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| THE
THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD |
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| Italian
Title: LA
COSA DA UN ALTRO MONDO |
| Production:
1951
- USA, RKO, b/w, 87 min. |
| Director:
Christian
Nyby and Howard
Hawks (uncredited) |
| Screenwriters:
Charles
Lederer, Howard Hawks (uncredited) and Ben Hecht (uncredited), from the
story "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell Jr. |
| Special
Effects: Donald
Stewart |
| Music:
Dimitri
Tiomkin |
| Cast:
Kenneth
Tobey,
Robert Cornthwaite,
Margaret Sheridan, Dewey
Martin,
Douglas Spencer, James Young, William Self, Eduard Franz, Sally Ceigthon,
John Dierkes, James
Arness,
George Fenneman (uncredited) |
|
| Scientists
at a remote research and military outpost near the North Pole discover a
flying saucer under the ice and the body of an extraterrestrial being trapped
in the ice nearby. Professor Arthur Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite), leader
of the scientific group, wants to thaw out the “thing,” to perform
a scientific examination of it, but the military led by Captain Hendry (Kenneth
Tobey) are against it, concerned more about the potential danger it would
present. While they argue about what to do, a soldier guarding the creature
inadvertently allows the defrosting of the “thing,” who comes
back to life, revealing and releasing its hostility. After it escapes into
the night, examination of a limb torn cleanly off the Thing by one of the
sled dogs shows that its tissues are like those of a vegetable (a sort of
“super carrot,” as it was referred to), and to survive, it has
to feed on blood. The manhunt by the researchers and military against the
monster soon becomes a manhunt by the monster against the group trapped
inside the outpost. Peaceful attempts to communicate with the monster are
a tragic failure, and the group eventually draws the monster into a trap
and kills it by electrocution. |
|
The direction of this film is credited to Christian Nyby, but the film
is clearly the product of Howard Hawks. We see this in the subject so
typical to the great director: a small band of men, isolated and exposed
to danger, the "anti-intellectualism" that is explicit in the
image of the scientists (for whom science does not have to be hindered
by the loss of human life), the presence (here more than elsewhere) of
the sole female, the quick edits, the essentials of dialogue, and the
gathering of those under attack, to emphasize their moments of confused
excitement. |
| The
valuable black and white photography of Russell Harlan (who collaborated
with Hawks in Red River [1948])
and The Big Sky [1952]) is perfectly
matched to the atmosphere and to the history of film, so that even today,
it is rightfully considered one of the best films of the science fiction
genre.
Kenneth
Tobey, who plays the army captain in charge of the military group, is
a veteran of science fiction films, having also starred in The
Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
(1953) and It
Came From Beneath the Sea
(1955); Douglas Spencer who played reporter Ned Scott also was a science
fiction veteran, having appeared in Them!
(1954) and This
Island Earth
(1955).
In
1982, Campbell’s tale was again brought to the screen, in the John
Carpenter film, The Thing. |
| © |
English
version by Vince Mattaliano |
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