The War of the Worlds (also sometimes known as H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds) is a 1953 science fiction film starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It was produced by George Pál and directed by Byron Haskin from a script by Barré Lyndon based on the H. G. Wells novel of the same name. This was the first of several adaptations of Wells' work to be filmed by Pál, and is considered to be one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s. It won an Oscar for its special effects.