The Thing from Another world



The Thing from Another World (often referred to as The Thing before its 1982 remake), is a 1951 science fiction film based on the 1938 novella Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr. It tells the story of an Air Force crew and scientists at a remote Arctic research outpost who fight a malevolent plant-based alien being. It stars Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite and Douglas Spencer. James Arness appeared as The Thing, difficult to recognize in costume and makeup. No players are named during the opening credits; the only cast credit is at the movie's end.

In 2001, the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Plot
A U.S. Air Force re-supply crew is officially dispatched by General Fogerty (David McMahon) from Anchorage, Alaska at the unusual request of Dr. Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite), chief of a group of scientists working at a North Pole base, Polar Expedition Six. They have evidence that an unknown flying craft of some kind crashed nearby. Ned Scott (Douglas Spencer), a reporter in search of a story, tags along. A minor romantic sub-plot involves Captain Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) and Carrington's secretary, Nikki Nicholson (Margaret Sheridan).

Doctor Carrington briefs the airmen, and Doctor Redding (George Fenneman) shows high speed photos of an object moving downward, up and on a straight line - not the movements of a meteor. Hendry wonders to the doctor, "Twenty thousand tons of steel is an awful lot of metal for an airplane." "It is for the sort of aeroplane we know, Captain," Carrington responds. From Geiger counter readings, Hendry's crew and the scientists fly to the crash site aboard the supply team's ski-equipped C-47. The craft is buried in the ice, with a vertical stabilizer protruding from the surface. They are shocked to discover that the shape of the craft is that of a flying saucer. They try to free it with thermite heat explosives, but in doing so accidentally destroy the craft. Crew Chief Sergeant Bob's (Dewey Martin) geiger counter locates a body nearby, frozen in the ice.

They excavate the tall body, preserving it in a large ice block and return to the research outpost as a major storm moves in, making communication with Anchorage very difficult. Some scientists want to thaw out the creature immediately, but Hendry orders everyone to wait until he receives orders from Air Force authorities. Feeling uneasy guarding the body, Corporal Barnes (William Self) covers the ice block with a blanket, not realizing it is an electric blanket, and the creature thaws out, revives and escapes to the outside cold.

The creature wards off an attack by twelve sled dogs, and the scientists recover an arm, bitten off by the dogs. As the arm warms up, it ingests the blood from one of the dogs and begins to come back to life. They learn that, while appearing humanoid, the creature is in fact an advanced form of plant life. Dr. Carrington is convinced that the creature can be reasoned with and has much to teach them, but Dr. Chapman (John Dierkes) and other colleagues disagree. The Air Force men are just as sure it may be dangerous.

Carrington soon realizes that the creature requires blood to reproduce. He later discovers the hidden body of a sled dog, still warm, drained of blood, in the greenhouse. He has volunteers from his own team, Dr Voorhees (Paul Frees), Dr Olsen and Dr Auerbach, stand guard overnight, waiting for the creature's return.

Later, Carrington secretly uses blood plasma from the infirmary to incubate and nourish seedlings he has taken from the arm, failing to advise his colleagues or Capt Hendry of what he has done, or of having found the bodies of Olsen and Auerbach, drained of blood. Dr Stern (Eduard Franz) is almost killed, but escapes to warn the others. Nikki reluctantly updates Hendry when he asks about missing plasma. Hendry confronts Carrington in the greenhouse, where he sees that the creature's planted seed pods have grown at an alarming rate. Dr Wilson (Everett Glass) advises Carrington that he hasn't slept, but Carrington is unconcerned. The creature returns and the USAF crew, after gunfire has no effect, trap it in the greenhouse.

The creature escapes and tries to break into another part of the camp. Following a suggestion from Nikki, Hendry and his men set it alight with kerosene, causing it to flee into the night.

Nikki notes that the temperature inside the station is dropping quickly, probably due to a cut fuel line. The cold forces the scientists and the airmen to make a final stand in the generator room. They rig a booby trap, hoping to electrocute the thing. As the creature advances on them, Carrington twice tries to save it, once by shutting off the power, and then by trying to reason with the creature directly. It throws him aside, before falling into the trap and being reduced to a smoldering husk. Its seedlings are also destroyed. Scotty files his "story of a lifetime" by radio to Anchorage, warning his listeners to "Watch the skies!"

