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It Came From Outer Space (1953)
In director Jack Arnold's and Universal-International's
3-D widescreen sci-fi horror thriller with stereo sound - it was
director Arnold's first sci-fi work, adapted by Harry J. Essex from
an original Ray Bradbury fantasy and film treatment known as The
Meteors. The deliberately slow-paced film, a variant of film
noir within the sci-fi genre, featured suspenseful and atmospheric
cinematography and a memorable, massive, one-eyed Cyclopian monster.
It was Universal's first 3-D film (during the short, crazed era of
3-D films from 1952-1954), and one of the director's three 3-D sci-fi
features, followed by Creature
From the Black Lagoon (1954) - the story of a Gill-Man set in
the Amazon, and Revenge of the Creature (1955) - a Black Lagoon
creature sequel. Other films Arnold directed in the 1950s included This
Island Earth (1955) (uncredited), Tarantula (1955), and The
Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).
This unique early 1950s tale of benign, non-harmful
aliens that crash-landed on Earth in the Arizona desert near a typical
small American town remained a Cold War-era cautionary tale, with
an anti-conformist, anti-McCarthy message. By the technique of shape-shifting,
morphing or cloning, the 'invading' aliens absorbed and duplicated
the outward appearances (but not the personalities) of some of the
nearby townspeople in order to help disguise their efforts to repair
their damaged, buried spaceship within a crater. The peace-loving
aliens' only crimes were theft (of items in a local hardware store!!)
and kidnapping.
The film starred Richard Carlson (one of the most
popular sci-fi actors of the era) as a night amateur astronomer who
- with his fiancee Ellen - witnessed the crash-landing of a 'meteor'
- actually, a circular saucer or spacecraft, and then began to see
how people were behaving oddly and changing. The only reference to
the aliens being "xenomorphs" (a generic term that was later heavily
adopted for the Alien film
franchise in the late 1970s) was found in teaser movie theatre advertisements,
such as:
From the dark swirling reaches of outer space come
the XENOMORPHS to meet a mankind unprepared!...invading our world...with
their power to look like humans...or change to objects of awesome
terror!
The classic, vintage sci-fi film was the precursor
to other films that allegedly expressing paranoia and distrust about
alien, outer-space creatures that took human form, and that served
as allegorical stand-ins for the Communists of the Red Menace or
Scare, such as in Invasion
of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Quatermass II (1957). The
thought-provoking moral of the story expressed how mankind often
distrusted or destroyed what it interpreted as different and difficult
to understand: ("What
we don't understand, we want to destroy"), close to the metaphoric
themes of the earlier The Day the Earth
Stood Still (1951).
- in the film's title credits opening, prefaced by
the eerie, wavering and quivering sounds of a theremin, a giant,
flaming and glowing round space-structure with lattice-work or
a honeycomb pattern on its surface sailed across the night-star-lit
desert sky before crashing and exploding into the screen; the flames
provided the background for the film's block-lettered title
- the film's lyrical introduction was voiced by a
Narrator (revealed later as one of the main characters, John Putnam),
as the camera peered down from an outcropping above a small
Arizona town, and then provided a brief aerial tour of the quiet
desert landscape: "This is Sand Rock, Arizona, on a late evening
in early spring. It's a nice town, knowing its past and sure of
its future, as it makes ready for the night and the predictable
morning. The desert blankets the earth, cooling, resting for the
fight with tomorrow's sun. And in my house near the town, we're
also sure of the future, so very sure"
- at exactly 12 midnight in the almost-completed,
single-level home of recent town arrival, free-lance writer and
pipe-smoking amateur astronomer John Putnam (Richard Carlson),
he was concluding a candle-lit dinner with his supportive and sweet-natured
fiancee Ellen Fields (Barbara Rush), a local schoolteacher; he
revealed he preferred the rural area after moving back to Sand
Rock from the city
- when they went outside to his backyard to star-gaze
