The Thing from Another World

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The Thing from Another World

1951 theatrical poster

Directed by

Christian Nyby Howard Hawks (uncredited) Charles Lederer Howard Hawks

Screenplay by

(uncredited) Ben Hecht (uncredited) Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr. Margaret Sheridan Kenneth Tobey Starring Douglas Spencer Robert O. Cornthwaite James Arness Music by Cinematography Editing by Studio Distributed by Release dates Running time Country Language Box office

Based on

Dimitri Tiomkin Russell Harlan, ASC Roland Gross Winchester Pictures Corporation RKO Radio Pictures April 29, 1951 87 minutes United States English $1,950,000 (US rentals)[1]

The Thing from Another World (often referred to as The Thing before its 1982 remake), is a 1951 RKO Pictures black-and-white science fiction film based on the 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell (writing under the pseudonym of Don A. Stuart). The story concerns an Air Force crew and scientists at a remote Arctic research outpost forced to defend themselves against a malevolent, plant-based humanoid alien.

The film stars Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite, and Douglas Spencer. James Arness played The Thing, but he is difficult to recognize in costume and makeup, due to both low lighting and other effects used to obscure his features. No actors are named during the film's dramatic "slow burning letters through background" opening title sequence; the cast credits appear at the end of the film. The film was partly shot in Glacier National Park and interior sets built at a Los Angeles ice storage plant. The Thing from Another World is considered one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s.[2] In 2001 the film was deemed to be a "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant motion picture by the United States Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Contents

1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production o 3.1 Director 4 Reception o 4.1 Critical and box office reception o 4.2 Legacy 5 Related productions 6 References 7 External links

Plot
A United States Air Force crew is dispatched by General Fogerty from Anchorage, Alaska at the request of Dr. Carrington, the chief scientist of a North Pole scientific outpost. They have evidence that an unknown flying craft crashed nearby, so Reporter Ned Scott tags along for the story. Dr. Carrington later briefs Captain Hendry and his airmen, and Dr. Redding shows photos of a heavy flying object moving erratically before crashing; not the movements of a meteorite. Following erratic magnetic pole anomalies, the crew and scientists fly to the crash site aboard the team's C-47. The mysterious craft lies buried beneath refrozen ice, with just the tip of a rounded airfoil protruding from the surface. As they later outline the craft's general shape, they quickly realize they are standing in a circle: they have discovered a crashed flying saucer. They try deicing the buried craft with thermite heat bombs, but only ignite its metal alloy, causing an explosion that destroys the saucer. Their Geiger counter then points to a slightly radioactive frozen shape buried nearby in the refrozen ice. They excavate a large block of ice around what appears to be a tall body and then fly it to the research outpost, just as a major storm moves in, cutting off their communications with Anchorage. Some of the scientists want to thaw out the body, but Captain Hendry issues orders for everyone to wait until he receives further instructions from the Air

Force. Later, Corporal Barnes takes the second watch over the now clearing ice block and quickly covers it with a blanket, an electric blanket that the previous guard left turned on. Later, as the ice slowly melts, the thing inside revives; Barnes panics and begins shooting at it with his .45 caliber sidearm, but the alien escapes into the sub-zero cold of the raging storm. The thing is attacked by sled dogs and the scientists recover a severed arm. As the arm warms up, it ingests some of the dogs' blood covering it, and the hand begins moving. Seed pods are quickly discovered in the palm, demonstrating that the alien is a form of plant life. Carrington is convinced that it can be reasoned with and has much to teach them, but Dr. Chapman and the others disagree; the Air Force personnel believe the creature may be dangerous. Carrington deduces their visitor requires blood to survive and reproduce. He later discovers the body of a dead sled dog in the outpost's greenhouse; the alien has forced the lock on the greenhouse's door and bent it back into shape. Carrington has Dr. Voorhees, Dr. Olsen and Dr. Auerbach stand guard overnight, waiting for it to return. Carrington secretly uses blood plasma from the infirmary to incubate seedlings grown from the alien seed pods. In the greenhouse, the strung-up bodies of Olsen and Auerbach are discovered, drained of blood. Dr. Stern is almost killed by the thing but escapes. Nikki Nicholson, Carrington's secretary, reluctantly updates Hendry when he asks about missing plasma and confronts Carrington in his lab, where he discovers the seeds have grown at an alarming rate. Dr. Wilson advises Carrington that he has not slept, but Carrington remains unconcerned. Hendry rushes to the greenhouse after hearing what happened there: their visitor is behind the door as Hendry opens it, and he immediately slams the door on the thing's regrown arm as it tries to grab him; as the alien pulls the arm back through, its barbed knuckles rip the door's trim to splinters. It escapes through the greenhouse's exterior door and breaks into another building in the compound. Following Nicholson's suggestion, Hendry and his men set a trap in a nearby room: they set the thing ablaze using a flare gun and buckets of kerosene, forcing it to jump through a closed window into the arctic storm. Nicholson notices that the temperature inside the station is falling; a heating fuel line has been sabotaged by the creature. The cold forces everyone to make a final stand near the generator room. They rig an electrical "fly trap", hoping to electrocute the alien. As it advances, Carrington tries to save it by shutting off the power and reasoning with it; the creature knocks him aside and continues to advance. An airman throws a pick axe at the creature, forcing it to step on their wire fence grid. A switch is thrown and the thing is reduced by arcs of electricity to a smoldering pile of ash upon Hendry's direct order that nothing of their visitor remain. When the weather clears, Scotty files his "story of a lifetime" by radio to a roomful of reporters in Anchorage. During his report, Scotty broadcasts a warning to the reporters: "Tell the world. Tell this to everyone, wherever they are. Watch the skies everywhere. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies."

