Director Gillies MacKinnin and screenwriter Adrian Hodges team to adapt Victorian author H.G. Wells' intimate drama about a man who has forsaken his dreams to lead a life of suffocating mediocrity. Alfred Polly (Lee Evans) was once a man with truly extraordinary dreams, but unfortunately Alfred has chosen to walk the comfortable path of convention.

Now saddled with a nagging wife (Anne-Marie Duff) and a failing business, Alfred becomes consumed by his own desperation. But no one who strives for a life of simple contentment will ever achieve anything truly extraordinary, and only when Alfred decides to take violent action will he finally realize what it takes for a gutless milquetoast to embrace his inner hero.

~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
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War of the Worlds is a 2005 American science-fiction action film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp, loosely based on the 1898 novel of the same title by H. G. Wells and jointly produced and released by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures. It stars Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Miranda Otto, and Tim Robbins, with narration by Morgan Freeman.

In the film, an American dock worker is forced to look after his children, from whom he lives separately, as he struggles to protect them and reunite them with their mother when extraterrestrials invade the Earth and devastate cities with towering war machines.

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H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds (also known as Invasion and H. G. Wells' The Worlds in War internationally, or simply as War of the Worlds) is a science fiction horror mockbuster by The Asylum. It is one of three 2005 film adaptations of H. G. Wells' 1898 science fiction novel The War of the Worlds.

After suffering from a personal tragedy, genius inventor Alexander Hartdegen creates a machine that allows him to travel through time. When he discovers that he can’t change the past, he travels forwards in time and inadvertently finds himself hundreds of thousands of years in the future. Befriending a tribe of primitive people, Alexander discovers that the place he calls home may not be the place he expects it to be.

On a remote tropical island, Dr. Moreau has appointed himself ruler over a menagerie of genetic mutants fashioned in his gene-splicing chamber of horrors. The products of his misguided attempt to create a more "pure" human species, the man-beasts worship Moreau as their god and "father" and live by his code of law -- a code rigidly enforced by radio-operated implants in their bodies capable of inflicting pain and death. Into this surreal nightmare arrives UN negotiator Edward Douglas (David Thewlis), the sole survivor of an airplane crash. Douglas is brought ashore on Moreau's island -- against his better judgment -- by the doctor's insane, drug-addled assistant, Montgomery (Val Kilmer), and eventually becomes a prisoner. Horrified by the doctor's monstrous experiments and afraid for his own life, Douglas seeks the aid of Moreau's lovely daughter, Aissa (Fairuza Balk), in escaping the island, but is foiled at every turn by Montgomery and his armed man-beast lackeys. Eventually, the creatures discover the existence of their electronic implants and remove them, providing the opportunity for an armed rebellion -- but eventual regression into their original animal state causes their revolt to collapse into anarchy.

~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
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The Invisible Man is a six-part television serial based on the science fiction/fantasy novella by H. G. Wells, screened by the BBC in the UK throughout September and October 1984. It was produced as part of the BBC 1 Classic Serial strand, which incorporated numerous television adaptations of classic novels screened in serial form on Sunday afternoons.

Starring Pip Donaghy in the title role, the series follows the same plot as the original book, of a deranged scientist who discovers a formula by which to make himself invisible, but is driven to insanity by his inability to reverse the formula and is evoked to use his invisibility to terrorize those around him. Out of all the numerous film and TV versions of H. G. Wells' book, this remains to date the most faithful to the original text.

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The Time Machine is a 1978 American television film produced by Sunn Classic Pictures as a part of their Classics Illustrated series. Despite updating the plot to take place in the late-1970's, the film, which starred John Beck and Priscilla Barnes, was intended to be a more faithful plot recreation of the original novel by H.G. Wells -- as opposed to the 1960 film adaptation, which took several liberties. The film aired during the November Sweeps on NBC.

The film was a modernization of the Wells' story, making the Time Traveller a 1970s scientist working for a fictional US defense contractor, "the Mega Corporation". Dr. Neil Perry (John Beck), the Time Traveller, is described as one of Mega's most reliable contributors by his senior co-worker Branly (Whit Bissell, an alumnus of the 1960 adaptation). Perry's skill is demonstrated by his rapid reprogramming of an off-course missile, averting a disaster that could destroy Los Angeles. His reputation secures a grant of $20 million for his time machine project. Although nearing completion, the corporation wants Perry to put the project on hold so that he can head a military weapon development project. Perry accelerates work on the time machine, permitting him to test it before being forced to work on the new project.

