Kicking off this mini-Halloween Thing (get it?) with the original adaptation of classic book “Who Goes There?”: “The Thing From Another World”. If you’ve watched either of the other two “Thing” movies or indeed other sci-fi/horror stories set in an isolated arctic base then this is where a lot of it comes from. Well, again, the book is where it really comes from, but I’ve always struggled with early 20th century and earlier written word… sorry! Anyway, this is a classic 50s sci-fi movie, but pre-technicolour, which makes it feel older than the other small handful of 50s movies I’ve seen. Anyway, let’s take a look!
The film begins in Alaska, where a top pilot in Captain Pat Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) is relaxing with his crew and journalist Ned Scott (Douglas Spencer) is trying to find a scoop. Hendry’s superior soon appears and orders him to head to the North Pole where a group of scientists led by Dr. Arthur Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite) have found a “crashed vehicle under the ice”. Hendry soon heads off with his men and Scott, who sees this as the perfect chance to get a “scoop”. They soon arrive and we spend some time meeting the rest of the cast, like the aforementioned Carrington, Tex the radio operator (Nicholas Byron) who spends the film telling us there’s a storm and dropping off messages from back in Alaska, and Nikki Nicholson (Margaret Sheridan) who is Carrington’s secretary and Hendry’s old love interest… who soon becomes his current love interest. After the catch up they head out to the icy wastes and walk out the shape of the craft to a proper old-fashioned flying saucer shape… and then accidentally blow it up with thermite. Oh well, that was a quick movie… Oh wait! They find an alien body frozen in a block of ice and bring it back, but as Hendry tries to stop Ned from phoning the press and Carrington from experimenting with it one of Hendry’s men accidentally covers the ice with a plugged-in electric blanket and it dethaws.
It looks like they’re looking at an iPad on a flip stand, but I can promise you that technology would be more alien to them than the alien!
The Thing escapes into the snow but loses part of its arm fighting off some dogs, and thanks to poking around with that Carrington discovers its closer to plant-life than anything else and soon wishes for a chance to communicate with it and goes all mad scientist, proclaiming it “clearly superior to humanity”. Soon they also find the body of one of the dogs see that it had been bled dry, revealing it’s not only a plant-man-alien thing, but also a vampire… of sorts. As The Thing continues to attack scientists and airmen alike Hendry locks Carrington away in his lab and the creature in the greenhouse. Hendry is told over the radio to keep The Thing alive, but it soon escapes and proves that will be far easier said than done…
That there is a well-framed shot!
It’s a good 90 minutes of 50s sci-fi fun. The effects are fine (one moment with fire was really well done, apparently it was the first of its kind in cinema history, so another significant, um, thing the film did!) and the acting was… well, 50s cheese which you know what you’re getting with. I will say there was a greater focus on the military here than later adaptations, but given the time period it was film in it’s not exactly surprising the army is held in high regard!
Overall Thoughts:
“I’m sorry, did you just try to offer some helpful advice?!” “Oh yes, sorry. Forgot what decade we were in!”
“The Thing From Another World” deserves its place as one of the better regarded 50s sci-fi films. While it still has moments of generic “run from the creature” action it also has your classic scientist putting things in perspective and asking interesting questions, even if he is portrayed as a villain compared to the brave American soldiers. Worth a watch, if you’re in the right headspace for a cheesy 50s black and white sci-fi movie!
As Carrington reveals he’s been growing alien plants with seeds taken from the Thing’s severed arm the soldiers are attacked in their barracks, leading to them pouring a bunch of petrol on it and setting it and the surrounding hut ablaze. It doesn’t kill it however, and the survivors realise that The Thing must indeed have some intelligence because it had sabotaged the base’s heating system, plunging them into freezing temperatures. They all take refuge in the generator room where some heat still exists.
No CG here, that man (in a protective suit) is really on fire!
While there they set an electric trap for The Thing, Hendry giving up his order to keep it alive just as it bursts in the room. Carrington runs to it and pleads for it to talk to him and to not walk any further to save it, but it swats him away and walks straight into the electric trap and is burned to ashes. Hendry and Nikki head off now a happy couple and Ned Scott reports to a bunch of press back in Alaska, giving the now iconic “Keep watching the skies…” speech.