Author
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Topic: IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE 3D!!!
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted November 16, 2006 11:28 PM
I had always wanted to buy this 3D film and I finally had the chance, and even a good buy on a perfect unfaded print.
The film begins with the crashing of the spaceship, (right into your lap!)
Some people driving by, see the smoke coming from the crater. They investigate and while investigating, an avalanche happens, (with some very unexpected boulders fallsing right at you!).
Next, a couple of guys out in the desert are abducted by the aliens, (with some nice point of view shots from the aliens P.O.V.)
The following day our hero (the name escapes me), and his lovely lady see some friends in town, (the two from the previous scene) who completely ignore them. He tracks them down to a dark room, where the friends waen him to stay away.
We cut to the girlfriend driving home. She is stopped by one of the friends and she is now abducted by the aliens.
We cut to the boyfriend who is now giving chase to find her. he heads back to where the mysterious goings on have happened and finds her. No, it's not her, and she proves so by trying to laserblast him to oblivion. he shoots and kills her and she is promptly dissolves into a pile of goo.
The townspeople, fed up by the disappearances of townspeople, go out to do some "vigilante justice" on the aliens, but the boyfriend go out there to try to rescue his lady from potential death. He confronts the aliens who never wanted to hurt anyone, (almost a first in 50's sci-fi), they were just protecting themselves while they made repairs to thier ship to get off our primitive planet. They threaten to destroy thier own ship, (as well as the planet in the bargain), but he convinces them that he'll hold off the mob.
He takes some dynamite and blows up the cave, sealing them in. They also release the humans they were holding as "hostages" and so the mob is happy. The ship then takes off in a blaze of glory as the humans watch it go.
We then follow this with some wonderful vintage credits, (you know, a shot of the actors and thier roles) and then the final Universal 8 credits.
3D effects : Most of them are fairly good, though some shots have a lot of 3D "bleed", while others are spot on. There are truly suprising 3D effects, as in rocks falling right into your lap, quite effective! Since this is a completely perfect KodakSP unfaded print, the effects are good to great.
Sound : In credibly crisp and booming mono sound. Not a bit of muffling to it. Quite Good.
Sharpness : Very passable. Not absolute best, but then these 3D prints have always been hard to focus. It is recommended that you either project this closer than you usually would to the screen, or have a very bright bulb, as these 3D prints, with the glasses, tend to be a little darker.
Contrast : Excellent, (thank God). Un iversal 8 did an excellent job on this print.
editing : Concerning the story and what they had to work with, it isn't a perfect cutdown, but with these older drama's, it can be hard to cut down, as they tend to move slower, not like todays films, but they did get all the plot down.
A very nice 3D film and well worth checking out!!
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted November 17, 2006 09:29 AM
James, I'm willing to bet that this is an original Universal 8 copy, but not because of the Universal 8 logo, as I think Derrann left those on there. No, it's printed on Kodak SP stock.
Now, my bet is that the Derrann prints are on L.L.P. stock, but someone else can verify that.
By the way, forgot to mention that the film, while not faded at all, (as the "Universal 8" credit has perfect blacks), is a nice sepia tone.
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted November 18, 2006 10:09 PM
I noticed that too. Brian Hendel, bless his heart (He's the fella I bought this print from), sent what looks like one of the original pairs, and I had two pairs of the slightly lighter red/green glasses from the recent "Spy Kids3D" movie, and the original glasses that came with it did the 3D much better justice to the film."
I really like this film as it was that wonderful bastard child of 50's sci-fi, the serious science fiction which is more about story than effects!
It fits in nicely with "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", both have that cold war 50's comministic scare. The people you think you know, you may not really know. If someone is acting strange, is it really who you think you've always known?
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted November 19, 2006 02:33 PM
Mike, awesome review information on "It Came Form Outer Space", (and, in some instances a far better review). Those vintage reviews are quite a lot of fun.
This was also one of the first films that had aliens that really meant no harm to us, wgich would make "Close Encounters of the Third Kind rather famous, yet this was done back then.
This was one of the few serious 3D films back then, or, in my opinion, one of the few sci-fi films of the 50's that I can take serious today.
By the way, one of my favorite special effects in the film is the taking off of the ship. If I remember correctly, the actual setting was upside down, but photographed to look like it was right side up, to allow for that very interesting "spark- -ing" before the ship takes off.
Another smart move in the making of this film was not allowing us to actually see much of the ship, as most 50's sci-fi ships look rather dated by todays standards. By not showing the ship, it allows for mystery. It only looks dated near the end (not the ship), with that almost "flash Gordon" looking laser cannon.
A very good film, all the way around.
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Claus Harding
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1149
From: Washington DC
Registered: Oct 2006
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posted February 22, 2011 09:29 PM
"It Came From Outer Space" 3D, 400ft, sound, Universal-8
Someone on Craigslist had this up for $15 and swore it was in mint condition, so I bit. He was as good as his word. Mint print, correct 3-D color and original glasses.
THE FILM:
This 1953 tells of a group of aliens landing on earth to fix their ship. They are mistaken for invaders and only our hero and heroine get close enough to understand their intent.
The tale, by Ray Bradbury, is full of elements we know from elsewhere: the ship mistaken for a meteor, the take-over (here for temporary, peaceful purposes) of a few locals, and Richard Carlson and lovely Barbara Rush as the only voices of reason as things (inevitably) get ugly The film could never be called a masterpiece, but was directed competently by Jack Arnold.
THE CUTDOWN:
Universal's editor plows right into the story, with the protagonists driving into the desert already discussing the events. After that, we get well-chosen individual scenes, rather than an attempt at a "new narrative" or intertitles and such. As the film plods a bit, the cutdown zips it along nicely. We get opening titles and nice closing credits of actors and director. Good job.
THE PRINT:
Universal-8 should be proud here. The print, from excellent source material, is clean with good contrast, fine grain, and, considering the 3-D needs, quite sharp. Sound is dynamic with bottom and top, and recorded loudly and cleanly.
The colored 3-D is, as usual, a bit of a mixed bag. Certain scenes, like rocks falling, are quite effective, and some character shots have great depth, but at times color fringing does interfere. I am pretty certain that is just how the effect works originally, and not a shortcoming of the print.
After 17mins of this, I did have a bit of a headache, but it is undeniably fun to to watch in action. I could not contemplate watching the whole feature like this, however.
A nice cutdown of a semi-classic 50es Sci-fi title that originally was a bit slow. Recommended for the cut, the Super-8 image and sound quality, and the 3-D imagery.
Claus.
-------------------- "Why are there shots of deserts in a scene that's supposed to take place in Belgium during the winter?" (Review of 'Battle of the Bulge'.)
-------------------- "Why are there shots of deserts in a scene that's supposed to take place in Belgium during the winter?" (Review of 'Battle of the Bulge'.)
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