It Came from Outer Space - 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital [4K UHD]

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.

This is a pretty good '50s era sci-fi flick that I have probably seen several times over the years, but when I saw that Amazon had a color version that I could stream for free, I was eager to see it again. The video looked quite good, with solid colors for the most part, although the colors sometimes varied or "rain-bowed" at times as the camera would scan across a scene, or a character would move from one side of the screen to the other. This was not a major issue, but you can definitely tell that the "color" was not quite the same as you would see in a movie that was produced originally in color by the studio. Amazon also has a 4K disk of this color version for sale at a pretty reasonable price, so I may go ahead and get that; it is currently priced at $19.94 for Prime members. If someone reading this has seen the 4K disk version, please post your opinion; thank you.

Un verdadero clásico de Sci-fi en una transferencia a 4K de muy buen nivel. Se presenta respetando el formato original en 4/3. Cuenta con subtítulos en español (es la razón por la que la compré). Esta presentación cuenta con dos discos, un BRD normal y el disco 4K. Lo recomiendo si Ud. es entusiasta del formato físico y el cine clásico. El envío fue perfecto.

This movie set the bar for all the films to follow the age of classic science fiction.

The 4K disc stopped playing within 7 minutesOrdered a replacement and the replacement also stopped playing within 7 minutesCleaned the replacement with soap and water and it played through with just a slight hesitation.

This limited edition print is awesome. It shoulda come with a set of the old style 3D glasses. Not important enough to lose a 5star rating.

The Alien is a little 1950's. Of course. Well acted, and worth the watch

consegna rapida, qualità ottima applicato audio italiano che non c'è nel blu ray 3D ora perfetto

Edición americana de la película en formato 3D que incluye subtítulos en español, el audio únicamente en inglés, como extras el trailer en 2 y 3D y un documenta de unos 30 minutos, con subtítulos en Español... Buena opción a la lamentable edición de la película editada en España (Ni extras, ni 3D)

Película clásica de ficción, en el mismo disco uno puede elegir la versión 2D o 3D, este último no es tan como a lo que estamos acostumbrados actualmente, recordemos que es de 1953. Tanto la peli como los extras (un documental de media hora y los comentarios en el filme) vienen subtitulados, todo hablado sólo en inglés. Vale la pena y más por el precio de $155.33, casi cuatro veces más barata que en otros sitios.

un des classiques de la sf des années 50 import us superbe sous-titrés en français même les bonus (sauf commentaire audio)

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE [1953 / 2016] [3D Blu-ray + 2D Blu-ray] Amazing THRILLS that almost TOUCH YOU through the magic of 3-Dimensions Classic Fifties Sci-Fi! Amazing Sights The Human Eye Has Never Seen Before!Amateur astronomer John Putnam [Richard Carlson] and his fiancée Ellen Fields [Barbara Rush] are stargazing in the desert when a spaceship bursts from the sky and crashes to the ground. Just before a landslide buries the ship, a mysterious creature emerges and disappears into the darkness. Of course, when he tells his story to the sheriff [Charles Drake], John Putnam is branded a crackpot; but before long, strange things begin to happen, and the tide of disbelief turns…Based on a story by acclaimed writer Ray Bradbury, “It Came From Outer Space” is a science fiction classic that is as thought-provoking and tantalizing today as it was when it first "landed" on the silver screen.FILM FACT: The film's script is based on Ray Bradbury's original story treatment but not, as sometimes claimed, a published short story in The Meteor publication. ‘IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE’ was first film in the 3D process from Universal-International. Filming took place on location in and around the California towns of Palmdale and Victorville, and the Mojave Desert. The uncredited music score for the film was composed by Irving Gertz, Henry Mancini, and Herman Stein. The special effects created for the in-flight alien spacecraft consisted of a wire-mounted iron ball, with hollowed out 'windows,' with burning magnesium inside. The Arizona setting and the alien abduction of telephone lineman and two other characters are fictionalized story elements taken from Ray Bradbury's younger life, when his father moved the family to Tucson, Arizona. This 3D Blu-ray has the image mastered and the original stereophonic three-track magnetic audio meticulously restored by Greg Kintz and the 3-D Film Archive! For the first time since 1953, you will see ‘IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE’ with the original intermission break.Cast: Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush, Charles Drake, Joe Sawyer, Russell Johnson, Kathleen Hughes, Ralph Brooks (uncredited), Robert Carson (uncredited), Ned Davenport (uncredited), Edgar Dearing (uncredited), Alan Dexter (uncredited), George Eldredge (uncredited), Whitey Haupt (uncredited), Robert “Buzz” Henry (uncredited), Bradford Jackson (uncredited), Warren MacGregor (uncredited), Kermit Maynard (uncredited), Virginia Mullen (uncredited), Dick Pinner (uncredited), William Pullen (uncredited), George Selk (uncredited) and Dave Willock (uncredited)Director: Jack ArnoldProducer: William AllandScreenplay: Harry Essex (screenplay) and Ray Bradbury (story)Composers: Henry Mancini (uncredited), Herman Stein (uncredited) and Irving Gertz (uncredited)Cinematography: Clifford Stine A.S.C.Special Photography: David S. Horsley A.S.C.Video Resolution: 1080p [Black-and-White]Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1Audio: English: 3.0 DTS-HD Master Audio LCR Discrete and English: 2.0 Dolby Digital StereoSubtitles: English SDH, Spanish [Latin American] and French [Canadian]Running Time: 80 minutesRegion: Region B/2Number of discs: 1Studio: Universal Pictures / Universal-InternationalAndrew’s Blu-ray Review: Despite the out-of-this-world title and the involvement of several Sci-Fi film genre, ‘IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE’ [1953] is hardly a typical Fifties type Sci-Fi film because it was based on material by the bona fide science fiction writer, namely Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Meteor.” Add to this the all-encompassing fears engendered in us by the burgeoning Cold War, with the whole nation at the time, caught up in a panic of potential Red infiltration, and you have a perfect storm of sorts, which would result in a golden age of science-fiction horror. Technology could not be trusted; the strange, the unknown, the outsider, could not be trusted. It was a time of rapid paranoia, and filmmakers were more than happy to step up and take advantage.Jack Arnold's screenwriter was Harry Essex, the same man who would deliver the script to ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ to him the following year. Jack Arnold also had as his star the earnest and intense Richard Carlson, who also starred in ‘The Creature From The Black Lagoon,’ as well. And although that latter film gets all the press when it comes to Universal-International in the 1950s, it's entirely possible that this is the better film.During the 1950s Hollywood produced some of its greatest science fiction genre classics. It was during this decade that science fiction films became focused with the possibility of visitors from another planet arriving on the Earth. In some cases, the aliens were beneficent as was the visitor in ‘THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL,’ who came to warn the people of Earth against their destructive warlike ways. However, in many cases the aliens were hostile and bent on taking over the planet, as they were in ‘EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS’ or ‘WAR OF THE WORLDS.’ Somewhere between these two extremes we find the film ‘IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE’ in which the alien visitors are depicted in a neutral fashion, as travellers making an unexpected stopover on Earth when their spaceship breaks down.