Astronomer John Putnam (Richard Carlson) and school teacher Ellen Fields (Barbara Rush) have their romantic evening interrupted by a meteor strike nearby. John investigates and finds an alien craft that is then buried in a rockslide. Without evidence, no one believes him, and the jealous sheriff (Charles Drake) warns him to leave Ellen alone. But John knows there is a danger, particularly when members of the town begin acting strangely and speaking in a monotone.
For Universal Picture’s entrance into Sci-Fi alien movies, they hired genre master Ray Bradbury, who wrote a ninety page treatment. But there is little of Bradbury on the screen besides the basic theme and the occasional splash of poetic dialog (which sounds peculiar next to the more plentiful prosaic lines). What’s there is an uninspired, B-movie with an all too obvious twist. This is food for thought only for the starving, as its theme is something we all were taught in kindergarten: don’t judge a book by its cover. Or if you prefer the more adult version: humans destroy what they don’t understand. In case you miss it, it is repeated multiple times by the simple characters.
Made in the then-new 3-D process, It Came from Outer Space avoids tossing random objects toward the viewer. Director Jack Arnold’s restraint is refreshing, but as I’ve never seen the film in its multidimensional glory, I’m curious what, besides the alien’s protruding eye, bursts into the audience. I can’t help but think about Kathleen Hughes in the minute role of Jane, the girlfriend of one of the aliens’ victims. She has to be the local hussy of this ultraconservative burg, wearing her cone bra. She seems out of place, but only if I assume she’s there for a story reason instead of for her projecting breasts. Wearing those blue and red glasses in a theater back in ’53, it must have looked like she was going to poke your eye out.
It Came from Outer Space starts in the squalid end of film Sci-Fi, with its comical “eerie” music, and stays there with some of the worst special effects produced by a major production house. Apparently, the plan had been to never show the aliens, but Universal demanded that the extraterrestrials show up onscreen. It was a poor decision when the monster looks like something made in a garage by that weird eleven-year-old kid who lives down the street. Any tension that might have come from the shots of the desert disappear when the ludicrous creature appears. It makes John Putnam’s horrified reaction to the alien even more inappropriate (he must breakdown entirely at the sight of an octopus). The only reasonable reaction to these space invaders is laugher.
Ellen Fields’ reaction, not only to the alien, but to everything she runs into, is to scream. A kid shows up in a costume and she screams. I’m thinking she lives in a perpetual state of panic. Her heart can’t hold up for more than a few more years. If she is going to drop over, I wish she would have done it early in the film, saving me from listening to her constant shrieking.
Perhaps with a more involved story, It Came from Outer Space might have been watchable, as almost nothing happens. To fill up the scant running time, John runs around yelling “Ellen, Ellen!” over and over. Occasionally, he yells out someone else’s name.
Over the years, the film has gained a cult status it doesn’t deserve. You may want to watch it as an early example of an invasion film, but think of it as a homework assignment, not entertainment.