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In the '50s, Bert I. Gordon made a career out of sci-fi movies about gigantic mutated insects (Beginning of the End, Earth vs. the Spider), lizards (King Dinosaur, Serpent Island), and even people (The Amazing Colossal Man), and in 1977, he was still up to his old tricks with this picture, loosely adapted from a story by H.G. Wells. Marilyn Fryser (Joan Collins) is a less than scrupulous businesswoman who is trying to sell shares in a worthless Florida housing development to a group of naive souls. However, both Marilyn and her potential customers have bigger things to worry about than low property values, when they discover that a large stock of nuclear waste was dumped near the development site, and the result is a pack of gigantic mutated ants with a nasty disposition and a taste for human blood. The supporting cast features Robert Lansing, John David Carson, and Albert Salmi.

~ Mark Deming, Rovi - Copyright © 2013 Fandango. All rights reserved.

In The Island of Dr. Moreau, which is based on a novella by H.G. Wells, Braddock (Michael York) is a decent young Englishman who has unaccountably been saved from being thrown overboard from a ship sailing in a remote area of the Pacific by the mysterious Dr. Montgomery (Nigel Davenport). Dr. Montgomery is accompanying a cargo of animals destined for a tropical island. At first an "honored guest" (prisoner) on that island, he is finds his contacts with the natives increasingly disturbing, for they are not like any men he has ever seen.

Eventually it transpires that these "men" are experimental reconstructions from wild animals made by a particularly sinister scientist, Dr. Moreau (Burt Lancaster). He feels that he is in danger from the animal/men and from Dr. Moreau himself and does not know where to turn. This story was also filmed in 1933 as The Island of Lost Souls, starring Charles Laughton as the monomaniacal Dr. Moreau and was remade yet again in 1996 with Marlon Brando in the title role.

~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
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When a strange edible substance appears on a remote island, local farmer Mr. Skinner (John McLiam) and his wife (Ida Lupino) deem it a blessing and feed it to their farm animals. Soon other wildlife such as rodents and insects have eaten the food, which makes anything that consumes it grow in size. These gigantic beasts start terrorizing the island, with an athlete named Morgan (Marjoe Gortner) among those who are fighting for their lives against the gargantuan creatures.

Based on a novel by H. G. Wells, a group of bloodthirsty, oversized creatures (including rats, chickens, wasps, and worms) have taken over a remote island after ingesting a mysterious growth known as "Food of the Gods." It is up to an unusual group of people to put an end to this animal threat.

~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
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The last of veteran moviemaker Marcel Carne's theatrical films, La Merveilleuse Visite was a surprisingly restrained film by one of the most colorful filmmakers in France. Jean (Gilles Kiher) stars as an angel who has fallen from heaven and landed in a picturesque French village. Nursed back to health by the local priest and his helper, he returns the favor in a surprising fashion. La Merveilleuse Visite is based on a story by H.G. Wells.

~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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As a scientist working for a government think-tank called the KLAE Corporation, Dr. Daniel Westin creates a formula to be used for matter transformation. To test the formula he uses it on himself. Before he can return to normal he discovers the government wants to use his formula for wrong, so he destroys it. Being unable to become visible again, he and his wife become agents for KLAE fighting crime, while trying to rediscover his formula and return to normal. Machine Malfunction...Westin permanently invisible...Klae Corporation will finance recovery effort...Westin will render services as secret agent. His code name: Klae Resourse.

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Originally telecast in 1972, the British miniseries Love and Mr. Lewisham was based on the 1900 novel by H.G. Wells, which served as the author's first "non-science-fiction" work. Apparently autobiographical, the story concerned the romantic travails of a British schoolteacher during the early 20th century. Brian Deacon was seen in the title role, with Carolyn Courage as Ethel Henderson. The four 50-minute installments of Love and Mr. Lewisham were beamed out by BBC2.