Cast

Margaret Sheridan as Nikki Nicholson Kenneth Tobey as Captain Patrick Hendry Robert Cornthwaite as Dr. Arthur Carrington Douglas Spencer as Ned 'Scotty' Scott James Young as Lt. Eddie Dykes Dewey Martin as Crew Chief Bob Robert Nichols as Lt. Ken 'Mac' MacPherson William Self as Corporal Barnes Eduard Franz as Dr. Stern Sally Creighton as Mrs. Chapman James Arness as 'The Thing' Paul Frees as Dr. Voorhees John Dierkes as Dr. Chapman George Fenneman as Dr. Redding David McMahon as General Fogerty

Production
The film was loosely adapted by Charles Lederer, with uncredited rewrites from Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht, from the 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr.. It was first published in Astounding Science Fiction under Campbell's pseudonym Don A. Stuart; Campbell had just become the magazine's managing editor when his novella appeared in its pages. The film took full advantage of the national feelings of the time to help enhance the horror elements of the story. The film reflected a post-Hiroshima skepticism about science and negative views of scientists who meddle with things better left alone. In the end it is American servicemen and several sensible scientists who win the day over the alien invader. The screenplay changes the fundamental nature of the alien as presented in Campbell's novella: Lederer's "Thing" is a humanoid lifeform whose cellular structure is closer to vegetation, although it must feed on blood to survive; reporter Scott even refers to it in the film as an "intellectual carrot." The internal, plant-like structure of the creature makes it impervious to bullets but not other destructive forces. In Campbell's original novella, the "Thing" is a life form capable of assuming the physical and mental characteristics of any living thing it encounters; this characteristic was later realized in John Carpenter's 1982 remake of the film (see below). One of the film's stars, William Self, later became President of 20th Century Fox Television.[3] In describing the production, Self said, "Chris was the director in our eyes, but Howard was the boss in our eyes."[4] Appearing in a small role was George Fenneman, who at the time was gaining fame as Groucho Marx's announcer on the popular TV show You Bet Your Life. Fenneman has said he had difficulty with the overlapping dialogue in the film.[4]

Director
There is debate as to whether the film was directed by Hawks with Christian Nyby receiving the credit so that Nyby could obtain his Directors Guild membership,[5][6][7] or whether Nyby directed it with considerable input in both screenplay and advice in directing from producer Hawks[8] for Hawks' Winchester Pictures, which released it through RKO Radio Pictures Inc. Hawks gave Nyby only $5,460 of the $50,000 director's fee that RKO paid and kept the rest, but Hawks denied that he directed the film.[4] Cast members disagree on Hawks' and Nyby's contributions. Tobey said that "Hawks directed it, all except one scene"[9] while, on the other hand, Fenneman said that "Hawks would once in a while direct, if he had an idea, but it was Chris' show". Cornthwaite said that "Chris always deferred to Hawks, ... Maybe because he did defer to him, people misinterpreted it."[4] Although Self has said that "Hawks was directing the picture from the sidelines",[10] he also has said that "Chris would stage each scene, how to play it. But then he would go over to Howard and ask him for advice, which the actors did not hear ... Even though I was there every day, I don't think any of us can answer the question. Only Chris and Howard can answer the question."[4] At a reunion of The Thing cast and crew members in 1982, Nyby said:[4] Did Hawks direct it? That's one of the most inane and ridiculous questions I've ever heard, and people keep asking. That it was Hawks' style. Of course it was. This is a man I studied and wanted to be like. You would certainly emulate and copy the master you're sitting under, which I did. Anyway, if you're taking painting lessons from Rembrandt, you don't take the brush out of the master's hands.[4]

