It Came From Outer Space

PLOT:

Author and amateur astronomer John Putnam (Carlson) and schoolteacher Ellen Fields (Rush) watch a great meteor crash to earth near the small town of Sand Rock, Arizona. After visiting the crash site, John Putnam notices a strange object at the impact site, and comes to believe the meteor is not a meteor at all, but an alien spaceship. After a landslide covers the mysterious craft, John Putnam’s story is ridiculed by the townspeople, the sheriff (Drake), and the local media. Even Ellen is unsure of what to believe at first, but soon agrees to assist John in further investigation. In the following days, several local people disappear. A few return, only to display odd robot-like behavior, and seem distant and removed from their normal selves. Eventually Sheriff Drake also becomes convinced that something more than a meteor is involved, and organizes a posse to root out and destroy the invaders. All alone, John hopes to reach a peaceful solution, entering a mine which he hopes will lead him to the buried spacecraft and its mysterious occupants.

It develops that the aliens are benign beings whose spacecraft has crashed due to malfunctioning components. Their plan is to stay on Earth long enough to replace them, then continue on their voyage. They temporarily control a few humans since they would not be able to mingle inconspicuously with people, and they realize that humans would panic on seeing them. Upon their departure, all returns to normal on Earth.

REVIEW:

As a fan of classic sci-fi/horror films, I find it appalling that this one has slipped past me up until now. After watching it this morning, though, I am a bit befuddled. Not because the film was bad, but moreso because I couldn’t pay it the attention it deserves due to the version I had being in 3D and me with no glasses.

For those of you not familiar with the old style of 3D, it was done in such a way to where you were more or less seeing double, outlined in blue and red, because the glasses had one red lens and one blue lens, as opposed to to today where you more or less wear sunglasses in the theater.

Aside from the 3D fiasco, which from what I could tell is how 3D should be done, this was a pretty solid film.

We have here your classic sci-fi plot of aliens coming to Earth, observing humans, and the military/police having a cow and deciding to shoot first, ask questions later. What is different about this one is that the aliens sort of abduct people, inhabit their bodies on a temporary basis to blend in with us, and then return them after their task is completed. It is that little detail that really intrigued me. Not many alien films, past or present, use that…at least not for the sole purpose of searching for help.

These poor aliens just wanted to repair their ship, but the stupid country bumpkin humans didn’t understand them, so of course they had to attack. If these aliens weren’t a peaceful race, we could have another situation similar to the one in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, which would not be a good one. When will humans learn?

Luckily, all things worked out. In the process we get a very good film that is a worthy entrant into the annals of sci-fi lore. Not to mention, this is Universal-International’s first 3-D film, so that little tidbit by itself earns it a place in history.

The acting here is what you would expect from a film of this era. Very well executed by those who actually worked to get where they are as opposed to these who were just given a shot based on having a pretty face.

Special effects are a little tame. I don’t expect anything such as you would see today, but I was expecting a little more than what we have here.

All in all, I have to say this is a pretty good film. As I said before, I was a little distracted by the fact that the version I had was 3-D, and I had no glasses, but it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t watch and enjoy the film, but I think the 3-D would have enhanced it. Having said that, I think you’ll thoroughly enjoy it.

3 1/2 out of 5 stars

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