Corrected entry: Martians die at the end of the film because of the bacteria in our atmosphere. Martians are living organisms (they had anemic blood in the movie), so why weren't humans affected adversely by the Martian bacteria?
raywest
18th Sep 2003
The War of the Worlds (1953)
Correction: The Martians hadn't been on Earth long enough to spread any alien germs. The invasion unfolded rather quickly. The aliens were mostly confined to their space ships, and had limited direct contact with humans. If they had survived longer, they might have spread fatal organisms to humans, though the humans probably would have been eradicated by then.
Correction: Perhaps the human immune system is better at killing them than the Martian immune system (if there is such a thing) is at dealing with Earth bacteria.
jle