with his high-powered telescope into the night sky (John: "Let's
go see what the stars have to say"), they spoke about their complementary
horoscope signs (Ellen a Scorpio, and John a Sagittarius); as she
was wishing upon a star about getting married, and they were about
to kiss, they were interrupted by a load roaring noise, and the
bright light of a fireball in the sky; their faces reflected the
intense and fiery light of the passing huge object (the same one
in the film's opening) that hurtled toward Earth and exploded upon
impact; the crash sent rocks and debris flying; using his telescope,
John identified the location of its deep crater atop an old abandoned
Excelsior Mine shaft
![](snaps/itcame3.jpg)
A Loving Kiss While Wishing Upon a Star
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Interrupted by Blinding Light and Roaring Noise
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View Through Telescope: A Deep Crater Created
Atop an Old Abandoned Mine
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- the camera peered inside the smoking crater, and
witnessed one of the hexagonal-shaped windows of the other-worldly,
spherical spacecraft (or spaceship, resembling a huge soccer ball
with a honeycomb surface) slowly opening; behind the window, a
glittering, helmeted or domed object appeared, accompanied by the
sound of heavy breathing; a closer look revealed a one-eyed cyclops
or gelatinous creature-monster inside the vehicular structure,
and a shimmering and glowing trail left on the ground; a giant,
single-eyed creature had ventured out from the spaceship and looked
over the surrounding desert land, spooking wild animals (a bunny
rabbit, a wolf, and an owl)
- after waking up his helicopter pilot-friend
Pete Davis (Dave Willock), John, Ellen, and Pete arrived via his
open-air chopper to investigate the deep, still-smoking circular
crater pit from its rim; John - by himself - climbed down a
steep incline into the crater's rocky pit, and as the smoke cleared,
he could see an open hexagonal window, hatch or porthole in the
side of a partially-buried gigantic space object or vehicle; he
noticed a shimmering trail on the ground (evidence that marked
the creature's slithering path, such as snails that leave behind
shiny mucus), and then realized something inside the window was
staring at him
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John Climbing Down Into the Pit by Himself
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An Hexagonal-Shaped Opening, Hatchway or Porthole
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The Open Hexagonal Window in the Side of a Partially-Buried,
Gigantic Space Vehicle
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John Seeing and Being Observed by a One-Eyed
Creature (An Eerie Fish-Eye View From Its POV)
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The Abrupt Closing of the Hexagonal Window or Port Way
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A Rock Slide Avalanche Buries the Massive Structure
Inside the Crater
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- as John stared back at the diaphanous, shivering
iris of a cosmic creature (seen from its eerie fish-eye POV), the
window abruptly shut in front of him, and then behind him, he heard
the rumblings of a massive rock slide avalanche that soon completely
buried the mysterious object in the pit
- he climbed up the crater's edge to report
his experience of an alien presence to Pete and Ellen: ("There
was something down there.... Some kind of a ship... It's like nothing
we've ever seen before....Part of it was still showing....It was
like a huge ball rammed there in the side of the crater");
they had trouble believing him and thought he was crazy or might
be imagining something as outrageous as the arrival of an extra-terrestrial
Martian spacecraft
- other townsfolk arrived, including Sand Rock's local
Sheriff Matt Warren (Charles Drake) and local newspaper editor
Dave Loring (Alan Dexter), who were also incredulous about
John's dubious claims that it was a spaceship and not a meteor;
John urged them to seal off the area of the buried spacecraft: "This
may be the biggest thing that's ever happened. If you're smart,
you'll get this whole area sealed off until we know what we're
up against";
he then described to the entire disbelieving group: "I tell
you, from its size and appearance, this thing came from outer space.
