It Came from Outer Space (1953)
Directed by Jack Arnold

Film Review

The first, and arguably one of the best, of Universal's science-fiction thrillers was a groundbreaking film for its time, if only because it was the first of Universal's films to exploit the new stereoscopic 3D process.  It Came from Outer Space introduces many of the archetypes that would define American sci-fi movies of the 1950s - the handsome young professor, his screaming female sidekick, the revolting alien monster, the bleak desert location, etc.  It would also tap into prevailing fears, particularly cold war paranoia, fear of a Soviet invasion, and the threat posed by science in the nuclear age.  The film's phenomenal success at the box office firmly established the sci-fi thriller as a major genre in American cinema, although it received a mix reaction from the critics at the time.

Unlike many subsequent films of its kind, It Came from Outer Space presents us with benign aliens, not the more familiar marauding killers.  It has some obvious similarities with Don Siegel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1955), although it differs in that the aliens have no evil intent (apart from breaking into people's house to raid their wardrobes).  The film has a strong underlying message, which is essentially that mankind's worst enemy is his inherent xenophobia, a notion that was very much in the zeitgeist of the time.  The fear of Soviet Russia that was felt by most ordinary Americans in the early 1950s was way in excess of the actual power and intent of the USSR.  This idea, that man's fear of The Other invariably exceeds the real threat he is presented with, is the essence of It Came from Outer Space.

The thoughtful storyline was provided by Ray Bradbury, an established writer in the science-fiction and fantasy genres, best known for his stories The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451.  Bradbury actually provided Universal with two very different script treatments, the sophisticated one which was ultimately developed, and another more sensational version which is what he felt the studio wanted.  Bradbury was surprised when Universal selected the version that he preferred but he was wholly unimpressed with their representation of the alien.

In the original script, developed by Harry Essex from Bradbury's detailed treatment, the alien was never seen on the screen.  All that the audience was meant to see were its distinctive point-of-view (an innovation which has since been emulated many times) and a shadowy presence in the background.  However, once the film had been shot, Universal executives decided that the alien creature had to appear in the film, if only to bolster their publicity campaign.  Two aliens were designed, the one that was seen in the film, the so-called Xenomorph (a monstrosity with a single eye set in a bulging near-spherical cranium) and another which provided the basis for the slave mutants in Universal's subsequent This Island Earth (1955).  Additional scenes were then shot with the monster exposed in all its revolting glory, five weeks after the film's original wrap.  Bradbury's annoyance at this vulgarisation of his concept was justified as the monster that appears on screen is singularly lacking in menace; the effect would have been far greater if the creature not been seen, but instead left to the audience's imagination.

If the film's alien monster was unimpressive, the same could not be said for its 3D effects, which are among the best that were created for a movie of this era.  Particularly memorable are the landing of the spaceship at the start of the film and an avalanche sequence which was so realistic that, on its initial showing, audience members screamed in terror as boulders apparently spewed out of the screen into the auditorium.   Most of the positive criticism the film received was on the quality of the 3D effects, which managed to avoid the gimmicks and contrivances  of later films (where objects were thrown at the camera for no apparent reason).  Another strength of the film is its rich and evocative score, which includes an eerie electronic theme created by an instrument known as theremin, a theme would become widely used on sci-fi B movies in the fifties.

It is surprising that the task of directing such a technically challenging film should have gone to a relatively inexperienced director, Jack Arnold.  Arnold had worked on just two films prior to this but here he shows that not only did he have the hand of a very capable technician but also the eye of an artist and the heart of a poet.  The desert scenes are particularly effective at conveying a sense of lurking menace, something that Arnold would build upon and exploit to the full in his subsequent Tarantula (1955).  In addition to the stunning 3D effects, the film is memorable for the aliens' point-of-view shots, which provide some of the most frightening moments (and are far more effective than the over-long shots of the unconvincing one-eyed monster).   Arnold would go on to helm some of the most successful sci-fi films of the 1950s, including Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) and The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).  Steven Spielberg was a great admirer of Jack Arnold's work and would pay homage to It Came from Outer Space in his 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Despite the negative criticism it received in some quarters on its initial release, It Came from Outer Space was a very popular film and is very well regarded today.  It is generally considered to be one of the finest examples of the 1950s American sci-fi movie, marred only by some niggling plot flaws and the disappointing realisation of the alien.  The film's central theme about supposedly intelligent cultures failing to live together in peace remains relevant to this day.   There's one thing you can guarantee to happen if an alien does decide to pay us a visit.  The American military will come down and blast it to atoms before it even gets a chance to flash us a friendly tentacle or two.  Here's a world where aliens are most definitely not welcome.

Film Synopsis

Amateur astronomer John Putnam is spending a pleasant evening stargazing with his girlfriend Ellen Fields when a ball of fire appears in the night sky and crashlands into the desert ground, not far from the town of Sand Rock.  Putnam discounts his initial theory that the fallen object is a meteor when he visits the impact crater and glimpses what he believes to be an alien spaceship.  Naturally, no one believes Putnam when he broadcasts his story of an alien visitation and he becomes worried when several of the townsfolk start behaving very strangely, as though they had lost their humanity.  It soon becomes clear to the young astronomer that the aliens have started to abduct people and have taken their form - but why?