Bombs Away and Smash Hits at Home
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atomic moment, though sloppier and noisier than the trench warfare that preceded
it, is no mushroom cloud. It is quite harmless to those present for its detonation
and, more significantly, entirely powerless against the protective shields of the
Martian-mobiles. The Martians continue on their widening path of destruction,
and the scientists must turn to other means to combat them successfully. Thus the
Martians, as in the traditional warfare scene, present a “red menace” which must
be attacked and vanquished, yet move toward the pole of ultra-metonym, of an
enemy so alien and removed from earthly culture that even earth-destroying
weapons have no effect upon it.
Ultimately, the Pacific Tech physicists experiment on a vanquished
Martian body and discover its immune system to be entirely primitive as
compared to that of humans. Although the discovery is important, it comes too
late for mere mortals to enact a plan exploiting it; by this time, city after city has
fallen, nations lie in ruins, and Sylvia and Clayton become separated during a
chaotic urban panic scene. His recollection that Sylvia always said she would
seek refuge in church in such an event is significant; Clayton’s tour of various
impressive, Gothic cathedrals prepares the viewer for the advent of Him, actually
the authoritative voiceover of Sir Cedric Hardwicke, revealing what God has
caused to transpire:
Once they had breathed our air, germs that no longer affect us
began to kill them. . . .After all that men could do had failed,
the Martians were destroyed and humanity was saved by the
littlest things which v