It Came from Outer Space (1953) Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, directed by Jack Arnold (Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Incredible Shrinking Man)
Carlson plays a scientist who moves to a small desert town to enjoy the night sky viewing. He and his girlfriend see a large meteor falling to earth and once it crashs they see that it is a space ship right before it is covered up.
Of course the sheriff and towns people don't believe him, The press shows up and starts taunting him. Then some people start acting strange and he finds out that the aliens are taking on the form of town folk(holding the real ones hostage) and are trying to fix their ship so they can leave . Seems landing on earth was not their intention.
The movie is based on a Ray Bradbury story. It gets kinda corny once in a while . Carlson waxes poetic about space and meeting someone out there. His reaction to seeing an alien in its natural form is quite laughable. The big eye ball look was really in back then for aliens.
I have to say it was much better than most of the alien invader schlock put out in the 50's and was one of the first not to portray them as merciless invaders.
Look for Russell Johnson (The Professor from Gilligans Island) as one of the zombie-acting duplicates.
Post Edited (01-07-05 07:05)
This is a great 50's Sci-Fi film and one of my very favorite films growing up. Really like the atmosphere of the desert especially at night in this film. What's interesting is that the classic INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS came out 3 years after IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE. Both of these films are rather similiar with the towns people acting strangely. The professor from GUILLIGANS ISLAND is also a fun fact about this film. Speaking of big eye ball films one of my favorite is THE CRAWLING EYE.
This movie scared the heck out of me as a little kid. The empty desert scenes, the haunting "music" in the lines, and the helpless feeling as the townsfolk are replaced by the aliens.
I actually think the alien design was pretty good for this one. At least, it was better than that of "The Crawling Eye" or "Atomic Submarine." On the other hand, would nature really favor a life form that was really just one big eyeball. Maybe on a water world, but not some place like Arrakis. Can you imagine, every 3 seconds: "Wait, I've got something in my eye."
A number of the old films did a good job of painting the main character into a corner. "I Married a Monster from Outer Space" has some great scripting along those lines. The already mentioned "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "Invaders from Mars" as well.
>On the other hand, would nature really favor a life form that was really just one
>big eyeball.
Not to mention the question of how such beings built a spaceship in the first place if they needed humans to repair it for them.
This is a noteworthy film if for no other reason than its sympathetic portrayal of the "monster" from outer space. Really only Michael Rennie can be thought of as another sympathetic creature from space from this era, and he doesn't really count because his character was human-like in appearance -- even Gort wasn't that trustworthy.
You gotta love the use of light & shadow & the half-seen zombies in the dark alley, etc., plus those terrific desert shots -- there's something intrinsically cool about Joshua trees --
peter johnson/denny crane
Haven't seen Atomic Submarine, but I have seen I Married A Monster From Outer Space recently and Invaders from Outer Space a couple years ago. Is Atomic Submarine equal to the 50's movies mentioned in this thread?
Not related to the films mentioned, but has anyone seen ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS on DVD. I have yet to see this except on Andrews Review page.
Attack of the Crab Monsters DVD (http://www.horror-dvd.all4salenow.com/Attack_of_the_Crab_Monsters_DVD_.html)
They have it listed as available, just hope the listing is correct.
Crab Monsters is amazing!
They eat your BRAINS & then your memory & personhood is THEIR memory & personhood, which they can then use to get more BRAINS --
Sort of reminds me of work . . .
peter johnson/denny crane
Back in the 1970s, I saw this in a movie theater in 3-D as part of a double feature with CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. I think I paid $1.25 for admission! I also owned Super 8mm magnetic sound versions of both IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON that were each about 17 minutes long. I sold them on Ebay about 2 years ago (without the 3-D glasses) and got about $75 apiece for them.