Reception
Critical and box office reception
The Thing from Another World was released in April 1951.[11] By the end of that year the film had accrued $1,950,000 in distributors' domestic (U. S. and Canada) rentals, making it the year's 46th biggest earner, beating all other science fiction films released that year, including The Day The Earth Stood Still and When Worlds Collide.[12] Bosley Crowther in The New York Times observed, Taking a fantastic notion (or is it, really?), Mr. Hawks has developed a movie that is generous with thrills and chillsAdults and children can have a lot of old-fashioned movie fun at The Thing, but parents should understand their children and think twice before letting them see this film if their emotions are not properly conditioned"[13] "Gene" in Variety complained that the film "lacks genuine entertainment values.[14] More than twenty years after its theatrical release, science fiction editor and publisher Lester del Rey compared the film unfavorably to the source material, John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?", calling it "just another monster epic, totally lacking in the force and tension of the original story."[15]

The Thing is now considered by many to be one of the best films of 1951.[16][17][18] The film holds an 89% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus that the film "is better than most flying saucer movies, thanks to well-drawn characters and concise, tense plotting".[19] In 2001 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.[20] [21] Additionally, Time magazine named The Thing from Another World "the greatest 1950s sci-fi movie." [22][23]

Legacy
American Film Institute lists

AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills #87[24] AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains: [25] o The Thing Nominated Villain AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes: o "Watch the skies, everywhere, keep looking! Keep watching the skies!" Nominated[26] AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) Nominated[27] AFI's 10 Top 10 Nominated Sci-Fi Film[28]

Related productions

In 1982 a more faithful adaptation of Campbell's story Who Goes There? was released under the title The Thing.[29] This version borrowed certain elements from the Hawks film, notably the original film's "slow burning letters through background" opening title sequence; it was directed by John Carpenter. In 2011 Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. made a prequel to Carpenter's 1982 film with the identical title of The Thing.[30]

References
Notes
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Jump up ^ 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1951', Variety, January 2, 1952 Jump up ^ M. Keith Booker, Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Cinema, page 126 (Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2010). ISBN 978-0-8108-5570-0 Jump up ^ "Self Promoted to Presidency of 20th-Fox TV"Daily Variety (1968 11 1) Pgs. 1;26 ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Fuhrmann, Henry (25 May 1997). "A 'Thing' to His Credit". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 April 2012. Jump up ^ p.346 Weaver, Tom Kenneth Tobey Interview Double Feature Creature Attack 2003 McFarland Jump up ^ "And let's get the record straight. The movie was directed by Howard Hawks. Verifiably directed by Howard Hawks. He let his editor, Christian Nyby, take credit. But the kind of feeling between the male characters the camaraderie, the group of men that has to fight off the evil it's all pure Hawksian." Carpenter, John (speaker) (2001-09-04). Hidden Values: The Movies of the '50s (Television production). Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 200904-01. Jump up ^ "Christian Nyby: About This Person". New York Times. Retrieved 21 April 2012. Jump up ^ p.344 Mast, Gerald Howard Hawkes, Storyteller 1982 Oxford University Press

7. 8.

9. 10. 11. 12.

13.

14.

