Well, I'm sorry the OP didn't much care for this film. But to me, it's one of the few bona fide classics from the 50's. It also had the distinction of being the first movie I ever saw in 3-D. But, even without the gimmick, ICFOS remains a wonderful story, filled with weirdness, romance, and some amazing technical and artistic touches.

The shot of the huge, geodesic sphere ramming into the camera...

The wistful dreams of John Putnam and his girlfriend...

The errie, long tracking shot by the camera as the ship is revealed in the smoking crater, and the door opens and the machinery winds down.... breating is heard, and SOMETHING begins to move out of the darkness... all accompanied by the low wail of a theremin, composed by Henry Mancini.

The sheer SCALE of that ship, with the tiny figure of John Putnam before it... (possibly one of the best miniature shots in movie history)

The poetic dialog about the desert, and all the way it could kill you...

The strange whistling on the phone lines... possibly of something alien listening in somewhere...

The voices of the people who have been taken over...

Those amazing forced perspective sets of the desert.

The dialouge about how more murders take place at 98 degrees...

Putnam's "alien" girlfriend falling to her death in the mine shaft...

The revelation that he too, has been duplicated.

The "Last supper" shot of Putnam surrounded by the townsfolk, as the alien ship lifts off...


I just wish I could get this movie on DVD in it's original 3-D.