It Came From Outer Space - 1953
Based on a story by acclaimed writer Ray Bradbury, It Came From Outer Space is a science fiction classic that is as thought-provoking and tantalizing today as it was when it first landed on the silver screen.
Director Jack Arnold lets the story unfold deliberately, and infuses the desert locale with all the unearthly mystery of an alien landscape and an eerie theremin score, helping to make this one of the best science fiction films of the 1950's.
STORY & SCREENSHOTS: Author and amateur astronomer John Putnam and schoolteacher Ellen Fields watch a large meteorite crash near the small town of Sand Rock, Arizona. They awaken a neighbor, who has a helicopter, and all three fly to the crash site.
Putnam climbs down into the crater and notices a partially buried round object in the crater's pit. He comes to the realization, after he sees a six-sided hatchway close, that this isn't a meteorite but a large alien spaceship.
The hatchway's noise starts a landslide that completely buries the craft. Putnam's story is later scoffed at by Sand Rock's sheriff and the local news media. Even Ellen Fields is unsure about what to believe but still agrees to assist Putnam in his investigation.
Over the next several days, local people disappear; a few return, but they act distant or appear somewhat dazed and not their usual selves.
Convinced by these and other odd events, Sheriff Warren comes to believe Putnam's story that the meteorite is actually a crashed spaceship with alien inhabitants; he then organizes a posse to hunt down the invaders at their crash site.
Putnam, however, hopes to reach a peaceful solution to the looming crisis. Alone, he enters a nearby abandoned mine, which he hopes will eventually connect to the now buried spaceship and its alien occupants.
Putnam finally discovers the spaceship and learns from the alien leader that they crashed on Earth by accident; the aliens appear benign and only plan to stay on Earth just long enough to repair their damaged craft and then continue on their voyage.
The aliens' real appearance, when finally revealed to Putnam, is entirely non-human: they are large, single-eyed, almost jellyfish-like beings that seem to glide across the ground, leaving a glistening trail that soon vanishes.
They are also able to shape shift into human form in order to appear human and move around Sand Rock, unobserved, in order to collect their much needed repair materials. To do this, they copy the human forms of the local townspeople that they have abducted.
In doing so, however, they fail to reproduce the townspeople's exact personalities, leading to suspicion and eventually to the deaths of two of the aliens. Now that they have been discovered, the aliens have decided to destroy themselves and their spaceship.
Putnam reasons with them at length and convinces the alien leader to instead finish the repairs while he, as a sign of the aliens' good faith, takes the captives outside to the sheriff. To protect the aliens from the sheriff and his advancing posse, Putnam manages to seal off the mine in order to give them the time they still need to finish their spaceship repairs.
Shortly afterwards the alien spaceship finally leaves Earth. Putnam's fiance Ellen asks him if they are gone for good. He responds "No, just for now. It wasn't the right time for us to meet. But there will be other nights, other stars for us to watch. They'll be back".
It Came From Outer Space - FILM INFO
The New York Times review noted "the adventure -is merely mildly diverting, not stupendous. The space ship and its improbable crew, which keep the citizens of Sand Rock, Ariz., befuddled and terrified, should have the same effect on customers who are passionately devoted to king-sized flying saucers and gremlins."
"Brog" in Variety opined that "Direction by Jack Arnold whips up an air of suspense in putting the Harry Essex screenplay on film, and there is considerable atmosphere of reality created, which stands up well enough if the logic of it all is not examined too closely story proves to be good science-fiction for the legion of film fans who like scare entertainment, well done." Since its original release, the critical response to the film has become mostly positive. Bill Warren has written that Arnold s vigorous direction and Bradbury s intriguing ideas meld to produce a genuine classic in its limited field.
Jonathan Rosenbaum described the film as "A scary black-and-white SF effort from 1953. Phil Hardy's The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction observed "Dark desert roads and sudden moments of fear underline Arnold s ability as a director of Science Fiction films, and Essex's/Bradbury s lines match his images superbly." Of the reviews included on Rotten Tomatoes regarding It Came from Outer Space, 81% of critics liked the film. In one of the negative reviews, FilmCritic.com opines that the film moves terribly slowly (despite an 80 minute running time) because the plot is overly simplistic with absolutely no surprises."
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