Production notes
The movie was loosely adapted by Charles Lederer (with uncredited rewrites from Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht) from the 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Campbell,_Jr. John W. Campbell, Jr.] (originally published under the pseudonym Don A. Stuart).

There is debate whether the film was directed by Hawks, with Christian Nyby receiving the credit,[1] [2] or whether Nyby directed it with considerable input in both screenplay and advice in directing from producer Hawks.[3] for Hawks' Winchester Pictures, which released it through RKO Radio Pictures Inc.

The film took advantage of the national feelings of the time to help enhance the horror elements of the story. The film reflected a post-Hiroshima skepticism about science and negative views of scientists who meddle with things better left alone. In the end, it is American servicemen and sensible scientists who win the day over the monster.

The screenplay changes the fundamental nature of the alien as presented in Campbell's novella: Lederer's "Thing" is a humanoid monster whose cellular structure is closer to vegetation although it must feed on blood to survive. One character describes it as an "intellectual carrot". The structure of the monster made him impervious to bullets. In the original story, the "Thing" is a lifeform capable of assuming the physical and mental characteristics of anyone it chooses. This aspect was realized in the John Carpenter remake of the film in 1982 (see below).

The make-up artist supposedly went through several revisions of the creature's face. He would test each one by putting the full makeup on Arness and taking him for a drive through Los Angeles. At one point, a woman in the next car screamed and fainted upon seeing the creature. The makeup artist "knew he had a winner" and used that face in the movie.[citation needed]

One of the film's actors, William Self, later became President of 20th Century-Fox Television.[4]

The film was released on DVD in 2003. In the UK a 2-disc special edition was released, containing commentary by John Carpenter.[citation needed]

An 81-minute version of the film also exists. This shorter print, which deletes sequences of character development, was prepared for a theatrical re-release and has also been shown on television.[citation needed]

Reception
The Thing from Another World was well received by critics and is considered by many to be one the best films of 1951.[5] [6] [7] The film holds an 88% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus that the film "is better than most flying saucer movies, thanks to well-drawn characters and concise, tense plotting".[8] In 2001, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[9] Also in 2001, the American Film Institute placed the film on 100 Years... 100 Thrills, a list of America's most heart-pounding movies.[10] It was also on the ballot for several other AFI 100 Series lists, including AFI's 10 Top 10, under the science fiction category,[11] 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes for the line "Watch the skies, everywhere, keep looking! Keep watching the skies!",[12] and 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains, for the Thing in the villains category.[13] Additionally, Time magazine named The Thing from Another World the greatest 1950s sci-fi movie.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13">[14] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14">[15]

Remake
In 1982, John Carpenter made a more faithful version of the story "Who Goes There?" under the remake-suggestive title The Thing. It was already well-known that Carpenter was a fan of the original film, as he included considerable footage from it in his own Halloween.

Certain elements of Carpenter's film were heavily suggested (including the "burning letters" opening titles) by this film. Also during The Thing, the characters make reference to a Norwegian team that used thermite charges to clear the ice around the UFO, in a direct reference to the team in the original film.

Universal Pictures are currently developing another remake of the film, with reports that it will be a prequel of sorts to Carpenter's 1982 version. The film, expected between 2010 and 2011, was initially to be written by Ronald D. Moore, but he has now left the project.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15">[16] The film will star Mary Elizabeth Winstead as female protagonist Kate Lloyd, a character based on Margaret Sheridan's character Nikki Nicholson.

The last line of the film, "Watch the skies", was the working title of the film that would become Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In an interesting twist, a sequel to that film was then considered that would have been titled Watch the Skies - except this time with malevolent aliens terrorizing a farm family. That film project eventually became the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. See more at Night Skies for the full project history.
 * The famous last line was also parodied in The Simpsons episode "The Springfield Files". The pimple faced boy takes over the narration at the end of the episode, and, reading from a cue card says Keep watching the skis!, only then to correct himself. In another episode, Martin Prince uses the line to end his nomination speech for class president, in which he promises a science fiction library for the class.
 * The first two episodes of the Doctor Who story The Seeds of Doom borrows some of the elements from the plot of this film.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16">[17]