Before there was John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), there was The Thing from Another World (1951). If you know John Carpenter, it is not overly surprising that he would remake this film, for when I interviewed him back in 2017, he could not stop speaking of his love for film maker Howard Hawks (citing him as a major influence on his career, he was enamoured with his genre jumping films – be it western, drama or horror). . . and Hawks’ fingerprints are all over the 1951 version. It is also worth noting that Carpenter, just five years before making The Thing, had Hawks’ original make a screen appearance in his legendary Halloween.
Still debated as to whether it was Hawks who directed the film or the co-credited Christian Nyby, not even the cast has been able to agree. Some called Nyby the director but Hawks the boss, while other recollections remembered Hawks doing most of the work. Without ever having a true answer, it seems most likely that Nyby directed under the tutelage of Hawks, with the elder statesman taking charge from time to time (hence why the film has such a feeling of the veteran film maker’s work). There is no denying that he co-wrote and co-produced the film.
Following a military group in Arctic Alaska during the early days of the Cold War, Captain Pat Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) and his men, some of which include co-pilot Lieutenant Eddie Dykes (James Young), and flight navigator Ken MacPherson (Robert Nichols), as well as tag along journalist Ned Scott (Douglas Spencer), are ordered to fly to a scientific outpost located at the North Pole.
Struggling to reach the location due to horrible interference, radio operator Tex Richards (Nicholas Byron) is able to guide them to their location. The reason they’re there – an unusual crash site that is so unorthodox that it could not be the Soviets, and might just be something from another planet.
Under the persnickety scientific eye of Dr. Arthur Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite), who is waited on by personal secretary Nikki Nicholson (Margaret Sheridan), the team has discovered that it is some sort of round disc. . . and though they accidentally destroy the evidence of the ship, they are able to extricate a massive ice block containing some sort of giant, man-like creature that is unlike anything that has ever been seen on planet Earth.
Leading to a very divided argument amongst the military and scientific minds, the former group wish to keep the being on ice, while the latter are eagerly looking to study it. In the end, idiocy releases the beast, allowing the monstrous human-like alien to run rampant through their isolated base. Impressively, Captain Hendry is able to rekindle his romance with Nikki – a rather forward and risque storyline for the time, despite everyone being on high alert.
Both shot on a set (built in an ice storage plant in Los Angeles) and at Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana, the first thing that you can truly appreciate is just how cold this film feels. The ice is real, the snow is real, and the wind is real. It is a nice touch when so many movies would have been exclusively shot on a boiling Hollywood set at the time. On the opposite front, there is a scene where the alien is set alight by kerosene. . . one of the first full body fire stunts ever to be put on film – a perfect juxtaposition.
But, in the end, The Thing from Another World is all about its 1950s topical themes. The last line of dialogue, “Keep watching the skies”, is emblematic of this. Not only does it echo the newfound flurry of extraterrestrial excitement and apprehension after Roswell in 1947, it also speaks to the unnerving fears of McCarthyism as well as a Soviet Cold War attack. . . which also goes hand in hand with a most modern threat – the nuclear bomb. This perspective was not overly surprising, as there were very real fears of science and whether it could be pushed too far after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki six years earlier. The skies never before seemed so ominous, hence why the SAGE, or Semi-Automatic Ground Environment was put into operation later that very decade. . . a way to surveil the skies (including the Arctic) from possible oncoming attacks.
A film that oozes authenticity, The Thing from Another World is also about making everything feel real. From the base and those bickering within it, to the frigid temperatures and even colder attitude of the mysterious being, this sets the tone for a different type horror movie. . . which in turn proved inspiration for a new crop of film makers including Carpenter, Ridley Scott, Tobe Hooper, and John Frankenheimer. So, take some carotene and keep your eyes on this classic horror film, it’s a monstrous good time.