It Came from Outer Space (1953)

An object collides with the Earth in the Arizona desert and is at first thought to be a meteorite, but actually is an alien spaceship. An amateur astronomer investigates the incident with the help of his girlfriend and, later on, other townspeople.

Insipid sci-fi, with little to recommend it aside from the musical score. A few scenes are kind of cool, such as the monster's eye glowing in the dark, and the rock avalanche, but overall the film's suspense level is low due to the fact that we suspect early on that the aliens are on the level and mean no harm. These are, by the way, the best kind of aliens: they do not stay here longer than necessary, destroy very little, and did not come here to preach anything. The downside is that they're simply not fun. The film seemed badly filmed to me, in the sense that, at times, the takes follow one another in a poorly designed fashion. For instance, when the protagonist first inspects the landing site, I was at first under the impression that there was another person there, an alien possibly; after I watched it a second time, I realized it was always the same guy, who was filmed first facing the camera and then from behind at a much larger distance. Anyway, most people praised the direction, so these perceptions of mine must be faulty, somehow.

Rating: 32