I even have reason to believe that there's some form of life in
it"
- after returning to the airstrip in Pete's helicopter,
Ellen told John as they drove off that she would continue to be
supportive as he pursued his discovery to find out more, but was
still very skeptical, like the others: "Oh, you can't really
blame them"; he answered: "I can't be just imagining
it!"; she was worried
about how gossipy people in the small town would doubt him and
talk behind his back about his wild claims, and seeing him as an
opportunist; she admitted that her former boyfriend Sheriff Warren
had always been over-protective of her, and might continue to criticize
him
- during their drive back to town, they had to pull
over when they were astounded by the sudden head-on sight of the
one-eyed, squid-like alien monster appearing directly in front
of their car, and then apparently shimmering as it spied on them
through its iris from its fish-eyed iris POV; they mistakenly thought
that they had hit something, but then suspected that the object
must have been an ominously-shaped Joshua Tree in the darkness
- by the next morning, the Sheriff
had cordoned off the crater at the main road to prevent unauthorized
access; the event had already been publicized and ridiculed by
Sand Rock Star's morning newspaper headlines: "STAR GAZER
SEES MARTIANS";
the subtitle of the article was: "Putnam Claims Meteor Was
Ship Manned by Strangers From Out of Space"; a
group of military officials arrived to explore the area, while
a KLTV-press van and other reporters, including Dugan (Robert Carson)
from American Press, and Lober (Dick Pinner) from Press
Dispatch, clamored for an interview with "stargazer" John,
although he was reluctant to speak to anyone
- John had arrived to talk with
his long-time university scientist-friend Dr. Snell (George Eldredge)
from the Wayne Observatory, while Snell's assistant Bob (Bradford
Jackson) was searching the area, but found no evidence of radioactivity
inside the crater; Dr. Snell also expressed his doubts about the
credibility of John's account about a space-ship, and refused to
offer university assistance to dig the alleged spacecraft out of
the crater; Snell admitted that as a "man of science," he
was "less
inclined to witchcraft," although John urged him to use his "imagination"
and have a "willingness to believe that there are lots of
things that we don't know anything about"
- as John returned to his car, due to Matt's jealousy
over Ellen's romantic interest in John, John was confrontationally
told by Matt (who was earlier the deputy of Ellen's father) that
he would continue to protectively watch over Ellen's safety, and
prevent her from losing her teaching job due to her absence; John
was also warned that the townfolk were apprehensive about his return: "Putnam,
you frighten 'em. And what frightens 'em they're against, one way
or another";
he cautioned Putnam to
"leave Ellen alone" and not hurt, influence or harm her;
while driving back to town, the frustrated Putnam told Ellen the
general consensus of almost everyone: "I'm crazy"
- on the way back, they stopped at the spot where
the alien had appeared to them; Putnam emphasized the hidden dangers
of the desert: "It's alive and waiting for you. Ready to kill
you if you go too far. The sun will get ya, or the cold at night.
A thousand ways the desert can kill. Where are you?"; he taunted
the unseen alien: "I know you're out there, hiding in the
desert";
the camera panned to the right to the alien's glittering trail
left behind
- they also stopped to speak by the side of the road
to two young county telephone linemen friends: the younger George
(Russell Johnson) and his boss Frank Daylon (Joe Sawyer) who were
at work. Frank reported to them that he was listening to an eerie-sounding
whistle ("darnedest noise ever") on the phone lines,
in a lengthy monologue: "After you've been working out on the desert
fifteen years like I have, you hear a lot of things, see
a lot of things, too. Sun in the sky, and the heat. All that sand
out there with the rivers and lakes that aren't real at all. And
sometimes you think that the wind gets in the wires and hums and
listens and talks. Just like what we're hearing now"; Putnam
confirmed hearing the noise on the lines, but then the noise stopped;
apparently, the aliens could 'transmit' themselves along the roadways
- shortly later, the two engineers encountered the
one-eyed creature in front of their truck; George was absorbed
(or "globbed" up by a bubble created by the one-eyed
cyclops alien monster)
![](snaps/itcame29.jpg)
Alien Appearing In Front of George's and Frank's
Truck
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A Close-up of the Cyclops Alien Monster
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George Attacked (from Alien's Fish-Eye POV)
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George's Body Covered Over and Absorbed
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- John and Ellen came upon their empty and abandoned telephone truck on the roadside with
its doors ajar, and discovered evidence of an attack -- blood on
the driver's side window frame, and a shimmering or glistening
alien trail of tracks leading into the desert; a strange-acting,
glassy-eyed, pale-faced George abruptly appeared to them, acting
robotically and unlike his usual jovial self; Ellen and Putnam
knew something was unusual (when he gazed directly into the bright
sun without blinking); they hastily left, assuming that George
had murdered his co-worker Frank, whose body was seen but mostly
hidden behind a giant boulder except for his extended arm; they
raced back to town to notify the Sheriff of the crime
- at the 'murder' site, the real
Frank and George awakened from being knocked out, and George was
astonished to see his robotic replacement; the awakening body
behind the boulder was revealed to be the "real" George, while
standing above him was the "duplicated" or "shape-shifted" George
(impersonated, reproduced or replaced by the alien creature); the
"real" George and Frank were told by George's alien duplicate or
replacement about having taken on George's likeness, but meant
no permanent harm: "Don't be afraid. It is within our power to
transform ourselves to look like you or anyone. For a time, it
will be necessary. We cannot, we would not, take your souls or
minds or bodies. (To Frank) Don't be afraid. Your friend is all
right" [Note: Off-screen, Frank's "duplicate" was also created.]
