The War of the Worlds is a 1953 science-fiction film starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It's a loose adaptation of the H. G. Wells classic novel of the same name, and the first of a number of film adaptations based on Wells' novel, including Steven Spielberg's 2005 version starring Tom Cruise. Produced by George Pal and directed by Byron Haskin from a script by Barré Lyndon, it's considered to be one of the great science-fiction films of the 1950s. The War of the Worlds won an Oscar for its special effects and was later selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.