Welles the Magician

I have been listening again to War of the Worlds, since I'll be playing it for my students next Monday (in preparation for our dip into radio drama with Beckett's All That Fall a few weeks later). I have also started reading H.G. Wells' novel for the first time. It's interesting to notice how the novel deals with communications technology, with the telegraphs and news reports doing only a moderately good job of informing Londoners of the invasion taking place nearby; and Wells also seems to criticize the metropolis's short-sightedness in assuming that nothing beyond the city limits can possibly have much importance. Perhaps this is why Howard Koch (and Welles? I don't remember what his involvement was in planning the adaptation) chose to make this particular adaption centered on the medium of radio. In the radio play, the communications are instantaneous and far more effective. Yet, given the response of some of the listening public, perhaps Wells' original satire was just updated to a new technology.

I finished War while washing dishes and didn't have anything new downloaded to the iPod, so I started listening again to the 7-part Les Miserables by Welles' Mercury Theatre on the Air. My God, that is good stuff. The sound effects, like a distant army advancing over a hill or a bomber plane coming through some far-off clouds, make the opening sequences incredibly dramatic--an exemplary use of sound. And Welles' voice as the narrator is virtually unrecognizable and pitch-perfect. A work of art.