~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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British musical star Tommy Steele had starred in Half a Sixpence in London and on Broadway, thus he was first choice for this garish film version. Based on the H.G. Wells story Kipps (previously filmed in 1941 with Michael Redgrave), Half a Sixpence tells the tale of a humble London drapery clerk (Steele) who inherits a fortune. He briefly forgets his old mates and his faithful girl friend (Julia Foster), but soon discovers that High Society isn't his cup of tea. Filmed during the "monster musical" cycle fostered by The Sound of Music, Half a Sixpence isn't really suited for the spectacular approach dictated by co-producer Charles H. Schneer. Fortunately, the guiding directorial hand is the film's other producer: George Sidney, a veteran of MGM's Arthur Freed unit, who knew how to successfully weld music with story. Thanks to Sidney and star Steele, Half a Sixpence never gets too out of hand, though we'd argue with some of the eyestrain-inducing color choices in the bigger numbers. The film might have done better at the box office had the score yielded a few hit songs.

~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Based on the same H.G. Wells story as his later Food of the Gods, this silly but good-looking fantasy from Bert I. Gordon is among his more entertaining films. The young Ron Howard plays Genius, who develops a substance which causes animals to grow to monstrous size. After eight kids (led by Beau Bridges and Tisha Sterling) crash their car in the mud, they dance and get drunk, then steal some food containing the growth-gunk, causing them to attain huge physical size as well. It's up to the good teens of the town (including Tommy Kirk, Johnny Crawford from The Rifleman, and "Mickey" crooner Toni Basil) to set things right. That involves a gas-like antidote and a lot of subpar musical numbers from the likes of Freddy Cannon and the Beau Brummels. Joseph Turkel and Rance Howard are also in the cast, and a jokey ending features a number of midgets including Felix Silla, best known as Cousin Itt on TV's The Addams Family. The first in a projected 13-picture production deal with Joseph E. Levine, Gordon followed this with the William Castle-inspired Picture Mommy Dead.

~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
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Based on the HG Wells story. The world is delighted when a space craft containing a crew made up of the world's astronauts lands on the moon, they think for the first time. But the delight turns to shock when the astronauts discover an old British flag and a document declaring that the moon is taken for Queen Victoria proving that the astronauts were not the first men on the moon. On Earth, an investigation team finds the last of the Victorian crew - a now aged Arnold Bedford and he tells them the story of how he and his girlfriend, Katherine Callender, meet up with an inventor, Joseph Cavor, in 1899. Cavor has invented Cavorite, a paste that will allow anything to deflect gravity and he created a sphere that will actually take them to the moon. Taking Arnold and accidentally taking Katherine they fly to the moon where, to their total amazement, they discover a bee-like insect population who take an unhealthy interest in their Earthly visitors...

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Adapted by John Collier from a story by H.G. Wells, this episode is built around the talents of child actor John Megna, best remembered for his role as the Truman Capote counterpart in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird. Obsessed by magic and magicians, Tony Grainger (Megna) begs his father, Steven (Leslie Nielsen), to take him to Mr. Dulong's magic shop as a ninth birthday present. What seems to be a harmless excursion into the black arts becomes something else entirely when Tony steps into a magic cabinet and temporarily disappears -- followed by Mr. Dulong (David Opatoshu), who disappears for keeps.

~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Scientist H. George Wells (Rod Taylor) builds a time machine, and despite the warning from his friend David (Alan Young) against "tempting the laws of providence," decides to visit the future. Jumping ahead 14 years, he observes changes in women's fashion. Jumping ahead 40, he meets David's son (also Young) amid a terrible war. Finally, he travels thousands of years ahead to discover a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by humanoid Eloi and the monstrous Morlocks that feed on them.

A man who was the lone survivor of a shipwreck is rescued, only to discover that he's in greater danger than ever before in this horror story inspired by H.G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau. After his ship sinks in the midst of an ocean crossing, William Fitzgerald (Richard Derr) is near death when he finds his way to a remote island off the shore of Peru. Fitzgerald is discovered and given shelter by Dr. Girard (Francis Lederer), a scientist who has set up a lab on the island with his wife Frances (Greta Thyssen). It seems that most of the natives have fled the island in fear of what Girard is doing, and Fitzgerald soon discovers why -- the doctor has unusual theories about the links between humans and animals, and he has performed bizarre experiments on a panther that has transformed the feline into a man. The creature has gotten loose from Girard and now prowls the island with a thirst for blood; Fitzgerald's danger is only increased when he discovers that Frances has fallen in love with him. Terror Is a Man was also distributed under the titles Blood Creature, Creature from Blood Island, and The Gory Creatures.

