The Thing from Another World, sometimes referred to as just The Thing, is a 1951 American black-and-white science fiction horror film directed by Christian Nyby, produced by Edward Lasker for Howard Hawks' Winchester Pictures Corporation, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film stars Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, and Douglas Spencer. James Arness plays The Thing. The Thing from Another World is based on the 1938 novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. (writing under the pseudonym of Don A. Stuart).
The film's storyline concerns a United States Air Force crew and scientists who find a crashed flying saucer frozen in the Arctic ice and a humanoid body nearby. Returning to their remote arctic research outpost with the body still in a block of ice, they are forced to defend themselves against the still alive and malevolent plant-based alien when it is accidentally thawed out.
In 2001, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."
Plot
thumb|[[James Arness as The Thing]]
In Anchorage, journalist Ned Scott, looking for a story, visits the officer's club of the Alaskan Air Command, where he meets Captain Pat Hendry, his co-pilot and flight navigator. General Fogarty orders Hendry to fly to Polar Expedition Six at the North Pole, per a request from its lead scientist, Nobel laureate Dr. Arthur Carrington; Carrington has radioed that an unusual aircraft has crashed nearby. With Scott, Corporal Barnes, crew chief Bob, and a pack of sled dogs, Hendry pilots a Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft to the remote outpost.
Upon arrival, Scott and the airmen meet radio operator Tex, scientists Dr. Chapman and his wife, and colleagues Vorhees, Stern, Redding, Stone, Laurence, Wilson, Ambrose, and Carrington. Hendry later rekindles his romance with Nikki Nicholson, Carrington's secretary. Several scientists fly with the airmen to the crash site, finding a large object buried beneath the ice. As they spread out to determine the object's shape, they realize that they are standing in a circle, outlining a flying saucer. The team attempts to free it from the ice with thermite, but a violent reaction with the craft's metal alloy completely destroys it. Their Geiger counter, however, detects something buried nearby: a frozen body. It is excavated intact in a large block of ice and flown back to the base as an Arctic storm closes in on them.
Given the discovery, Hendry assumes command of the outpost and, pending radio instructions from General Fogarty, denies Scott permission to send out his story and refuses the scientists' demands to examine the body. Tex sends an update to Fogarty, and the airmen settle for the storm. A watch is posted; relieving the first shift, Barnes is disturbed by the creature's glare through the clearing ice and covers it with an electric blanket he does not realize is plugged in. The block slowly thaws and the creature, still alive, escapes into the storm. It fights with the sled dogs and kills two, but loses most of its right forearm.
An airman recovers the stump after the attack and the scientists examine its tissue, concluding that the creature is an advanced form of plant life. Carrington is convinced of its superiority to humans and becomes intent on communicating with it. The airmen begin a search, which leads to the outpost's greenhouse. Carrington stays behind with other scientists, having noticed evidence of alien activity there. They discover a hidden third sled dog, which had been bled dry, revealing the creature as a vampire that feeds on blood. Carrington and the scientists post a secret watch of their own, hoping to encounter it before the airmen do.
The next morning, the airmen continue their search. Tex informs them that Fogarty is aware of their discovery and demands further information, now prevented by the fierce storm. Stern appears, badly injured, and tells the group that the creature has killed and bled two scientists. When the airmen investigate, they are attacked, but manage to barricade the creature inside the greenhouse. Hendry confronts Carrington and orders him to remain in his lab and quarters.
Carrington, obsessed with the creature, shows Nicholson and the other scientists that he has been growing small alien plants from seeds taken from the severed arm and feeding them with the base’s blood plasma supply. Hendry discovers the theft when plasma is needed to treat Stern, which leads him to Carrington. Fogarty transmits orders to keep the creature alive, but it escapes from the greenhouse and attacks the airmen in their quarters. They douse it with buckets of kerosene and set it aflame, forcing it to retreat into the storm. After regrouping, they realize the creature has sabotaged the base furnaces’ oil supply, plummeting temperatures indoors. They retreat to the station's generator room to keep warm, and rig a high-voltage electrical "fly trap". The creature continues to stalk them. At the last moment Carrington pleads with it, but is knocked violently aside. The creature walks into the trap and is electrocuted. On Hendry's order, it is reduced to a pile of ash.
When the weather clears, Hendry and Nicholson are careening toward marriage, and Scotty is finally able to radio his "story of a lifetime" to a roomful of reporters in Anchorage. He ends his broadcast with the warning: "Tell the world. Tell this to everybody, wherever they are. Watch the skies everywhere. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies...".
Cast
Production
In 1950, Lederer and Hecht convinced Hawks to buy the rights to Who Goes There?, who did so for $1,250.
In an unusual practice for the era, 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.
Screenplay
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. The story was first published in Astounding Science Fiction under Campbell's pseudonym, Don A. Stuart. (Campbell had just become Astoundings managing editor when his novella appeared in its pages.) or whether Nyby directed it with considerable input from producer Hawks for Hawks' Winchester Pictures, which released the film through RKO Radio Pictures Inc. Hawks gave Nyby only $5,460 of RKO's $50,000 director's fee and kept the rest, but Hawks always denied that he directed the film.
Cast members disagree on Hawks' and Nyby's contributions: Tobey said that "Hawks directed it, all except one scene" 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."
One of the film's stars, William Self, later became President of 20th Century Fox Television. In describing the production, Self said, "Chris was the director in our eyes, but Howard was the boss in our eyes." Although Self has said that "Hawks was directing the picture from the sidelines", 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."
At a reunion of The Thing cast and crew members in 1982, Nyby said: