It Came from Outer Space [DVD]

Bwana Devil (1952) may have ushered in the `golden era' of 3-dimensional films in the early 1950s, but two of the best features to utilize the process at the time, in my opinion, were Vincent Price's House of Wax (1953), which I actually got to see in most spectacular 3D some years ago at Chicago's Music Box Theater (if you love movies and are even in town, you really should make a point to visit the place), and this science fiction thriller classic It Came from Outer Space (1953), which I have yet to see in 3D, but would surely love the opportunity. Based on a treatment by Ray Bradbury, the film was directed by Jack Arnold (Creature from the Black Lagoon, Tarantula, The Incredible Shrinking Man) and starred Richard Carlson (The Amazing Mr. X, The Magnetic Monster, Creature from the Black Lagoon), Barbara Rush (When Worlds Collide, Captain Lightfoot), and Charles Drake (Winchester '73, Bonzo Goes to College). Also appearing is Joe Sawyer (Them!, The Killing), Russell `The Professor' Johnson (This Island Earth, Attack of the Crab Monsters, "Gilligan's Island"), and Kathleen Hughes (The Golden Blade, Cult of the Cobra), in a small, but noticeable, role.As the movie, set in Sand Rock County, Arizona, begins we meet a handsome young couple named John Putnam (Carlson) and Ellen Fields (Rush). John's a junior astronomer and part time writer while Ellen is a schoolteacher. As they enjoy a quiet evening together out at John's remote, desert shanty (well, maybe not so quiet as Ellen keeps blabbing on about getting married), they witness a flaming object streaking across the sky, eventually smashing into the Earth out by the old Excelsior mine. Upon investigation they find a huge, honking crater. As John ventures in (you're a braver man than I, Gunga Din), he discovers the object wasn't just a meteor, but a space ship, one that contains cycloptic, squid-like alien life! As John tries to comprehend this amazing happenstance, an unfortunate rockslide dumps a couple hundred tons of Earth on the ship, effectively burying any proof John has of his fantastic story. Soon Sheriff Matt Warren (Drake), whose got the hots for Ellen, makes the scene, along with some other rubes, and John tries to relate what he saw, but of course no one believes him (even Ellen is unsure what to make of it), and eventually he becomes something of a laughingstock, especially after the newspapers pick up on the story...well, we'll see who laughs last when someone gets their face melted off by a trigger happy Martian sporting a Type 6 Megasonic Destructor Ray...turns out the plucky aliens didn't perish in the rockslide, but are out and about, forcefully co-opting local yokels and assuming their appearance so that they may move freely among us. Their purpose? Well, you'll just have to watch the film and find out for yourself...my money's on the seizure of our women for procreation purposes, as if science fiction films have taught me anything aliens have a real yen for Earth babes...While It Came from Outer Space isn't my absolute favorite science fiction feature to come out of the 1950s (that's a toss up between 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still and 1956's Forbidden Planet), it's definitely up there in the top five, and considered by many to be a staple of the genre with good reason, primarily because it's extremely entertaining, even despite the fact it lacks the original 3D presentation on this DVD (there's any number of scenes shot specifically for the process, some obvious, some not so much). While watching this film, I learned a number of things including the follow...1. Despite mastering the delicate intricacies of space travel, aliens still have yet to work out