~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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Mexican filmmaker Alfredo B. Crevenna directed this sci-fi thriller loosely based on the classic H.G. Wells novel. Augusto Benedico stars as Luis, a scientist who gives his new invisibility formula to his jailed brother, Carlos (Arturo de Cordova). Carlos escapes and is reunited with his beloved Beatriz (Ana Luisa Peluffo), but the invisibility potion turns him into an insane megalomaniac who plans to rule the world.

The invisible madman murders Luis and begins committing acts of sabotage until Beatriz tricks him into a standoff with police. This overwrought version of the tale makes an interesting contrast with James Whale's 1933 version of the same story, which seems positively subdued by comparison.

~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
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The Invisible Man (later known as H.G. Wells' Invisible Man) is a British science fiction/adventure/espionage television series that aired on ITV from September 1958 to July 1959. The series was networked on CBS in the United States. It ran for 26 half-hour black-and-white episodes for two series and was nominally based on the novel by H. G. Wells, one of four such television series.

A man is haunted throughout his life, by a magical door that opens onto an alternate, Garden-of-Eden like world.

Based on a story by H.G. Wells, 'The Door in the Wall' is narrated by Ian Hunter, who plays Redmond, the friend of a rather nervous man named Lionel (Stephen Murray). Redmond and Lionel have known each other since school days, yet in all that time Lionel has always seemed to be ... haunted by something.

H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds had been on the Paramount Pictures docket since the silent era, when it was optioned as a potential Cecil B. DeMille production. When Paramount finally got around to a filming the Wells novel, the property was firmly in the hands of special-effects maestro George Pal. Like Orson Welles's infamous 1938 radio adaptation, the film eschews Wells's original Victorian England setting for a contemporary American locale, in this case Southern California.

David Lean directed this romantic drama, scripted by Eric Ambler from a novel by H.G. Wells. Mary Justin (Ann Todd) is married to wealthy financier Howard Justin (Claude Rains), and while their marriage allows her to lead a comfortable lifestyle, there's little excitement in their relationship. While visiting Switzerland, Mary happens to run into Steve Stratton (Trevor Howard), with whom she was romantically involved years before she wed Howard. Mary finds herself falling for Steve once again, and she has to decide if she should leave her husband in hope of finding real passion or stay with a man who treats her well but whom she does not love. Leading lady Ann Todd married David Lean the same year this was released; it was the first of three films they would make together prior to their divorce in 1957.

~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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H. G. Wells' non-fantasy efforts have, with the exception of Kipps, proven traditionally difficult to transfer to film. History of Mr. Polly occasionally suffers from too-close fidelity to its Wellsian source; one wishes that adaptor/director Anthony Pelissier could have "opened up" the story a bit more. Still, the film is impeccably cast: particularly good is John Mills as Alfred Polly, whose efforts to make a go in the business world continually come acropper. A humble draper's clerk, Polly is profoundly affected by a variety of personal relationships, most notably with colorful Uncle Jim (Finlay Currie) and his nagging wife Miriam (Betty Ann Davies). Ultimately, he finds happiness in an even humbler pursuit than the drapery business. Star John Mills' daughter Juliet shows up in a very minor role.

~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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Considered the greatest horror anthology film, the classic British chiller Dead of Night features five stories of supernatural terror from four different directors, yet it ultimately feels like a unified whole. The framing device is simple but unsettling, as a group of strangers find themselves inexplicably gathered at an isolated country estate, uncertain why they have come. The topic of conversation soon turns to the world of dreams and nightmares, and each guest shares a frightening event from his/her own past. Many of these tales have become famous, including Basil Dearden's opening vignette about a ghostly driver with "room for one more" in the back of his hearse. Equally eerie are Robert Hamer's look at a haunted antique mirror that gradually begins to possess its owner's soul, and Alberto Cavalcanti's ghost story about a mysterious young girl during a Christmas party. Legendary Ealing comedy director Charles Crichton lightens the mood with an amusing interlude about the spirit of a deceased golfer haunting his former partner, leaving viewers vulnerable to Cavalcanti's superb and much-imitated closing segment, about a ventriloquist (Michael Redgrave) slowly driven mad when his dummy appears to come to life. Deservedly acclaimed and highly influential, Dead of Night's episodic structure inspired an entire genre of lesser imitators.