- Ellen and John rushed into the disagreeable Sheriff's
Sand Rock County Office reporting "proof" and
findings, but he was disdainful and disapproving of Ellen's claims: "He's
not gonna make a fool out of me the way he has out of you!";
when the threesome returned to the scene to investigate, the Sheriff
felt justified in his doubts when there was no evidence of the
truck, nor the two phone employees, or the glittering trail; Putnam
was exasperated: "No marks, no signs, no nothing"
- shortly later, John spotted both George and Frank
alive and well walking down the street in town; John followed the
two into an alleyway and confronted them in a dark hallway, and
was told to not interfere for the time being, and that their real
human counterparts were unharmed and would remain that way if
left alone: "Keep away, John Putnam. We don't want to hurt you. You least of all.
We don't want to hurt anyone...(John aimed his gun at them and
asked: "What have you done with them?") Your friends are alive. They will not be harmed
if you do as we say....Give us time. Time, or terrible things will
happen. Things so terrible you have yet to dream of them"
- at the site of the mostly-abandoned open mine shaft
of the Excelsior Mine (close to the newly-created crater), two
crusty old miners Sam (Edgar Dearing) and Toby (Warren MacGregor)
were awaiting the return of a third miner Tom (George Selk) with
food; Tom's slow-moving mule was spooked when they were confronted
by the one-eyed alien, and just as George had been taken earlier,
Tom was absorbed or duplicated; as Sam and Toby went to investigate,
they were also replaced by the one-eyed alien, that created a bubble
around them and "duplicated"
or "cloned" them
![](snaps/itcame39.jpg)
Miner Tom (George Selk) Absorbed or Duplicated
in a One-Eyed "Bubble" (Seen Through the Alien's Fish-Eyed
Iris)
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Miners Sam (Edgar Dearing) and Toby (Warren MacGregor)
Abducted or Taken (also from the Alien's POV)
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- Putnam was disturbed by the media's false reporting,
name-calling and sensationalism about 'bug-eyed monsters' on the
radio: "No one has yet turned up any bug-eyed monsters threatening
Earth, and so it must be set down as another one of those fantastic
hoaxes, this one by a young publicity-seeking astronomer. Of course,
if he should turn up a spaceman or two, this network cordially
invites them to address us one and all"; Putnam realized he
would now have to peacefully "wait" until they were given
clearer signals, although he hated to be inactive, sitting by: "Are
we right in just, just sitting by?"; Ellen reassured him that
that they weren't crazy: "And if we've been seeing things,
it's because we did see them!"
- at John's front door, Ellen was frightened - and
screamed - at the sight of young town boy Perry (Whitey Haupt)
(wearing a cadet space helmet, and claiming he was "a spaceman
out of the crater"); he summoned them back to the Sheriff's
office; in town, Frank's and George's female partners, Mrs. Daylon
(Virginia Mullen) and George's provocative girlfriend Jane Dean
(Kathleen Hughes) (wearing an obvious conical bra) confirmed Putnam's
suspicions about them - the two men were pale-faced, strange-looking,
lacking an appetite and both had vanished; both had claimed they
were assigned to a 'special job' overnight and abruptly left with
all their clothes; however, the telephone company had denied any
out-of-town jobs, and their truck was missing
- while Ellen drove both women home in Putnam's car,
he remained in the office to speak to the Sheriff; in private,
the Sheriff admitted he was beginning to believe Putnam's
original story, that was again described: ("You've got to believe
that there's a ship buried out there in the desert, and that at
least some of our visitors from outer space got out of that ship
before it was covered over!"); Putnam reminded the Sheriff
how they had both seen two of the alien "visitors" in town
- George and Frank, but that they were only clones - duplicated
by the alien creature in the spacecraft: ("What you saw today
was only what looked like Frank and George!"); Putnam explained
how the alien duplicates claimed to him that they were benign, and
that the humans must not intervene: ("They want us to trust
them, to believe that Frank and George are in no danger as long as
we don't interfere with them, to give them time, time!"); the
Sheriff remained skeptical: "How could they take over anyone
else's form, and where is the real Frank and George?"
- the Sheriff provided further signs that the alien
visitors might be engaged in a technical mission -- the stolen phone
truck was loaded with electrical equipment, and further similar
items (copper wire and some metal parts) had been stolen from the
local hardware store; they were alerted to the possibility that
Dr. Snell and his assistant were also missing; at the crash site,
they found Dr. Snell's empty car and no sign of Dr. Snell or his
assistant Bob; the Sheriff mused with Putnam: "I'd give anything
if things were the way they were this mornin' with me callin' you
a fool"; Putnam also fantasized: "Wouldn't it be a fine
trick if I weren't really John Putnam at all? Something from another
world come here to give you a lot of false leads" - echoing
fears of the manipulative take-over of human bodies devoid of personalities
and humanity by devious alien intruders
- meanwhile, driving alone in Putnam's car, Ellen
was intercepted by the aliens; she was stopped by the cloned Frank
standing on the highway, who instructed her to drive him to the
abandoned mine shaft ("Take me to the mine"), and then "globbed" or
duplicated her (visualized again in a shimmering, one-eyed bubble)
as she screamed
- shortly later, the Sheriff was phoned with a report
that Ellen had also been abducted by the aliens; Putnam exclaimed: "They've
got Ellen!"; the Sheriff and John drove back into the middle of the desert,
where Putnam left on his own to find her as the Sheriff waited
behind at the car; he spotted the duplicate Ellen (an alien taking
her lifeform) standing on a sloping ridgeline in a black gown (with
a flowing scarf) - and chased after her
- she lured him to the dark entrance of a mine-shaft,
where she disappeared - he heard a loud, booming and echoing announcement
by an unseen alien from the void of darkness; the alien explained
how they wanted to work undisturbed (with the help of cloned humans)
to repair their spacecraft with complete privacy before leaving
soon and continuing on their long voyage home: ("We
are repairing our ship to leave your world. We need your help");
the alien continued: "We have a long way
to go. By nightfall we will have left your Earth. You will not
see us until it is time"; there was an attempt by the alien
to reassure Putnam of their good intentions: "We have souls and
minds, and we are good"
- the alien voice feared that the human race was
not yet sophisticated enough to embrace the aliens; it would be
premature for the Earthlings to see their frightening, repulsive
and scary appearance: "We are not yet ready to meet in friendship....
Because you would be horrified at the sight of us"; Putnam was unsure
and was worried that many human beings had been taken as captive
hostages; the pacifist alien reiterated that they
meant no harm after selectively taking some of the humans and duplicating
their human likenesses, and added they wouldn't be harmed unless
provoked: "Keep your people away or we will destroy them"; the
alien continued, explaining how their advanced race had mistakenly
and accidentally crashed into Earth during a mission to another
world: "Our mission was to another world. You must believe me.
Only an error dragged us towards Earth"
- the alien refused to reveal itself, and cautioned
against any further contact: "Let us stay apart, the people
of your world and ours. For if we come together, there will only
be destruction"
- after continual begging and negotiation, Putnam
was finally granted his request to see the alien creature: ("I've
got to see you as you really are! Come out, or I can't take the
responsibility of protecting you"); he was horrified when he
saw a massive, unwieldy, one-eyed Cyclops-like bulbous, gelatinous,
non-human creature (resembling a large soft-surfaced crustacean)
with scraggly hair on its huge head and accompanied by smoke
![](snaps/itcame48.jpg)
Putnam's View of the Horrifyingly Ugly, Non-Human Alien Creature
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Putnam's Shocked Reaction and Expression of Repulsion
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- the stunned Putnam left the mine shaft and returned
to the impatient Sheriff waiting in his car, and told him: "I
saw them as they really are. Horrible!"; the Sheriff was unwilling
to trust or believe that the aliens wouldn't harm Ellen: ("I want
Ellen and the rest of them out of there now!"), and threatened
to intervene and possibly threaten everyone's lives; he also believed
it would be impossible for the aliens to fly off in their completely-buried
spacecraft under tons of earth
- in one of the film's key scenes, Putnam tried to
cool the Sheriff down by explaining the aliens' justified fears: "They
don't trust us. Because what we don't understand, we want to destroy";
when the Sheriff firmly asserted: "I kill only what tries to kill
me," they both noticed a defenseless spider (symbolic of
the mysterious race of aliens) crawling on the ground; Putnam noted its differences - eight legs
and a mouth that moved from side to side, and then asked: "If it
came toward you, what would you do?"; the Sheriff mindlessly stomped
on the creature with his boot ("THIS!"); Putnam had proved the
untruth of the Sheriff's declaration: "Exactly, as you'd
destroy anything you didn't understand. Don't
you see, Matt? That's why they've been hiding behind other men's
faces until they can clear out";
Putnam was incensed at the close-minded Sheriff: "When are you
gonna stop being a badge and become a human being?"
- after the two returned to town, Putnam realized
that the aliens had also visited his house, leaving his front door
unlocked, and depositing their tell-tale shimmering trail back
to his empty front hall closet; the Sheriff had begrudgingly followed
Putnam's advice and made plans to be patient by clearing the
area around the crater; he was tempted by his gung-ho Deputy Reed
(William Pullen) to ignore Putnam and gather an armed posse and
rescue the hostages held in the old Excelsior mine shaft
- upon learning of John's house break-in and clothing
theft, and noticing the "duplicate" alien phone lineman
Frank crossing the street in town before driving off in his truck,
the Sheriff decided to go against Putnam's wishes (who continued
to urge: "We've got to see it through"); in the office,
the two engaged in a major fist-fight over possession of the Sheriff's
gun - Putnam was able to prevent the Sheriff from ruining things
by confronting Frank out on the street
- as retribution, the Sheriff ran off to assemble
an impromptu, Frankenstein-like, rifle-toting posse on the street
corner to join him in their vehicles at the crater; without permission,
John drove off in the Sheriff's car to race to the mine to warn
the aliens to quickly finish their repairs and get out; meanwhile,
the Sheriff and his posse barricaded the highway to the crater,
in order to open fire on Frank's truck and prevent him from reaching
the crater; the posse was able to derail the truck and send it
crashing in flames against a large boulder
- in the mine shaft's dark
opening, John was approached by the cloned Ellen and he called
her out: ("You're dressed in her clothes, but you're not Ellen");
she blamed him for the threatening posse that was approaching ("You
brought them"), and attacked him with the beam of a deadly
laser weapon; he ducked and shot the alien-clone with his gun -
and as she died, she cloned or 'duplicated' him before tumbling
into a lake within a deep crevasse where she dissolved [Note: Her
demise made her the second 'false'-human to die, following the
death of the 'false'-Frank]
![](snaps/itcame51.jpg)
Cloned Ellen Alien in Dark Entrance to Mine Shaft
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![](snaps/itcame52.jpg)
Alien Ellen Firing Laser Beam at Putnam
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As the Cloned Ellen Alien Died, She 'Duplicated' Putnam
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- further inside the mine where the aliens (in human-cloned
form) were making repairs to their equipment, the head alien leader
(the clone of John) demonstrated the power of their technology:
("Power to drive a ship through space. Power to tear your earth
apart!"); he bragged to John that over 1,000
years of the spacecraft's technical development had led to the
alien's final conquering of space
- the cloned John already knew that the angry
mob of townsfolk was approaching to intervene, not giving them
enough time: ("All we needed was time"); no longer trusting in the humans and
their mob-posse, the head alien threatened that they would now
use their deadly and powerful equipment and technological weapons
to destroy the "strange
planet" before the mob arrived: ("We'd rather have it
end here than fall into their hands")
- the "real" John was able