the kinks on landing (while plowing into a planet with enough force to wake the dead is technically a landing, it's not one I'd want to engage in on a regular basis).2. Venturing into a huge, smoldering crater recently formed by the impact of an object from space may not be the best idea.3. Junior astronomers keep handguns in the glove compartments of their cars.4. Helicopter pilots are a great source of smart alecky remarks.5. Aliens are crafty (and ugly).6. You can slug a sheriff in Sand Rock County and not get arrested (heck, you can even steal their gun and their car to boot).7. Prospectors get cranky when they haven't eaten.8. Living and working in desert climates often makes people weird.9. Barbara Rush would scream at the drop of a hat.10. More people are murdered at ninety-two degrees Fahrenheit than any other temperature.11. Humans will often destroy what they cannot understand.12. Aliens possess some wicked awesome weaponry, but their targeting skills are sub par.13. Don't go blabbing about spaceships and aliens if'n you don't have the proof to back up your claims.I think the two elements that work the best here are the writing and the direction. While Bradbury wasn't hired to write the final script, enough elements of his original treatment were preserved so that anyone familiar with his writing could easily feel his imprint on the material. Arnold's direction works extremely well moving the story along at a decent pace, along with generating enough suspense at times to keep viewers glued to the screen. There's no doubt the aliens look pretty hokey by today's standards, but I have little doubt their appearance on screen back in the day probably produced a few nightmares among some patrons. As far as the performances, I thought all did very well, especially Carlson as he seemed to pull off his role with relative ease, with Barbara Rush supplying the eye candy. Her role had considerably less meat to it than Carlson's, but then that was fairly common of female characters in the genre at the time. There were a couple of minor things that bothered me a little about this film, the first thing being the reluctance of the military or scientific community towards digging up whatever it was that crashed in the desert. Most were content with the idea it was just a meteor, but still, given its size and from whence it came, wouldn't that generate enough interest to warrant an excavation? The second is actress Kathleen Hughes aka Betty Von Gerkan (that one heck of a moniker). She had a bit part in the film, and yet she gets a photo credit at the end of the film, right along with Carlson, Rush, and Drake. Certainly she was an attractive woman, but since she was only on screen for all of about two minutes, I don't understand how she got the credit she did here unless she was either related to someone, dating someone, or the studio was trying to promote her in the hopes of moving her on to bigger and better things...ah well...regardless, this is a great feature, and required watching for anyone interested in classic science fiction features.The picture, presented in fullscreen (1.33:1), looks relatively clean and sharp...there are some aging elements present throughout (white specking), but nothing to get worked up over. The Dolby Digital 3.0 audio comes through crisply, highlighting the extensive usage of Theremin to produce that electronic, far-out, `spacey' sound. As far as extras, there's an entertaining documentary titled The Universe According to Universal (31:42), an audio commentary track by film historian Tom Weaver, a photo gallery, a theatrical trailer, production notes, cast and crew biographies and filmographies, and subtitles in English, Spanish, and French.Cookieman108

