Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The War of the Worlds (Dramatized)

  • By: Orson Welles
  • Narrated by: Orson Welles
  • Length: 56 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (43 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The War of the Worlds (Dramatized) cover art

The War of the Worlds (Dramatized)

By: Orson Welles
Narrated by: Orson Welles
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £2.59

Buy Now for £2.59

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Jeff Wayne's The War of The Worlds: The Musical Drama cover art
The H G Wells BBC Radio Collection cover art
The War of the Worlds cover art
Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection cover art
Slayers: A Buffyverse Story cover art
The House in the Woods cover art
Patrick Hamilton: Rope, Gaslight, Hangover Square and More cover art
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Primary Phase (Dramatised) cover art
One Foot in the Grave cover art
The Time Machine cover art
The Devil Rides Out cover art
Tales From the Mausoleum Club cover art
Alien: Covenant Origins cover art
The Brothers Karamazov [Naxos AudioBooks Edition] cover art
E.F. Benson's Ghost Stories cover art
The Price of Fear: 20 Tales of Suspense Told by Vincent Price cover art

Summary

The original uncut Radio Broadcast.

On the evening of October 30th, 1938, Earth went to war with Mars. Martians invaded New Jersey!

Here, the famous panic broadcast that shook the world, starring Orson Welles.

©2012 ABN (P)2011 ABN

What listeners say about The War of the Worlds (Dramatized)

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    23
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Genius

I absolutely adore War of the Worlds so I downloaded this when I wanted an audio version of one of my most favourite books. At the beginning I was thinking "How did this cause such mass hysteria when it was originally broadcast?" . As it went on though, weirdly I got it. It's just so brilliantly done and oddly convincing!! Love it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A legendary broadcast which deserves praise!

This is the legendary radio broadcast of Halloween 1938. Orson Welles's dramatisation of The War Of The Worlds is extremely well staged. Written and performed in the style of emergency radio transmissions of the time - complete at first with musical interludes - they do a very good job of persuading you of the horrific monstrosity of the invading martians and the - in some cases - absolutely vile actions they commit.

The dramatisation may be dated now especially since it was recorded on equipment we would now consider practically ancient and as such the audio quality and in some cases the personal attitudes of the characters in the play would be considered extremely old fashioned depending on your point of view but I still highly recommend people listen to this version. It became famous for a reason after all!

Another aspect of the drama I wish to praise is the relocation of the main focus of the invasion. Clearly in an attempt to modernise the original story to 1930s eyes and ears and his American audience Welles and his team successfully managed to relocate the play to a small rural area in New Jersey.

Unlike future modernisations or Americanisations - such as the 1950s film version in my view - I feel that in this less than an hour long version Welles does a better job of getting to the heart and the core of the story through the somewhat less than subtle anti-imperial subtext the original book version had than a lot of other versions I've heard

Long story short: It's a piece of sci-fi history that's less than hour long. It deserves its place in the pantheon alongside the original novel and the surprisingly good Jeff Wayne version. It's more than worth your time and money. Give it a listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

No thanks

This was not what I expected, so I was to impressed. I'm sure others enjoy this more than I did

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!