‘IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE’ is based upon a Ray Bradbury screen story and the final film benefits from the poetic quality of the author’s writings. Portions of the dialogue came directly from Ray Bradbury’s screen treatment had given the film and its characters greater depth than one would typically find in a 1950s science fiction genre film outing. Of course, Director Jack Arnold infuses the story with the right level of chills, thrills and unexpected jolts. There are some weaknesses in the structure of the story, but I would imagine they were introduced after Ray Bradbury’s work on the project was completed.The plot of ‘IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE’ centres on a meteor strike in the Arizona desert. Local amateur astronomer John Putnam [Richard Carlson] and his girlfriend Ellen Fields [Barbara Rush] witness the meteor strike and head out to the desert to investigate. John, Ellen and a local helicopter pilot are the first people on the scene, and John decides to go down alone into the massive impact crater to get a good look at the meteor. What John Putnam finds resembles a spaceship, and when he approaches too close to the unknown object, the rim of the crater collapses, completely burying whatever landed in the desert. Of course, no one believes John’s fantastic tale, that is, until some of the locals are abducted and replaced by alien duplicates. Things don’t become any better when John uncovers the aliens’ true intentions and finds himself protecting the aliens from discovery, as a means of insuring the lives of their very human hostages. The cast of ‘IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE’ also includes Charles Drake, Joe Sawyer, Russell Johnson and Kathleen Hughes.It's a classic formula, and one that delivers profusely. Part of the 3-D craze of the early 1950s that also gave us the likes of ‘House of Wax’ which was vying for audiences in the summer of 1953, and in ‘The Creature From The Black Lagoon’ the following summer, ‘It Came from Outer Space’ is engagingly shot by Clifford Stine, who would go on to shoot such epics as ‘Spartacus’ and ‘Patton.’ Yes, the 3-D effects were often forced and contrived, as is so much of the 3-D of that era, but it's a testament to the forethought of both Jack Arnold and Clifford Stine that the Sci-Fi film works just as well in 2-D, but overall the 3-D in this fil works beautiful and creates a wonderful depth of field.The plot, conceptualised by Ray Bradbury, is innovative for its time, portraying the aliens as misunderstood by a mistrusting and primitive human populace and it's the kind of progressive sci-fi thinking that would later give rise to the likes of ‘Star Trek ‘and other such thoughtful, hopeful, utopian sci-fi entertainment. The movie also has so much of what we've come to expect from genre pictures of the 1950s and an exasperated, dire protagonist; a constantly screaming leading lady; and of course, lots of lots of Theremin, played by the legendary master of the instrument, Samuel Hoffman. Universal-International of the 1950s may have been a shadow of what it was in the 1930s, but this Sci-Fi picture is still a whole lot of fun, and proves that the studio could still be counted on to deliver a rollicking good monster movie, which is amongst the massive sci-fi horror movement and one that is still one of the best.3D Blu-ray Video Quality – Universal Pictures brings this remastered 3D Blu-ray in a stunning crisp black-and-white 1080p transfer itself looks really good, offering a very sharp and well-defined image. Film grain is not very noticeable throughout the course of the film so giving a smooth image and especially that ‘IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE’ is well over a half a century old. Blacks are very solid and deep, while the whites remain stable. Contrast is fairly smooth, plus the look of the day for night photography holds up pretty well in this image transfer. This is a near flawless viewing experience as the image much of the time looks like and feels like it was shot for the modern audiences and not well over 60 years ago. For both the 2D and 3D experiences, fine film grain has been retained and provides an incredible amount of detail. Facial features, clothing, the desert landscape, the aliens and all come through with terrific clarity and without any horrendous DNR [Digital Noise Reduction] or smoothing that I can see. The greyscale provides some deep and inky black levels and plenty of shadow separation. Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.3D Blu-ray Audio Quality – Universal Pictures brings this remastered 3D Blu-ray in a brilliant 3.0 DTS-HD Master Audio LCR Discrete soundtrack that is a really nice surprise, giving the movie a bit more atmosphere than a flat monaural presentation. I did notice that a number of the stereo sound effects were inversed, coming from the opposite side of the screen where they are depicted visually. Fidelity is limited by the recording technology available back in 1953, but the film’s Theremin intensive score still manages to sound quite good and quite creepy. Dialogue reproduction is pretty clean and the actor’s voices are always completely understandable. Neither background hiss nor any other forms of audible distortion were noticeable at fairly natural listening levels. From the first big impact explosion to the rock slide to the thrilling conclusion, this audio track punches up the audio tones giving it a very unsettling sense of immersion, and you might want to turn the sound down, well don’t as it is all part of atmospheric effects of this Sci-Fi film – so keep it loud! Dialogue is still audible without any interference and the rich background audio only complements the impressive 3D experience.Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:Special Feature: The Universe According to Universal [2000] [480i] [1.33:1] [31:36] This is an original special feature documentary about Universal Studios Sci-Fi films of the 1950's. Though the piece may initially play out like a shameless self-promotional montage of Universal sci-fi productions, especially from the ‘Flash Gordon’ pictures of the 1930s to ‘This Island Earth’ [1955] and ‘E.T. The Extra Terrestrial’ [1982], this may be the most accessible learning tool for those unfamiliar with Jack Arnold and his brand of 1950s post-atomic creature features. Discussed here is the paranoia of the atomic age, the fear of new technology as prompted by the 1945 invention of the atomic weapon, the poetry of Ray Bradbury's language, the use of alien perspective, especially in later films like ‘Tarantula’ [1955] and the archetypical use of the Theremin. The featurette serves as an evocative tour through Jack Arnold's work, from ‘It Came From Outer Space’ [1953] and ‘Creature From the Black Lagoon’ [1954] to his masterpiece ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’ [1957]. It offers a very nice narration from film historian Rudy Behlmer; like Tom Weaver, Rudy Behlmer is a veteran of many Universal Classic Monsters that were released on inferior DVDs. We also see lots of film clips from both Space and many other genre of that period, along with interview comments from people like Vincent Di Fate [Science-Fiction Illustrator/Historian], Bob