This review is for the Universal Studios Home Entertainment blu-ray version of 'It Came from Outer Space' released in February, 2017.This is one of the better 50's science fiction movies. It is base on a story by the great science fiction writer Ray Bradbury.'It Came from Outer Space' was the first of the 50's science fiction films to be filmed in the desert. Afterward there would be many.This is an excellent release if you are fans of 50's science fiction and are on a budget. At the time of the release it was selling for $9.29 on Amazon.You get both the 2D and 3D versions of the movie. Be sure to watch the 3D version if you are only going to watch it once.BLU-RAY: The image was decent but not as great as I had hoped. I was surprised to see that the 3D version actually looked cleaner than the 2D version. The picture appears to be clean and all imperfections have been removed. My only complaint is that the pictures just didn't appear as clear as I've seen other movies from the time period.3D: The 3D is excellent. To my eyes, the 3D version actually looked better than the 2D version. I am not sure what the reason is for that. I'm sure any person in the field of photography could explain why.'It Came from Outer Space' is considered one of the best 3D movies from the era. The great science fiction director, Jack Arnold, utilized the 3D in such a way as to add to the movie rather than to just use it as a gimmick. There are several scenes where the 3D is used to show depth. It is used in such a way as to convey dread as John Putnam (Richard Carlson) peers into a cave or in a doorway.The 3D is especially effective out in the desert. There are several scenes that give you a spectacular view of the mountains in the distance and it gives you the impression that you are there. Also when on a cliff edge, you get a real feeling of depth as rocks tumble into the depths below.There are the more traditional 3D scenes with stuff flying at you. For example there is a rock slide and you see the rocks bouncing into your lap. My favorite scene was at the beginning when John and Ellen go outside to see the stars and the telescope comes into view in front of you. It looks as if it is in your living room.There is a small negative to the 3D as well. It becomes obvious which scenes are shot in a studio. While viewing in 3D, the backround will appear to be a wall with a picture on it or it will be quite obvious when the characters are in the car driving that the background is a running projection. But that should be overlooked due to all of the great 3D scenes.EXTRA'S: There are several extra's included with this release. The are:- Comentary with film historian Tom Weaver. I have not listened to this as of the date I wrote this review.- A half hour documentary titled "The Universe According to Universal," an Origianal Documentary on It Came From Outer Space." This is a pretty good documentary. From it I learned that this was the first science fiction movie filmed from the alien persective and that it was the first sci-fi filmed in the desert. Also it was Universal's first 3D movie and they created their own 3D process using two camera's.- There is a trailer in 2D and 3D.- Subtitles are included.PLOT/SUMMARY: John Putnam (Richard Carlson) is a science fiction writer. He has gone to the Arizona desert where he and his girlfriend Ellen Fields (Barbara Rush) witness what they believe is a meteor crashing into the desert. When they get there John climbs down into the crater and sees a space ship which is then buried by a landslide. John later confronts the aliens. Essentially, the tell John to stay out of their business and nobody will get hurt. We find out that the aliens have crashed landed and they have to repair their ship and then they will be on their way. The aliens don't trust humans and believe they will try to harm them if they reveal themselves. It's not made clear why they trust John Putnam and nobody else when they have just met him. He has a lot of trouble getting anybody to believe him. When people start disappearing and behaving strangely the town sheriff finally believes John. John has to convince the sheriff not to kill the aliens before it's too late.THOUGHTS/RECOMMENDATIONS: The direction is excellent as would be expected from the great director, Jack Arnold. There are several genuinely creepy moments.There are some plot holes just like in any of the movies from this time. The aliens seemed to be more than competent enough to take care of themselves and there really was no need to take any hostages. Also, having the ability to shape shift should have prevented them from ever having to show themselves. The sheriff shoots one of the townspeople in a truck without ever really knowing if that person was an alien as he had not seen an alien up to that point and only had the word of Putnam, whom he distrusted. The whole 92 degree thing they had going seemed kind of forced.The glitter like trail of the aliens seemed to be above the ground in some scenes such as in the house when it disappears.The writing is uneven at times. It's often obvious which lines were taken directly from Ray Bradbury and which lines were written for the movie. There are a few interesting ruminations. But for the most part the writing was very good.I give this release 5 stars primarily due to the excellent 3D and budget price. The extra's only add to the value.5 out of 5 stars for the movie. 5 out 5 stars for the 3D. 4 out of 5 stars for 2D.I highly recommend this release to fans of the movie and fans of all classic science fiction. Also for 3D buffs.

fun movie

The special features commentary was very informative with lots of behind-the-scenes info on Ray Bradbury, Richard Carlson, the 3D process, and other sci-fi/horror movies during that time. You won't be disappointed in the clear picture either. That eyeball creature never looked better!

Just arrived today and watching it tonight I am very pleased. I was spoiled by the HD print Svengoolie ran which was crystal clear. I upgraded to Blu ray but it was still grainy. When I saw the 4K ultra HD available I pre ordered and was not disappointed. The 4K ultra HD disc is crystal clear. The extras listed on the disc appear to be similar to what was on previous versions. The physical extras are very nice and are as shown in Amazon's product photos. The slip case is nice heavy cardboard. For this viewer the upgrade was well worth it. The back of the package refers to this as part of the Universal Essentials Collection. I have a feeling Cult of the Cobra, The Land Unknown, The Deadly Mantis, The Monolith Monsters, Monster on the Campus, Son of Frankenstein and Dracula's Daughter might not make this series but if they do I will preorder each and any of them. Rating for this set 5 stars for the movie 5 stars for the packaging and 5 stars for the transfer.