The Thing from Another World

Starring:Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, James R. Young, Dewey Martin, Robert Nichols, William Self, Eduard Franz, Sally Creighton, James Arness, Nicholas Byron, Carmen Nisbet, Walter Ng, Edmund Breon, Lucille Thompson, John Dierkes, William J. O'Brien, Milton Kibbee, David McMahon
Director: Christian Nyby, Howard Hawks
Studio: Turner Home Ent
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video
With its modest special effects, lean plot, and small cast of lesser stars, this 1951 thriller remains a sturdy blueprint for fusing horror and science fiction. The formula has been employed countless times since, fleshed out with more extensive and elaborate production values, and manned by higher profiled marquee names, but the results have yet to improve on The Thing from Another World, Howard Hawks's lone foray into sci-fi.

The story begins as military airmen are dispatched to a remote Arctic research station where scientists have detected the crash of a spacecraft. An effort to retrieve the saucer-shaped vehicle fails, but the team returns to the station with the frozen body of its sole occupant. When the extraterrestrial pilot is accidentally thawed, the crew, headed by a tough-talking pilot (Kenneth Tobey), grapples with a massive, chlorophyll-based humanoid (James Arness) thirsty for blood and in no mood for galactic diplomacy.

Amazon.com essential video

With its modest special effects, lean plot, and small cast of lesser stars, this 1951 thriller remains a sturdy blueprint for fusing horror and science fiction. The formula has been employed countless times since, fleshed out with more extensive and elaborate production values, and manned by higher profiled marquee names, but the results have yet to improve on The Thing from Another World, Howard Hawks's lone foray into sci-fi.

Description

Members of an Antarctic research team are killed off by a frozen alien they uncover.

Customer Reviews:

Make it 3 and a half.......2007-04-11

I love this film- it is well paced and atmospheric and is not afraid to ask difficult questions about the morality of actions. It is, however, very much of its time and that means some wooden acting and ropey special effects - although in general both are of a much higher standard than equivalent productions. It also means some credibility- stretching actions by some of the characters and a rushed finish. It remains amongst the finest sci-fi/horror film ever made though - and whilst the re-make was better - it was not by much.

The Thing from Another World.......2007-03-30

This is the original. The remake is 'The Thing.'
Both movies are great. I suggest that you own both of them and compare.

A classic of its time and genre.......2007-03-30

It was the early 1950's. The military (which, having only a few years previous saved the nation from European fascism) was still held in high esteem and was busily saving the nation from international Communism. The novel and frightening spectre of atomic energy was evident only in the ubiquitous looming threat of "The Bomb" and a lot of people were beginning to wonder if science hadn't gotten out of hand. The possibility of high-tech invasion from afar was never far from the public consciousness.

And then, of course, there were those disturbing reports of strange and elusive aerial objects that evaded our defenses at will and left our armed forces standing flat-footed . . . Everyone was uneasy.

But Hollywood was equal to the challenge.

The motion picture industry's response was a long string of low-budget thrillers aimed chiefly, I think, at the Saturday Matinee crowd but equally appealing to anyone with an imagination. The Saturday early shows would find theatres packed with prepubescents (myself among them) shivering in their boots as a succession of monsters, mutants and extraterrestrial murderers visited mayhem on any civilized enclave larger than a few huts. It was a wonderful time to be a kid.

Some of those productions stretched the credulity even of a ten-year-old, but others were actually well put together, competently directed, and scary as hell even without flashy special effects. "The Thing From Another World" (popularly known just as "The Thing") was among the best of them.

OK - the script didn't call for great depth from the actors, but this was a very plot-driven genre. Film was black and white and so was morality; the characters didn't need to agonize endlessly over their own motivations. In fact they didn't have time to - they'd have been eaten alive by the bad guy if they did. The simplicity of it all is gratifying.

The story in a nutshell: A team of crack Air Force personnel is called to the Arctic to answer a distress call from a group of scientists on a long term project there. The nature of the distress becomes all too evident as the plot unfolds . . . and that's all I'm going to say.

A newer version of this movie was released much later, sometime in the 1980's, I think (or maybe the early 90's?) At any rate, a comparison between the two of them is not appropriate; they are two different genres. In fact, they are two different movies.

If you are one of those poor drudges unimaginative enough to require a visual elucidation of every droop of blood, every spot of gore, then you may not find this movie satisfying. If you are so narrow minded as to be put off by the mores and social customs of a bygone era, sorry, you will probably be too offended to enjoy the show.

But if what you're really interested in is a rollicking good story, then I can hardly offer better advice than that provided by the excited newspaperman reporting the events from that far flung outpost in the snowy north . . .

"Watch the skies! Keep watching the skies!"

And watch this movie, too.

LOVE IT.......2007-02-13

Anyone who likes the old sci-fi and horror films has got to see this one. It was great, suspensful, and wildly entertaining. I mean, how can you beat some bumbling scientists who accidentally unleash an extraterrestrial monster on themselves while they're snowed in in the middle of nowhere? And, of course, you've got the attractive female and male scientist who fall in love. That's a must for these old flix. And the crazy scientist who wants to protect the monster for the sake of research. This one has it all.

Mashall Dillon on a ramage.......2007-02-05

This is is first movie and it is a wonderful cross-over movie during the Science Fiction genre to Horror. It is very well done, considering it is totally inaccurate.

John Carpenter's The Thing was taken from this movie. When you watch it objectivly you can see he kept the same feeling, but updated it. Plus he jump started Kurt Russell's career.

Two thumbs up for you John!

Sci-Fi 3-Pack (The Thing from Another World / Them / Forbidden Planet)

Average customer rating:

Great pack of classic Scf-fi.
Sci Fi 3-Pack(The Thing from Another Planet/Them/Forbidden Planet
Carrots, bugs, and tin cans

Sci-Fi 3-Pack (The Thing from Another World / Them / Forbidden Planet)
Starring: Margaret Sheridan , Kenneth Tobey , Robert Cornthwaite , Douglas Spencer , and James R. Young
Director: Christian Nyby , Howard Hawks , and Gordon Douglas
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

Classic Sci-Fi | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

Sci-Fi & Fantasy | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

When Worlds Collide
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Invaders from Mars / The Crawling Eye
The Fantastic Films of Ray Harryhausen - Legendary Science Fiction Series (It Came from Beneath the Sea / Earth vs. the Flying Saucers / 20 Million Miles to Earth / Mysterious Island / H.G. Wells' First Men in the Moon)
It Came From Outer Space

ASIN: B000765I4U
Release Date: 2005-03-01

Customer Reviews:

Great pack of classic Scf-fi........2007-03-09

I've wanted these on DVD for sometime. Each story has great effects for the time - with Forbidden Planet being the best - even better then a lot of model based effects from movies made years later.

Sci Fi 3-Pack(The Thing from Another Planet/Them/Forbidden Planet.......2007-02-07

Classic Sci Fi. All three stories are original, and fun. The special effects are GREAT!!!!! See Robie the Robot for the first time, and possibly the first mini-skirt.

Carrots, bugs, and tin cans.......2006-02-18

The Thing From Another World
James Arness veggies out

It is easy to just say this is a classic. What makes it the classic is the formula and people. (Directed by Howard Hawks). There is the standard 50'sw sci-fi prolog. You are set up as they go to investigate a crash in the snow. The investigators hold hands in the snow to figure out the size of the downed plane under the ice and find it has a peculiar shape. From there you know it can only get better.

Do not expect the book story. But do expect blood and fire and sinister doings. There are naïve scientists, dubious airmen, and a generator running out of fuel.

By the way while your are at it just whose side is Dr. Arthur Carrington on?

And does Nikki just scream a lot or does she usually bring up the true nature of the threat?

Any way you slice it or dice it this movie holds it's own up against the bug pictures like "THEM!"
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THEM!
A movie worth ant-icipation

This is a movie about taller-ants. Fess Parker almost gets cough with his pants down. This is not a fly-by-night movie. It is an ant-by-night movie. William Schallert "Colossus - The Forbid Project" gets to be the Ambulance Attendant. Leonard Nimoy is the Telex operator. If this keeps up, he may find himself on a starship, where he can deal with ant-imatter. James Arness only wants to help Joan Weldon out of a plane and into the ant-echamber.

I watched this several times with my wife. The ants make a noise similar to a loose fan belt. So every time we pass a car with a loose fan belt she says, "Get the other antenna." This movie also makes a good background movie.

Don't wait for this to go on clear-ants.
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Forbidden Planet
Id vs. ego

In the 23 century a rescue ship is sent to the planet Altar to look for survivors of an earlier expatiation. They find nothing except an ominous voice warning them not to land. What would you do?

Notice that the investigating party is the captain, first officer, and medical doctor. Can your say Star Trek?

This movie has many plusses as both sociological (people like to compare this to Shakespeare's "The Tempest"). Visual from the color of the sky to the accoutrements of Altiara (Anne Francis). The speculation on what would you do in this situation. And the introduction of Robby the robot who went on to be a star in other movies and a guest on many TV programs.

The movie was great I watch it over and again. However it made a major deviation from the book or the book by W.J. Stuart, also written in 1956, deviated from the movie.

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