to rationally bargain for a peaceful resolution with two strategies:
(1) the aliens would be allowed to complete their repairs if all
the unharmed hostage-humans were released from the mine shaft,
and (2) to protect the aliens working inside the mine, dynamite
was detonated at the mouth of the mine to seal and block it off
so that the repairs could proceed without interruption; the Sheriff
arrived and wrongly interrupted the blast as the final extermination
of the aliens ("I guess that takes care of 'em")
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The Approach of the Sheriff and His Mob-Posse From Town
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Ellen, John, and the Sheriff Commenting on the Detonation of Dynamite at the
Mine
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- after Putnam's live-and-let-live proposals had prevailed,
all those who were gathered around the mine's opening watched as
the alien space travelers blasted off in their glowing, repaired
spacecraft from the interior of the crater; Ellen asked if the
aliens were gone
"for good"; Putnam responded with his prediction that
hopefully one day, the alien visitors would return on more cordial
terms when Earthlings were ready: "No,
just for now. It wasn't the right time for us to meet. But there
will be other nights, other stars for us to watch. They'll be back"
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![](snaps/itcame.jpg)
In the Prologue, A Glowing, Flaming Latticed or Honeycombed
Space Structure Flying Through the Night Sky
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A Loving Star-Gazing Couple John Putnam (Richard Carlson)
and Fiancee Ellen Fields (Barbara Rush)
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Colorized Version of Above Scene
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![](snaps/itcame7.jpg)
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The First Full View of a Floating, One-Eyed Alien Monster/Creature
Inside a Space Vehicle Structure With Hexagonal Openings
![](snaps/itcame12.jpg)
An Aerial View of the Smoking Deep Crater Pit Caused by the
Crash-Landing
![](snaps/itcame11.jpg)
Ellen, John and Pete Peering Down into the Crater Pit
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(l to r): Disbelieving Newspaper Editor Dave Loring, Pete,
and John
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Local Sand Rock Sheriff Matt Warren (Charles Drake)
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Appearance of the One-Eyed Alien Monster Spying on John and Ellen During
Drive Back to Town
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Sand Rock Star's Headlines: "STAR GAZER SEES MARTIANS"
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John Speaking to Skeptical Scientist Dr. Snell (George Eldredge)
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Putnam's Worries to Ellen: "I'm crazy"
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Putnam Taunting the Unseen Dangerous Alien in the Desert
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Phone Lineman Frank (Joe Sawyer) Reporting Hearing "Darnedest Noise Ever"
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Putnam Listening with Frank to Eerie Sounds on
the Telephone Wires
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(l to r): Frank (Joe Sawyer) and George (Russell Johnson)
in Their Truck
Robotic-Acting "Alien" Duplicate George
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Frank Regaining Consciousness After Being Knocked Out
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(l to r): The Robotic George, and the "Real" George (Regaining Consciousness
Behind the Boulder)
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"Alien" George Speaking to the "Real" George and
to Frank: "Don't be afraid!..."
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In Town,"Frank" and "George" Spotted and Warning Putnam
in a Dark Hallway To Not Interfere
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(l to r): Mrs. Daylon (Virginia Mullen) and George's
Girlfriend Jane Dean (Kathleen Hughes) - Reported Their Men Missing
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The Skeptical Sheriff Began to Believe Putnam's Original Story
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Ellen Intercepted by Alien Frank in the Middle of the Highway
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Ellen Abducted and Cloned In Fish-Eyed Iris POV
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Duplicate Ellen Located on a Sloping Ridgeline in Elegant Black
Gown and Flowing Scarf
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Putnam Lured by Ellen to the Entrance of a Mine-Shaft
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The Spider and the Moral of the Film - Putnam to the Sheriff: "You'd
destroy anything you didn't understand"
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The Shimmering Trail from Putnam's Front Door to His Hallway Closet
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Alien Frank Shot and Killed in His Truck at the Sheriff's Barricade
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Deep Inside the Mine - The Lead Alien Clone (Resembling John Putnam)
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The "Real" Ellen - A Freed Human Hostage
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The Glowing Alien Spacecraft Blasting Off Into the Night Sky From
the Crater
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John's Positive Ending Lines of Dialogue ("...They'll be back")
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