~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
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After escaping from a Capetown mental institution, psychopathic murderer Robert Griffin returns to London to seek revenge upon the Herrick family. Meanwhile, the unsuspecting Sir Jasper and Lady Irene Herrick entertain their daughter Julie's new beau, newspaper reporter Mark Foster at their home.

Carol Reed directed this adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel about a British shopkeeper who inherits money and tries to crash society; it was later the basis of the Tommy Steele musical Half a Sixpence. Michael Redgrave is Arthur Kipps, a nondescript storekeeper who finds himself heir to a large fortune. Society golddigger Helen Walshinham (Diana Wynyard) immediately comes on the scene, hoping to trick Kipps into marrying her. Right before the wedding, Kipps gets cold feet and instead runs off with his childhood sweetheart, Ann Pornick (Phyllis Calvert). The two get married but Ann wants to live simply while Kipps continues to want to live large with his inherited fortune.

~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
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It's Christmas 1940, and Everytown resident John Cabal (Raymond Massey) fears that war is imminent. When it breaks out, the war lasts 30 years, destroying the city and ushering in a new dark age of plagues and petty despots. But there is hope in the form of Wings Over the World, a group of pacifist scientists and thinkers lead by Cabal. Their dream is to build a utopian society on the ruins of the old. But first they'll have to unseat the latest ruling tyrant (Ralph Richardson).

As a result of a discussion between a trio of gods over the true worthiness of Earth, a retiring British shop assistant is granted miraculous powers in this fantasy based on an H.G. Wells story. Roland Young stars as George McWhirter Fotheringay, whose new powers are virtually limitless; choosing to use them for good, he sets out to create a utopian society. Still, despite a succession of miraculous deeds, George's plans to cure all of the world's ills is met with disbelief. As proof of his power, George wills the earth to stop spinning on its axis, which results in its citizens flying off the planet into space. Because George is indestructible, he is able to shout out his last wish, which restores the world--and George himself--back to normal.

~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
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While researching a new drug, Dr. Jack Griffin (Claude Rains) stumbles on a potion that can make him invisible. When he reveals his new ability to his old mentor (Henry Travers) and his fiancée (Gloria Stuart), it's clear that a side effect of the potion is insanity. Jack goes on a violent rampage, and the police struggle to hunt him down, unable to see their target, while his mentor and his former partner (William Harrigan) desperately try to devise a plan to capture him.

In this adaptation of H.G. Wells' novel "The Island of Doctor Moreau," Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) is shipwrecked on a remote island presided over by the mysterious Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton). Edward discovers his host is conducting genetic experiments, and presiding over a race of half-human, half-animal hybrids, including the alluring Panther Woman and the sage Sayer of the Law (Bela Lugosi). The island has become its own society, with Moreau as its god.

Believe it or not: The domestic drama Marriage was based on a story by H.G. Wells. Alan Durant plays scientist R.A.G. Trafford, whose idealism loses him one high-paying job after another. Durant's ambitious wife Marjori (Virginia Valli) talks Trafford into selling his latest revolutionary scientific formula, rather than donating it gratis to the world. He does so, whereupon husband and wife become millionaires overnight. Disgusted by Marjori's new hedonistic lifestyle, Trafford walks out on her and embarks upon a research expedition to darkest Africa. Marjori anxiously trails after her husband, at last rekindling their love when she saves his life. Posterity does not record what H.G. Wells had to say about this filmization of his novel, but one suspects he wasn't happy that his complex plotline was jammed into 56 minutes' running time.

~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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This implausible drama finds a jilted suitor getting married to another woman. She agrees to the union in spite of her knowledge that her intended still loves the woman who left him. The one who left marries another man, but her husband remains jealous of the man she jilted and files for divorce. The distraught object of both men's affections kills herself rather than be the subject of scandal. Though taken from a novel by H.G. Wells, the story is not a science fiction tale.

~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
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