The thing from another world (1951)

The Thing “Where did it came from ? How did it get here ? What is it ?”

The Thing is not just a horror film is one of the most successful crossovers between horror and science fiction genres. The plot structure of the film is based on the book “who goes there” by John W. Campell. The Thing is a very successful film according to box office statistics it was the 46th biggest earner in 1951 beating all other science fiction films among them the film of Robert Wise “The Day the earth stood still” and the film of Rudolph Mate “When Words Collide”. “The thing from another world” received a large number of very good critiques and it holds on 89% “fresh” rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. In 2001 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film “The thing from another world” as “culturally significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

The main persons behind the film “The Thing”

The film was directed by Christian Nyby and Howard Hawks and as it was mentioned earlier the plot structure of the film is based on John W. Campell’s book “Who goes there?” and it was adapted for screen by Charles Laderer, Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht. The score of the film was composed by Dimitri Tiomkin and Director of Photography was Russell Haulain, the film was distributed by RKO Radio Pictures.

The plot structure of the film “The thing from another world”

The story is about an unexpected visitor from space “The Thing", the place of its landing is the North Pole. The first human beings who will interact with him will be a United States Air Force re - supply crew and a scientific mission in North Pole.

By using a Geiger counter the scientific team will find a spaceship under the frozen ice. The scientists and the air crew unheat the ice with thermite heat bombs, but they ignite by accident the ship’s metal alloy causing the explosion and destruction of the space ship. But the Geiser counter shows another spot where is the frozen body of an allien.

The scientific team will excavate a block of ice around the tall body of the alien and transfer it at the scientific base. After their arrival at the base a blizzard will ct of their communication with the US Air Force headquarters in Anchorage, Alaska.  Scientists want to thaw out the body but the head officer of the Air crew issues orders for everyone to wait until he receives new orders from US Air Force base. The ice block was covered by an electric blanket and as the ice melts the alien creature revives and finally escapes into the darkness of the night into the blizzard into a sub - zero environment.

to be continued

American Film Institute and “The Thing”

“The thing from another world is included in the following lists of American Film Institute

AFI's 100 years …. 100 Thrills - placed at 87th position

AFI’s 100 years …. 100 Heroes and Villains (The Thing was nominated)

AFI’s 100 years …. 100 Movie Quotes “Watch the skies, everywhere, keep looking! Keep watching the skies!” - It was nominated

AFI's 100 years … 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) it was nominated

AFI’s 10 Top 10 - Nominated Sci - Fiction film.

The cast of “The Thing”

The part of Nikki Nicholson (main woman role) is played by Margaret Sheridan, the role of Captain Patrick Henry (main male character) is played by Kenneth Tobey. The part of head scientist (Dr. Arthur Carringhton) is played by Robert Cornthwaite.

Also, Douglas Spencer played the part of Ned “Scotty” Scott, Dewey Martin played the part of Crew Chief Bob and finally in the thing participate Willam Self, Edward Franz, Sally Creighton, James Arness, Paul Frees, John Decker, George Fenneman and David McManon.

You can on the following video the trailer of the film on Youtube - (click here)

Also you can see the legendary scene with fire on the film "The Thing" (click here)

Elias Stoikos

Relative Articles

50's Horror Films

Star debuts in Horror Films

Sir Alfred Hitchcock

Resources

The Thing - Internet Movies Data Base

The Thing from Another World - Wikipedia

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