

October 30th 1938, Sunday, the night before Halloween. Orson Welles was presenting a regular radio broadcast under the name of Mercury Theater. Their broadcast on this now infamous day was an adaptation of HG Wells` The War Of The Worlds. The broadcast lasted for about one hour and before it finished thousands of Americans believed that America was under attack from Martians and were fleeing from their homes. Traffic became grid-locked, phone lines were overloaded as calls to the Police were made in their thousands and many went into shock.

The broadcast told the story as a series of news bulletins centred around the town of Grovers Mill, New Jersey. Ironically, given the potential disaster about to occur, this town was only 35 miles from the scene of the Hindenberg crash only a year earlier.

The ensuing realisation of the scale of panic caused a national scandal as media and politicians tried to get a piece of Welles for his broadcast. Instead of being censured though, Orson Welles became a major personality and was eventually given a 3 picture deal with RKO and complete control of the content and casting. This was an unprecedented move by any studio of the time, and one that would ultimately bring his career back to earth.

This documentary examines the night of the broadcast in detail and examines the American psyche and their willingness to believe in visitors from outer space.

Video

Mostly archive footage from the period, also some archive footage of Carl Sagan and some involved with SETI from the 90`s. Include film extracts from Nosferatu and Metropolis as well as from the period serials Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. Quality of the footage does vary but provides atmosphere so it`s never really an issue.

Audio

Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack that is more than adequate for this documentary. Narration is by John Ross (as per the credits) and not Leonard Nimoy as printed on the artwork.

Features

There is only one extra that counts with a documentary like this and it doesn`t disappoint. The bonus CD contains the complete original Mercury Theater broadcast of Orson Welles version of The War Of The Worlds, so you can relive the events of October 30th 1938 and try to imagine the panic felt by so many. Excellent.

Conclusion

This event has always fascinated since I heard about it in my teens from one of those `Most Famous` type books that compiled famous events. I`ve always wondered what the real reasons were behind so many people falling for what was just a radio broadcast. This documentary makes a good case of filling in the blanks and explaining the circumstances of life in the US at that time.

Apparently Welles` Mercury Theater radio show was only a month away from being cancelled by CBS, having had dismal ratings for a while. The 8pm Sunday night slot had one of the most popular radio shows of the time on NBC in the Chase And Sandborn show, which featured the popular ventriloquist (yes, you heard right…) Edgar Bergen and talking dummy Charley Macarthy. Special guest that night was popular singer Nelson Eddy, and people were glued to the radio for his first song. His second song, about Canada funnily enough, had people diving for the tuning dials and most ended up on CBS and missed the fictional introduction to Welles` broadcast. Confusing fiction with fact, mass hysteria ensued as the news bulletin format of Welles` adaptation spun its web of intrigue.

The fascinating thing about this is that Welles did get a hint of the panic his show was causing when a studio executive asked him to put another disclaimer into the show about halfway through. Welles, clearly relishing the situation, refused and then played the innocent during the ensuing inquest.

The documentary, which does go off at tangents sometimes, is good enough and an interesting watch. The icing on the cake, though, is the inclusion on CD of the complete broadcast of the Mercury Theater The War Of The Worlds. Excellent stuff and a bargain at the price. This is your chance to own a real piece of broadcasting history and a show that changed the rules of broadcasting forever.