In "It Came From Outer Space" (1953), astronomer, Richard Carlson sees a meteor crash in the desert. When he investigates he finds what he believes is a spaceship, but before he can examine it, a rockslide buries it under tons of debris. No one believes him. As more strange things start to occur his attempts to convince the authorities that his tale of buried aliens only makes him look like more of a crackpot. His continued attempts to convince everyone of the truth finally pay off, only to endanger the lives of the townspeople, and the aliens, who are only trying to get off earth.
In spite of its title, this is one of the flying saucer eras more serious films about the earth being visited by aliens from another world. Because of this, it tends to lack a lot of the sensationalism that other period alien movies had. It develops slowly, with a number of pauses to allow character reflection along the way, but ultimately ends up being a very good movie, while perhaps not as riveting as other movies from the same time period such as "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "War of the Worlds" or even "This Island Earth."
The movie was developed from a film treatment by Ray Bradbury, and you can hear his voice in much of the dialogue throughout, particularly the scene with the lineman, Frank as he expounds on the desert. The design of the alien xenomorphs is like something Paul Blaisdell would have created for one of his low-budget Roger Corman movies, only with a bigger budget. Every effort was made to make it look as unearthly as possible. Details such as the trail the aliens leave on the ground as they move about, and the pov shots through their throbbing eyes, add to their alienness.
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