The Thing from Another World

The Thing from Another World
File:Thethingfromanotherworld.jpg
Directed by	Howard Hawks (uncredited) Christian Nyby
Written by	Novella: John W. Campbell, Jr. Screenplay: Charles Lederer Uncredited: Howard Hawks Ben Hecht
Starring	Margaret Sheridan Kenneth Tobey Douglas Spencer Robert O. Cornthwaite James R. Young Dewey Martin Robert Nichols William Self Eduard Franz Sally Creighton James Arness John Dierkes George Fenneman Paul Frees Everett Glass David McMahon
Cinematography	Russell Harlan, ASC
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date	April 29, 1951
Running time	87 min. Edited version: 81 min.
Language	English

The Thing from Another World (often referred to as The Thing before its 1982 remake), is a Template:Fy science fiction film that tells the story of an Air Force crew and scientists at a remote Arctic research outpost who fight a malevolent plant-based alien being. It stars Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite and Douglas Spencer. James Arness appeared as The Thing, difficult to recognize in costume and makeup. No players are named during the opening credits; the only cast credit is at the movie's end.

Plot summary

A U.S. Air Force re-supply crew is officially dispatched by Gen Fogerty (David McMahon) from Anchorage, Alaska at the unusual request of Dr. Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite), chief of a group of scientists working at a North Pole base, Polar Expedition Six. They have evidence that a flying unknown of some kind crashed nearby. The crew takes along Scotty (Douglas Spencer), a reporter/former war correspondent, in search of a story. A minor romantic sub-plot involves Captain Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) and Carrington's secretary, Nikki Nicholson (Margaret Sheridan).

Dr Carrington briefs the airmen, and Dr Redding (George Fenneman) shows high speed photos of an object moving downward, up & on a straight line - not the movements of a meteor. Hendry wonders to the doctor, "Twenty thousand tons of steel is an awful lot of metal for an airplane." "It is for the sort of aeroplane we KNOW, Captain," Carrington responds. From Geiger counter readings, Hendry's crew and the scientists fly to the crash site aboard the supply team's ski-equipped C-47. They find that the craft is buried in the ice, with an airfoil of some sort protruding from the surface. They are shocked to discover that the shape of the craft is round — a flying saucer. They agree to free it from the ice with thermite heat explosives, but in doing so accidentally destroy the craft. Crew Chief Bob's (Dewey Martin) geiger counter locates a body nearby, frozen in the ice.

They excavate the tall body, preserving it in a large ice block and return to the research outpost as a major storm moves in, making communication with Anchorage very difficult. Some scientists want to thaw out the creature immediately, but Hendry orders everyone to wait until he receives orders from Air Force authorities. Feeling uneasy guarding the body, Cpl Barnes (William Self) covers the ice block with a blanket, not realizing it is an electric blanket, and the creature thaws out, revives and escapes to the outside cold.

The creature wards off an attack by twelve sled dogs, and the scientists recover an arm, bitten off by the dogs. They examine the arm, and as it warms and ingests the blood from one of the dogs, it begins to come back to life. They learn that, while appearing humanoid, the creature is in fact an advanced form of plant life. Dr. Carrington is convinced that the creature can be reasoned with, but Dr. Chapman (John Dierkes) and other colleagues disagree. The Air Force men are just as sure it cannot be reasoned with and may be dangerous. But Carrington soon realizes that the creature requires blood to reproduce.

Carrington later discovers the hidden body of a sled dog, still warm, drained of blood, in the greenhouse. He has volunteers from his own team, Dr Voorhees (Paul Frees), Dr Olsen and Dr Auerbach, to stand guard overnight, waiting for the creature's return.

Later, Carrington secretly uses blood plasma from the infirmary to incubate and nourish seedlings he has taken from the arm, failing to advise his colleagues or Capt Hendry of what he has done, or of the now-dead bodies of Olsen and Auerbach, drained of blood. Dr Stern (Eduard Franz) is almost killed, but escapes to warn the others. Nikki reluctantly updates Hendry when he asks about missing plasma. Hendry confronts Carrington in the greenhouse, where he sees that the creature's planted seed pods have grown at an alarming rate — fed by blood. Dr Wilson (Everett Glass) advises Carrington that he hasn't slept, but Carrington is unconcerned. The creature returns and the USAF crew, after failing to affect it with firearms, trap it in the greenhouse. The scientists realize that the wounded creature will need more blood, and that it will not be confined for long.

Nikki notes that the temperature inside the station is dropping quickly, and Hendry relates that it's probably due to a cut fuel line. The creature escapes from the greenhouse & the Crew Chief's geiger counter reveals it is trying to break into the populated area of the camp. But Captain Hendry and his men, following a suggestion from Nikki about how to deal with vegetables. As the creature breaks in, they set it alight with kerosene and it flees into the night.

