"The Thing From Another World" is a science-fiction movie based on the short story, "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr., and was remade in 1982 as "The Thing."
The movie opens at an Air Force base in Alaska. A group has been dispatched to a scientific research outpost in the Arctic...to investigate a strange electromagnetic phenomenon. Arriving at the site, they discover what appears to be a flying saucer buried underneath the ice. They attempt to remove it from the ice with thermite bombs...only to blow up the craft. As they are preparing to leave...they find something else - the occupant of the vessel, also frozen in the ice. They dig the being out and carry it back to the base. While they argue over what to do with it, it thaws out of the ice and comes back to life. Soon, soldier and scientist alike are in a battle for their lives against an alien being with one wish - to turn humankind into its food source.
For a science fiction movie created in the early 1950's, this is a well-made and well-acted film. The Thing is rarely shown well...usually in shadow or in brief glimpses. It serves to lend the creature more dramatic effect...since you never know when you will see it next. The movie was considered quite terrifying for its time. I remember my father telling me that after he saw it...he made my grandmother go upstairs first at night...just in case The Thing was waiting.
While it is not as graphic or as cerebral as the remake (which followed the short story closer), it is still an effective and entertaining film.
If you are in search of a good science-fiction picture, "The Thing From Another World" brings it home.
Starring - James Arness, Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, and Douglas Spencer. Directed by Christian Nyby.
Time - 1 hour, 27 minutes. Rated - Unrated (No rating system in the 1950's)
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