It Came From Outer Space!

Directed by Jack Arnold and starring Richard Carlson, It Came From Outer Space was released as a 3D film in 1953.

Ellen and John watch the alien space craft crash to earth.

Thought by many to be one of the greatest 3D films of all time, It Came From Outer Space was filmed for 3D cinema but does not draw too much attention to the fact in a way that is cheesy, unlike some of the other 3D films around at the time.
This clip from the 1953 film House of Wax demonstraits how some films drew far too much attention to the new 3D effect:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6gRO0wixQM


 At first glance It Came From Outer Space seems like a pretty standard 50s SciFi film with our white male hero driving his best gal around in an open top car, while she tries not to scream or faint at the sight of the nasy alien monsters. This film however was unique at the time as it's the first alien invasion movie in which the aliens aren't actually trying to invade but have arrived by accident and against their will, in other words they're non hostile.

John finds a strange craft at the bottom of the crater.

One night while star gazing John Putnam (played by Richard Carlson) and Ellen Fields (played by Barbara Rush) see a bright object fall from the sky. The object, thought to be a meteor, creates a huge crater in the desert. John journeys down into the crater where he finds a strange alien ship, before John can show anyone else his descovery a rock slide buries the evidence. While the papers laugh at the stories John Putnam tells them, the aliens try to repair their crashed ship by disguising themselves as humans and gathering resources they need from the town. It is now left to John to prove to the world he's not mad and find out what the aliens are up to.

John comes across two of the aliens disguised as humans.

John Putnam is the first 'cool' scientist, before him scientists in films were either insane madmen or boring academics. It Came From Outer Space gave us the first action packed, all american hero who was also an intelligent expert. The hats and suit jackets, and delicate women, all make the film seem very dated fitting into a style typical of cinema in the 40s/50s and reflecting the times. What i do like about this film is the use of cinematography, the use of shadows and low and high angle shots help to create a mood of mystery and suspence as well as a sense that the characters are being watched. The film is a social comment on mankind's rash and cofrontational approach to the unknown and the disgust people feel for what they don't understand, origionally the director Jack Arnold did not want the aliens to be revealed at all and instead build up an atmospere of suspence and tention without ever having to cut to a man in a rubber costume. The studio had different ideas and in the end the alien does reveal it's true form as a scary one eye'd monster, rather poignantly though the creature goes on to explain that they are not ready to meet and get along because the humans wouldn't be able to get past how hidious their appearence is.

The alien's true form!

This is still an enjoyable film to watch and has plenty of good ideas planted in it as well as some beautiful dialogue. It's also the film that really launched Richard Carlson's career as a SciFi actor and he would later appear in films like The Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Magnetic Monster. Overall I'd say that although this movie is concidered a classic it doesn't stand out as being incredibly different to alot of other films around at the time and so is reasonably standard in it's field. It is worth seeing non the less and I would certainly recommend it.