The cold forces the scientists and the airmen to make a final stand in the generator room. The Crew Chief suggests that electricity is hotter than flaming kerosene, and they immediately create a walkway trap for the creature using high voltage electric current on overhead leads as a weapon. The group carries anything they can use to defend themselves. Lt McPherson (Robert Nichols) wonders aloud if the creature can read their minds. Lt Dykes (James R. Young), carrying a pick-axe comments, "He'll be real mad when he gets to me." As the creature advances on them, Carrington twice tries to stop the creature's demise; once by shutting off the power, and then by trying to reason with the creature directly. He fails and the creature throws him aside to suffer a minor injury. The creature is burned by electrocution, shrinking to a smoldering husk as it is killed. Its seedlings are also destroyed. As the film closes, the crew kids Hendry & Nikki about their relationship, as Scotty, by radio to Anchorage, files his "story of a lifetime", imploring his listeners to "Watch the skies!" .

Production notes

The movie 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. (originally published under the pseudonym Don A. Stuart).

There is debate whether the film was directed by Hawks, with Christian Nyby receiving the credit, or whether Nyby directed it with considerable input in both screenplay and advice in directing from producer Hawks. for Hawks' Winchester Pictures, which released it through RKO Radio Pictures Inc.

The film took advantage of the national feelings of the time to help enhance the horror elements of the story. The film's release in 1951 coincided with the Korean War and the upswing in anti-communist feelings brought on by McCarthyism and by the territorial ambitions of Stalinist Russia. The idea of Americans being stalked by a force which was single-minded and "devoid of morality" fit in well with the parallel feelings of the day on communism. Equally 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 sensible scientists who win the day over the monster.

The screenplay changes the fundamental nature of the alien as presented in Campbell's short story: Lederer's "Thing" is a humanoid monster whose cellular structure is closer to vegetation although it must feed on blood to survive. One character describes it as an "intellectual carrot". The structure of the monster made him impervious to bullets. In the original story, the "Thing" is a lifeform capable of assuming the physical and mental characteristics of anyone it chooses. This aspect was realized in the John Carpenter remake of the film in 1982 (see below).

The make-up artist supposedly went through several revisions of the creature's face. He would test each one by putting the full makeup on Arness and taking him for a drive through Los Angeles. At one point, a woman in the next car screamed and fainted upon seeing the creature. The makeup artist "knew he had a winner" and used that face in the movie.

One of the film's actors, William Self, later became President of 20th Century-Fox Television.

In 2001, the United States Library of Congress deemed this film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

The film was released on DVD in 2003. In the UK a 2-disc special edition was released, containing commentary by John Carpenter.

An 81-minute version of the film also exists. This shorter print, which deletes some sequences of character development, was prepared for a theatrical re-release and has also been shown on television.

Remake

In 1982, John Carpenter made a more faithful version of the story "Who Goes There?" under the remake-suggestive title The Thing. It was already well-known that Carpenter was a fan of the original film, as he included considerable footage from it in his own Halloween.

Certain elements of Carpenter's film were heavily suggested (including the "burning letters" opening titles) by this film. Also during The Thing, the characters make reference to a Norwegian team that used thermite charges to clear the ice around the UFO, in a direct reference to the team in the original film.

The Sci-Fi Channel are currently developing another remake of the film, with reports that it will be a prequel of sorts to Carpenter's 1982 version. The film, expected between 2010 and 2011, was initially to be written by Ronald D. Moore, but he has now left the project.

Dec. 18, 2009. Newspaper 'Northwest Gore Exposer' states 'The Thing From Another World' remake may be in the works and being looked at my Universal. The synopsis and actual screenplay are on the site thethingfromanotherworld.webs.com The story is an original remake/sequal to 'both' 50's/80's versions of 'The Thing'. James Arness makes a cameo along with starring actors 'Childs' Keith David, and 'MacReady' Kurt Russell. There are 4 major twists in one scene at the end. The story is written by an unknown Andy Ray Patton from Hammond, Indiana

Other media

• The last line of the film, "Watch the skies," was the working title of the film that would become Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In an interesting twist, a sequel to that film was then considered that would have been titled Watch the Skies - except this time with malevolent aliens terrorizing a farm family. That film project eventually became the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. See more at Night Skies for the full project history.

• The famous last line was also parodied in The Simpsons episode "The Springfield Files". The pimple faced boy takes over the narration at the end of the episode, and, reading from a cue card says Keep watching the skis!, only then to correct himself. In another episode, Martin Prince uses the line to end his nomination speech for class president, in which he promises a science fiction library for the class.

• The first two episodes of the Doctor Who story The Seeds of Doom borrows some of the elements from the plot of this film.

External links

• The Thing from Another World at IMDb
• The Thing from Another World at AllMovie