Burns [Collector/Archivist], David Schecter [Producer of Monstrous Movie Music], Paul Jensen [Film Historian], Bob Furmanek [Curator of the 3-D Film Archives] and Irving Gertz [Composer]. All in all this is a very nice little feature that is packed with so much insightful fascinating information.Theatrical Trailer [1953] [1080p] [1.33:1] [2:41] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for ‘IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE’ and you get the choice to view each trailer in either 3D and 2D images, so double the enjoyment. It informs us “Please Keep Your Glasses On For A Preview Of Our Next Attraction In 3-Dimension.”Feature Audio Commentary with Film Historian Tom Weaver: This is a truly excellent audio commentary and is densely packed with information about the film, its stars, writers and director. Tom Weaver also brings an enthusiastic and entertaining quality to the audio commentary, which convinces the listener that they are in the room with a fan who is talking about a favourite Sci-Fi film. Though film scholar Tom Weaver's commentary track may sound scripted and hurried, it could be one of the more engaging commentaries you're likely to come across. When the film starts, we are introduced to this fascinating audio commentary with Tom Weaver, who informs us that the composed film music by Herman Stein was hauntingly played on a Theremin, and now speaks the words from author Ray Bradbury saying, “across the night sky a vast roaring furnace, a bright blazing stream of fire, like a gush of molten metal from the stars, races across the horizon to horizon,” and Tom Weaver also says that these are the opening sounds and 3-Demensional sights that it came from outer space, written by Ray Bradbury, produced by William Alland, directed by Jack Arnold. We are informed that the film was partially shot on location in Victorville in the Mojave Desert. For eighty non-stop minutes, Tom Weaver exposes incredible secrets and lies: Universal Pictures only seeing the obvious and they asked that Jack Arnold construct the audience-friendly Xenomorph alien after production was completed; and screenwriter Harry Essex claiming that the film had little to do with Ray Bradbury's exhaustive treatment to purported to be some 100-plus pages long; and how the film left an indelible impression on directors like Joe Dante and Steven Spielberg. Tom Weaver's casual acknowledgement of goofs and trivia that is particularly very funny, especially when he says, "Why is Richard Carlson's pipe upside down?" or "Is that Francis the Talking Mule?" Tom Weaver talks about the scene where the meteor spaceship crash lands in the desert and explains that in fact the meteor ship was about 8” to 9” in diameter and was about the same size as a bowling ball, and it was made out of iron and formed into a hollow ball, then they cut out 6 little side pieces out of the iron until all that was left was a hollow cage, and then they put on tail fin on the back of it and also put a little door on the back of it and through that door they inserted a can of magnesium powder, which burns very brightly, and we see it at the start of the film, it was fitted to a wire so it could slide down towards the camera and lands in a sandbox, and was film in the Universal Studio, but when we see the object coming towards the camera, the camera was pointed at a mirror and on the impact of the mirror you can see on the left hand side of the screen the edge of the mirror, and if you freeze frame the impact, and you can see the shards of glass shattering into tiny pieces. When you see the three character actors at the top of the crater looking down, this was actually filmed at Red Top Mountain and the director spent six days of location shooting, but when you see Richard Carlson goes to the bottom of the crater, which by the way was a stand in walking to the bottom of the crater, and this was actually filmed in the Sierra Canyon. Another fascinating fact we hear is that Universal did a test in 3-D shooting in widescreen, so slightly annoyed why they didn’t shoot the whole film this way, as it would have been so much more dramatic. One thing you might not know about this film is that the original intention was to keep the Xenomorph alien off camera throughout the film, to make the audience use their imagination and Ray Bradbury warned Universal not to reveal the alien to the audience, but as usual Universal ignored this advice, because Ray Bradbury felt revealing the alien spoiled the mystery of the alien, especially for the audience going to see the film. So to sum up this audio commentary, well I think Tom Weaver is a totally brilliant speaker and keeps you fascinated throughout the film and gives you so much information which I have not heard in an audio commentary before and you never get bored, as he tells you lots of other fascinating facts about the film that I have not mentioned, also at the end he tanks all the people involved with the film, that helped him with his research notes to reveal to us the audience and I can whole heartedly recommend everyone should listen to this brilliant audio commentary, it get a five star rating from me.Finally, ‘IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE’ is a fifties science fiction classic that has been given a pretty solid release by the folks at Universal Pictures. Back in 1953, ‘IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE’ was set out to shock and dazzle the audiences, but todays audience will find it a slightly quirky and a slightly old fashioned Sci-Fi film, but I beg to differ, as to me it is still a totally brilliant film with its science fiction concept, but you must remember that when it was released in the cinema it was very competent for its era. The film could have worked equally as well in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio enhanced widescreen presentation. This is a really excellent package that is certain to please fans of this Sci-Fi genre. If you are a Sci-Fi film fan buff, then it is a must to add ‘IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE’ to your Blu-ray collection. Established fans will really enjoy this Sci-Fi film, and especially for me after viewing it again for the first since I viewed in the cinema. Highly Recommended!Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film AficionadoLe Cinema ParadisoUnited Kingdom