Classic Film Review: The Thing from Another World

This post is part of the My Favorite Classic Movie Blogathon in celebration of National Classic Movie Day (May 16th). Click here to view the schedule listing all the great posts in this blogathon. 



Chocolate and peanut butter. Milk and cookies. Batman and Robin. Those are things that are always thought of as great pairings, but let's consider another one: the 1950s and sci-fi.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), Invaders from Mars (1953), and The War of the Worlds (1953)...and 1951's The Thing from Another World.

I first saw The Thing from Another World at my grandparents' house at some point in the early '80s. My grandpa was watching, so I watched with him. He revealed to me that it was one of his favorites. He never said why, but I suspected (much later) that it was because of James Arness. Sure, Arness was the Thing, but he was, like us, from Minnesota, but he was also the star of Gunsmoke--a show that was ever present on any visit to my grandparents.

Anyway...

Although The Thing from Another World was directed by Christian Nyby, the great director Howard Hawks had his fingerprints all over this film as the producer, especially noticeable in the rapid-fire dialogue, characters talking over each other, humor, and just an overall natural feeling as the characters are speaking to each other. Compare the dialogue in His Girl Friday to The Thing from Another World, and you'll instantly see the similarities. Nyby was a frequent collaborator as Hawks' editor, working with him on two of the best Humphrey Bogart films--To Have and Have Not, and The Big Sleep, which are absolute must-sees in their own right.

Nyby was then given the reigns to direct what would become a highly-regarded sci-fi film that has been receiving rave reviews for 64 years.

I'm one of those people that will say the book is always better than the film, but this is one of those cases when the film is just different enough from the short story "Who Goes There?" on which it is based, that it actually does stand very well on its own. In the story by John W. Campbell, an alien vessel is found in Antarctica, the alien pilot is recovered, and said pilot is thawed and ultimately assumes the place of each character as they are consumed by the alien.

Nyby's "Thing" is not a shapeshifting being that assumes the memories and lives of those it consumes. Instead it is a "super carrot", as referred to by Douglas Spencer's character, reporter Ned Scott. This "Thing" is described as a being of vegetable matter with humanoid form; it can regenerate missing limbs, it reproduces via seed pods, and it needs blood to survive. It's a space-veggie vampire, and the whole premise works incredibly well, with the resident botanist describing plants that communicate to others of the species and those that eat insects for sustenance. Is it too much of a stretch, then, to believe that there could be even more intelligent plant life in the universe? I suppose that's a discussion for a different type of blog.

The common thread through this film and the story is the isolation of the Arctic (not the Antarctic of the novella), and more than the creature itself, it is the isolation and desolation that really needs to be feared. Imagine a being that is poised to destroy the human race, but there are only a handful of stalwart defenders who are thousands of miles from any real help. Knowing that you have nowhere to go and no one to help are the truly frightening things about this story.

The hero of our film is Kenneth Tobey's Captain Pat Hendry. A pilot who is a bit of a ladies man, but who also has a thing for Margaret Sheridan's Nikki. Sheridan is the prototypical Hawksian woman: she's beautiful and strong and still as feminine as can be. There are no close-ups of her shrieking in fright or running into the arms of the all-protecting males. In fact, it is Nikki who reveals the key to defeating the creature.

Captain Hendry finds himself battling two foes as the film goes on. The Thing, of course, but also Dr. Arthur Carrington, played by Robert Cornthwaite. Carrington is a man of science who is  fascinated by the new discovery. He is of the mind that the interests of science should take precedence over any fears. He even says as much--"There are no enemies in science; only phenomena to study." That statement makes him as much a danger to the colony as the monster itself.

Of course, Carrington is correct in the larger sense, but when sitting at a freezing outpost in the middle of the Arctic with a being content on your destruction, even discovery needs to take a back seat to survival.

One of the lasting legacies of The Thing from Another World is the use of a device which detects the proximity of an approaching foe. In this case, a Geiger counter is used to determine where the Thing is in the compound. Compare to Aliens and the use of the hand-held motion trackers showing xenomorphs at every turn.


That is no doubt a direct descendant of Nyby's film and what is seen at about 1:18 of the trailer at the top of this piece. At first there is no visible sign of any threat, only the steady "ticking" of the locator, increasing in frequency until the alien (in both films) is upon you.

This is a film that has much to offer in the way of story, direction, acting...and, again, legacy. The cast isn't made up of a bunch of superstars, but it's a solid ensemble that makes it more attractive each time you watch it. I can't say just how many times I've seen this film since first seeing it in the early 1980s, but it can't be less than 100. Not only does it get better with each viewing, it always feels fresh and thought-provoking. When it's all said and done, you may just find yourself following the advice of Ned Scott at the end of the film: