feels aesthetically like an extended episode of the twilight zone. not in a condescending way, and not only because of the scifi elements of the plot. 50s aesthetics are just so distinct from decades prior; whereas the 40s and downward feel more cognitively distinct as from another historical era–definitely ancient, definitely from a very distant past–the 50s feels close to the contemporary, but it still has that antique edge to it. i’m talking about the production design.
maybe that has to do with the non-cinematic qualities of this film and the production design (again), including costuming. i feel like, in a lot of 50s films that aren’t headed by big stars that we still recognize today, the actors look extremely normal–as though they are non-actors pulled off the street.
i think that this film is just not cinematic in its production design and casting. it’s still quite good, though, and very relaxing. i like 50s american genre films because they function as relaxing, low-stakes movies that you can half pay attention to, but the cinematic conventions of the time are still infinitely classier than those of today; and there is not this potential alienation of watching movies from earlier decades, whose antiquity might make them hard to digest for the brain-addled.