15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

Jump up ^ Matthews, Melvin E. Jr. (1997). 1950s Science Fiction Films and 9/11: Hostile Aliens, Hollywood, and Today's News. Algora Publishing. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-87586-499-0. Jump up ^ Weaver, Tom (2003). Eye on Science Fiction: 20 Interviews With Classic Sf and Horror Filmmakers. McFarland & Company. p. 272. ISBN 0-7864-1657-2. Jump up ^ Warren, Bill. Keep Watching The Skies Vol I: 19501957, pgs. 4855, McFarland, 1982. ISBN 0-89950-032-3. Jump up ^ Gebert, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Movie Awards (listing of 'Box Office (Domestic Rentals)' for 1951, taken from Variety magazine), St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1996, pg. 156. ISBN 0-668-05308-9. "Rentals" refers to the distributor/studio's share of the box office gross, which, according to Gebert, is roughly half of the money generated by ticket sales. Jump up ^ Crowther, Bosley (May 3, 1951). "THE SCREEN: TWO FILMS HAVE LOCAL PREMIERES; The Thing, an Eerie Scientific Number by Howard Hawks, Opens at the Criterion Communist for F.B.I. New Picture at Strand Theatre, Features Frank Lovejoy At the Criterion". New York Times, May 3, 1951. Retrieved 2011-06-03. Jump up ^ "Gene". The review from Variety dated April 4, 1951, taken from Variety's Complete Science Fiction Reviews, edited by Don Willis, Garland Publishing, Inc., 1985, pg. 86. ISBN 0-8240-6263-9 Jump up ^ del Ray, Lester. "The Three Careers of John W. Campbell", introduction to The Best of John W. Campbell (1973), page 4. ISBN 0-283-97856-2 Jump up ^ "The Greatest Films of 1951". AMC Filmsite.org. Retrieved May 23, 2010. Jump up ^ "The Best Movies of 1951 by Rank". Films101.com. Retrieved May 23, 2010. Jump up ^ "Most Popular Feature Films Released in 1951". IMDb.com. Retrieved May 23, 2010. Jump up ^ "The Thing from Another World Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 23, 2010. Jump up ^ "Librarian of Congress Names 25 More Films to National Film Registry". press release. Library of Congress. Retrieved 20 April 2012. Jump up ^ "National Film Registry". National Film Registry (National Film Preservation Board, Library of Congress). Retrieved 2011-11-26. Jump up ^ "1950s Sci-Fi Movies: Full List". Time. December 12, 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2010. Jump up ^ "1950s Sci-Fi Movies". Time. December 12, 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2010. Jump up ^ "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills". American Film Institute. Retrieved March 7, 2012. Jump up ^ "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains: The 400 Nominated Characters". American Film Institute. Retrieved March 7, 2012. Jump up ^ "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes: The 400 Nominated Movie Quotes". American Film Institute. Retrieved March 7, 2012. Jump up ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition): Official Ballot". American Film Institute. Retrieved March 7, 2012. Jump up ^ "AFI's 10 Top 10: The Official Ballot". American Film Institute. Retrieved March 7, 2012. Jump up ^ Maek III, J.C. (2012-11-21). "Building the Perfect Star Beast: The Antecedents of 'Alien'". PopMatters. Jump up ^ Collura, Scott. "Exclusive: Moore Talks The Thing".

External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Thing from Another World

The Thing from Another World at allmovie The Thing from Another World at the Internet Movie Database The Thing from Another World at Rotten Tomatoes The Thing from Another World at the TCM Movie Database

The Thing

The Thing from Another World (1951) The Thing (1982) The Thing (2011)

Films

Novella

Who Goes There?

The Thing from Another World The Thing from Another World: Climate of Fear The Thing from Another World: Eternal Vows The Thing from Another World: Questionable Research The Thing: The Northman Nightmare

Comics

Video game

The Thing

John W. Campbell Christian Nyby Howard Hawks John Carpenter Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.

People

Book

Filmography of Howard Hawks

The Road to Glory Fig Leaves Cradle Snatchers Paid to Love A Girl in Every Port Fazil The Air Circus

1920s

Trent's Last Case

The Dawn Patrol The Criminal Code Scarface The Crowd Roars Tiger Shark Today We Live The Prizefighter and the Lady Viva Villa! Twentieth Century Barbary Coast Ceiling Zero The Road to Glory Come and Get It Bringing Up Baby Only Angels Have Wings

1930s

His Girl Friday Sergeant York Ball of Fire Air Force To Have and Have Not The Big Sleep The Outlaw (uncredited) Red River A Song Is Born I Was a Male War Bride

1940s

1950s

The Thing from Another World (uncredited) The Big Sky

Monkey Business O. Henry's Full House Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Land of the Pharaohs Rio Bravo

Hatari! Man's Favorite Sport? Red Line 7000 El Dorado

1960s

1970s

Rio Lobo

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1951 films English-language films 1950s horror films 1950s science fiction films Monster movies American science fiction horror films United States National Film Registry films Cold War films Films set in the Arctic Films directed by Howard Hawks RKO Pictures films

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