With its modest special effects, lean plot, and small cast of lesser stars, this 1951 thriller remains a sturdy blueprint for fusing horror and science fiction. The formula has been employed countless times since, fleshed out with more extensive and elaborate production values, and manned by higher profiled marquee names, but the results have yet to improve on The Thing from Another World, Howard Hawks's lone foray into sci-fi.

The story begins as military airmen are dispatched to a remote Arctic research station where scientists have detected the crash of a spacecraft. An effort to retrieve the saucer-shaped vehicle fails, but the team returns to the station with the frozen body of its sole occupant. When the extraterrestrial pilot is accidentally thawed, the crew, headed by a tough-talking pilot (Kenneth Tobey), grapples with a massive, chlorophyll-based humanoid (James Arness) thirsty for blood and in no mood for galactic diplomacy.

One To Remember For All TIme

1950's Science Fiction films have a reputation for being low-budget, movies with unknown actors, cheesy special effects, and stereotypical characters. "The Thing from Another World" (1951) is no exception to that stereotype, but it is still great fun and a solid Science Fiction movie which helped shape the genre for years to come. Credit goes to the screenplay by Charles Lederer, director Christian Nyby, and especially producer Howard hawks. "The Thing from Another World" premiered on April 6th, 1951.

The best known actor to most people would be James Arness, who plays The Thing, although Kenneth Tobey (Captain Patrick Hendry), Robert Cornthwaite (Dr. Carrington), Douglas Spencer (Scotty) and Robert Nichols (Lt. Ken McPherson) all have had long careers and may be familiar faces. This was the film debut for Margaret Sheridan (Nikki).

The script was based on the story "Who Goes There?" by Don A. Stuart, an alias for John W. Campbell Jr. whose name appears in the credits. However, one must see John Carpenter's "The Thing" (1982) in order to get a close resemblance to that story. Some of the basics of the story are the same, e.g. an alien is found frozen and comes alive when brought out of the ice. In other ways this story is quite different though, for example a fair amount of time in this movie is spent on learning about the nature of the creature, while the original story focused more on the horror and suspense of the situation rather than the scientific nature of the alien.

The special effects are certainly nothing compared to what one sees today, but they are fine for their day, and work will for this movie. They wisely decided to eliminate close-ups of The Thing, because the make-up didn't hold up to scrutiny. There are also several clich?'s here, although at the time of this movie they had not all become clich?s. Probably the best example is Dr. Carrington, who plays a scientist who feels the discovery is more important than all of their lives. I don't know if this is the first movie with this character type, but it has certainly been seen in countless Science Fiction movies since.

Where this movie works best is in the characters and the script. The viewer enjoys watching the banter between Captain Hendry and Nikki, the rivalry between Captain Hendry and Dr. Carrington, and the good natured ribbing between Captain Hendry and his crew. Ultimately it is these relationships and more which help make this a better than average film, and one which will always be remembered by Science Fiction fans as one of their favorites from this era. This DVD does not include much in the way of extras, including only a trailer.

THE MODEL OF ITS KIND THAT HAS STOOD THE TEST OF TIME!

FIRST THOUGHTS: SIMPLISTIC PERFECTION THAT IS STILL UNMATCHED!

When my teenage daughter, Angela, declared that her new interest was making a monster movie, the first thought that came to my mind was: "THE THING - FROM ANOTHER WORLD" by Howard Hawks is what she needs to go study. My next thought was where should I hide the camcorder?!

IN A NUTSHELL:

"The Thing" blends science-fiction, horror, and utilitarian dialogue along with real-people kinds of characterizations to create an unprecedented Sci-Fi/Horror Epic hybrid.

"THE THING" FLESHED OUT A BIT: [more later]

Members of an arctic research team discover a flying saucer in the ice. Then, with the help of the Air Force, the remains of an alien frozen in a block of ice is brought back to their arctic outpost. Accidentally thawed out, the alien begins killing the occupants of the small isolated settlement, apparently for food and for some previously unimagined form of asexual reproduction using human blood.

-----*- THE ENSEMBLE CAST -*

Margaret Sheridan - Nikki Nicholson
Kenneth Tobey - Capt. Patrick Hendry
Robert Cornthwaite - Dr. Arthur Carrington
Douglas Spencer - Ned "Scotty" Scott
Dewey Martin - Bob
James Arness - "The Thing"
Robert Nichols - Lt. MacPherson (Erickson)
Bill Self - Corporal Barnes
Eduard Franz - Dr. Stern
Sally Creighton - Mrs. Chapman
Norbert Schiller - Dr. Laurenz
Walter Ng - Cook
Paul H. Frees - Dr. Maurice Vorrhees

-----*- THE PRIMARY PRODUCTION TEAM

Christian Nyby - Director
Howard Hawks - Producer
John W. Campbell Jr. - Short Story Author
Charles Lederer - Screenwriter
Russell Harlan - Cinematographer

ABOUT THE DVD: COULD THERE BE FEWER EXTRAS?

ANSWER: YES, but they did include an Original Theatrical Trailer!

Having said that, this edition plays better than any of the VHS editions I have had and I think I've had, or at least viewed, most of them. This DVD does include the scene where Nikki Nicholson [Margaret Sheridan] ties up Capt. Hendry [Kenneth Tobey] and offers him alcohol without endangering herself. Of course he gets loose, but that's just to show her that she was safe all along in the typical, clean-cut, Howard Hawks' male lead role, which is AOK by me.

THE BOTTOM LINE: KEEP WATCHING THE SKY!

For simplicity and economy, it just doesn't get any better than "THE THING From Another World". Add to that, genuine scariness and new Sci-Fi themes which were about to become overused -- AFTER THIS FILM -- by many lesser films. Imitation, after all, is the sincerest form of flattery. Of course, 55 years later, my advice to Angela and any other aspiring monster filmmakers is to watch this film and then "KEEP WATCHING THE SKY!"

-----*- IF YOU ENJOY THIS GENRE: ALSO CONSIDER SEEING -*

*-It Came from Outer Space, 1953, Jack Arnold
*-Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1956, Don Siegel
*-Aliens, 1986, James Cameron
*-Pitch Black, 2000, David N. Twohy
*-Alien, 1979, Ridley Scott
*-It! The Terror from Beyond Space, 1958, Edward L. Cahn
*-The Day of the Triffids, 1963, Steve Sekely
*-The War of the Worlds, 1953, Byron Haskin

Essential science-fiction cinema

THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD is an eminently watchable flick in its own right and one of the essential science-fiction movies of the 1950s -- along with THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, FORBIDDEN PLANET, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, and THEM! There are others we love (I myself have a great and abiding fondness for I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE, and some folks swear by WAR OF THE WORLDS), but these five, though they did not exhaust the genre (as Hollywood understood the genre), certainly defined it during their decade and well into the 1960s, until 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.