Classic, wonderful sci-fi / horror feature, a none too faithful adaptation of the John W. Campbell, Jr. short story "Who Goes There?". In this instance, the idea of the alien entity being a monstrosity that can imitate other life forms is jettisoned, in favour of making the creature basically like the Frankenstein monster. It's a super vegetable that requires blood for sustenance, and it makes life very tense for the scientists and military personnel at an isolated Arctic outpost when it's thawed from an icy imprisonment.

With an intrepid hero in the form of 1950s icon Kenneth Tobey on hand, it's a guarantee that "The Thing from Another World" is going to be a good time. It was a fairly odd choice of material for the producer Howard Hawks, who fills the story with overlapping dialogue and a sense of camaraderie among the various protagonists. Unlike the 1982 version, where the characters had the means to destroy the creature but first had to *identify* who the creature was, our cast here have to improvise their survival.

While any genre fan such as this viewer, who'd been brought up on the 1982 John Carpenter film, may be more inclined to favour that brand of horror, this is still very stylish fun. Hawks's editor Christian Nyby gets the directing credit, but it's generally believed that Hawks was pretty much in control of things. The score by Dimitri Tiomkin, utilizing the theremin, is suitably eerie. There are solid shocks, moments of suspense, and atmosphere along the way, as well as a lively finish.

This is a film very much of its time, with our military characters very much a dependable bunch of heroes, and the scientists (most of them) treated as highly suspect, especially the misguided Dr. Carrington, played delightfully by Robert Cornthwaite.

A little too much time is devoted to the romantic subplot with Captain Hendry and his love interest (Margaret Sheridan),but the actors couldn't be more engaging. Tobey, Sheridan, and Cornthwaite are extremely well supported by a strong ensemble: Douglas Spencer as annoying newspaperman Scotty (who has the honour of uttering the memorable closing monologue),James Young, Dewey Martin, Robert Nichols, William Self, Eduard Franz, Nicholas Byron, John Dierkes, George Fenneman, Paul Frees, David McMahon, and Norbert Schiller. A young James Arness, in his pre-'Gunsmoke' days, has great presence as The Thing.

There are images here so striking that Carpenter was wise to pay homage to them in his film: the line of men encircling the buried UFO, and the sight of the burning creature crashing through the building into the snow.

It's definitely a different beast, in more ways than one, than what we would see 31 years later, but it's solid entertainment for its own very good reasons.

Eight out of 10.

• On the surface, The Thing from Another World (The Thing for short) would appear to be just another of the hundreds of sci-fi/horror films that flooded the market in the 50s. The basic story of the discovery of a UFO near the North Pole with an inhabitant frozen in a block of ice sounds typical for the period. But this film is anything but typical.

• There are so many positive things to say about The Thing that narrowing them down to fit into a manageable size review is difficult. Very briefly, some of the things that impress me about The Thing include: the opening title sequence, the wonderful music score, the sets, the amazing kerosene fire scene, the terrific jump scare the first time we see the creature, and the desolate North Pole setting. Everything about the movie is near perfect as far as I'm concerned.

• One of the most impressive things to me, however, is the decision to use the creature sparingly throughout the movie. Because we only catch glimpses of the alien, he remains a mystery and, as a result, more frightening. I don't know if this is the case or not as I've never heard John Carpenter speak on the subject, but as I watched the movie last night, I couldn't help be think of Carpenter's decision to use The Thing in his movie, Halloween. Surely it wasn't a coincidence (or a cheap plug for his upcoming remake). Instead, I've always felt that the way Carpenter used The Shape in Halloween is much like way the creature is used in this movie. I don't know if anyone agrees, but I definitely see similarities.

• I can narrow down what makes this film so special to me into two words - Howard Hawks. If you're so inclined, there are any number of articles you can read on the internet about who really directed the movie - Hawks or Nyby. I don't know and I don't care, but it's easy to see Hawks' fingerprints all over The Thing. The most obvious example is the whole dialogue thing. In most of Hawks' movies I've seen, the dialogue is incredibly intelligent, snappy, and witty. It's part of what makes his movies so much fun. Hawks also had a way of getting actors to sound less like they were reciting lines and more like they were having actual conversations. Actors routinely step all over each others' lines and interrupt one another just like real people do. If you've ever seen His Girl Friday, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I love it.

• I could literally go on and on discussing The Thing from Another World. I haven't even touched on the comparisons with The Day the Earth Stood Still (released the same year) or the treatment of the scientists vs. the treatment of the Army or the portrayal of women or the whole Soviet invasion subtext or the "Watch the skies" speech or ... you get the idea. It's truly a remarkable movie.

I've seen this film several times and decided to watch it again, as it's been maybe 20 years since I last saw this 1950s classic. I am glad I did, as the film wasn't quite as I'd remembered.

This Howard Hawks production is a horror movie in the 1950s mold. Some 50s films are about genetic freaks caused by radiation and some are about aliens--this one is about the latter. I space ship crashes in the Arctic--not too far from a military and research base. The investigating team is shocked, as they thought it was simply a meteorite--instead it's clearly a UFO. When they try to extricate it from the ice, the ship explodes--but its passenger is entombed in ice and is brought back to the station. A gung-ho and rather crazed scientist works on melting the ice--and soon the thing comes to life....and it's NOT very nice. In fact, it has a taste for blood and seem impervious to their weapons.

Underneath all the makeup is James Arness as the creature. He reportedly was embarrassed by this role but the fact is this was his big career break. So, even though all he needed to do was run about behaving menacingly, it brought his name to the public and the rest is history.

So is it worth seeing? Heck yeah,...unless you are stupid. It's taut, exciting and I loved the Doctor--he was amoral and quite the nut-job--and made a very nice new sort of character--far different and more interesting than the nice-guy Scientist played by Edmund Gwenn in "Them!". Overall, great campy fun--and not the gross-out movie like the remake.