[ April 25, 2024 ]
Tonight’s Saturday Night Cinema selection, The Thing From Another World, “set the template for a decade of alien invasions.” The Thing is considered to be one of the best science fiction films of the 1950’s, and in 2001, it was entered into the National Film Registry. This movie is particularly enjoyable because it takes the “conservative” view on dealing with our enemies. Hollywood today applauds appeasement, capitulation and America-hating. This film doesn’t, and it’s grand.
Even though Christian Nyby was given the directorial credit, it is Howard Hawks who directed the film.
A group of soldiers led by no-nonsense Captain Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) travel to the North Pole to examine an aircraft crash located near a scientific outpost. What they discover is a flying saucer and a sole extraterrestrial pilot, whom they bring back to the lab, frozen in a block of ice, for further study. It’s not long before the Thing (James Arness)—essentially a super-intelligent vegetable man with the ability to both regenerate lost limbs and reproduce through spreading seeds—thaws out and begins to wreak havoc, although Nyby (or, um, Hawks) wisely maintain tension by keeping the creature hidden from view and focusing on the clash between mad scientist Dr. Arthur Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite) and Captain Hendry.
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The film’s controlled atmosphere of dread, as well as its abundant rapid-fire repartee between the primary players, seem to have been molded according to Howard Hawks’s trademark template.
Frequent Hawks screenwriter Charles Lederer wrote a spectacularly clever script filled with slangy one-liners and good-natured gibes the cast delivers at breakneck speed.
Classic-Horror: The Thing from Another World, appropriately abridged and known more commonly as The Thing, is one of the seminal 1950s creature feature films that paved the bridge between the horror and science fiction genres. Filmed in Montana’s Glacier National Park and an ice storage plant in Los Angeles, The Thing launched the 1950s onslaught of alien invader science fiction classics including War of the Worlds and the cultish Invaders from Mars. The Thing also established the chilling, claustrophobic tone for later sci-fi horror classics such as Alien, and of course, John Carpenter’s faithful remake, The Thing.
Christian Nyby and Hollywood icon Howard Hawks co-directed the film; however, some have disputed Hawks’s contributions. Nevertheless, most agree that Hawks was the film’s primary creative force. By 1951, his reputation for directorial dexterity was solidified in Hollywood annals with classics such The Big Sleep, His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby, and Red River, and many could easily detect the auteur’s brands: sharp dialogue, brisk pacing, relaxed performances from all characters, and an astute understanding of a genre’s conventions. The Thing has all of these elements.
Nyby’s directorial credit was also an extension of Hawks’s generosity. Apparently Nyby, who previously served under the dynamic Hawks as editor, needed some directing credits to satisfy his union obligations. Hawks obliged by allowing him to direct portions of the film, but some have suggested Nyby directed only a few scenes and barely warranted such a credit.
Hawks’s stature in Hollywood hovers over The Thing like a noir shadow. He used his clout to solicit assistance and expertise from the U.S. Air Force, but officials refused to help because such assistance would sacrifice their public denial of UFOs and alien life. After all, this was the early 1950s, a period in American history replete with Communist fears, space travel, and reported UFO sightings, all of which blended for some creepy realizations among the American public. Ben Hecht and Hawks co-wrote the screenplay, and some critics argue the legendary wordsmith William Faulkner, a long-time buddy of Hawks, may also have assisted. Rumors that Orson Welles contributed to the script have generally been dismissed.
The film has historically been linked with two other genre classics. Also released in 1951, The Day the Earth Stood Still is considered the liberal version of a utopian dream, a world where peaceful ideals and social harmony are touted as supreme answers to a world growing increasingly more dangerous and chaotic. The 1951 Nyby-Hawks classic is considered this film’s counterpoint: it is the conservative version, where military officials and scientists grapple over the nation’s destiny and ultimately restore peace with force and aggression. Each film serves as a wonderful parallel to the other.
Though the nominal director is Christian Nyby (who was still toiling away at TV movies in the mid-80s), this 1951 science fiction classic is steeped in the personality of its producer, Howard Hawks. The special effects are largely limited to the rubber suit worn by James Arness in the title role, but the film has more frissons than most of today’s mega-budget productions, simply because it has the grace to construct a meaningful situation and coherent characters. With Robert Cornthwaite, Kenneth Tobey, and Margaret Sheridan. By Dave Kehr
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26 Comments
6 years ago
Was this whole film shot at night?
6 years ago
I was 12 years old when I snuck into the cinema to watch this X rated film. Loved it! The kids at school were envious.
6 years ago
Audio plays fine ……… so where’s the picture ?
5 years ago
Reply to
AR154U☑ᵀʳᵘᵐᵖ DEPLORABLE 2020
Islam has similar characteristics, but islam is smarter and toughter and will dominate the west
6 years ago
Reply to
Trump can't ban islam
Trump can’t ban Islam…It’s taken you about 1500yrs so far and still you haven’t achieved it…..how much longer do you think it will take? How’s it going in Syria after 7yrs Mr. “Tougher and smarter?”
5 years ago
Reply to
gfmucci
Trump can’t ban Islam, is a failed wanna be Satan minion. I blocked that piece of old shiiit last week or so. He is a bore.
5 years ago
Good movie, I love older films, esp sci-fi, many of them have far more intelligence and intrigue than modern-day films, despite having low-tech special effects. I’d also recommend: Forbidden Planet (1956), Invasion of the Body-Snatchers (1956)-very relevant to what’s going on today with Islam and how people don’t take the threat seriously and War of the Worlds (1953). I’m also a fan of the original Twilight Zone series (with Rod Serling).
6 years ago
Snopes and Pam Gellar: https://www.snopes.com/tag/pamela-geller/
6 years ago
Is there any picture for this, I’m just getting audio..
D
6 years ago
Great Audio but no Video. Such a Great Old Movie…..
6 years ago
Great all time classic movie.
6 years ago
nice to see Saturday Night Cinema is back, I missed it
6 years ago
I have had this film in my collection for longer than I can remember and have viewed it more times than I can count.
For me, one of the most interesting things about this film was the scene in which Capt. Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) tells Scotty (the reporter) that he can’t report the story of having found a real UFO to the news agency he works for.
When Scotty attempts to get Capt. Hendry to recognize his First Amendment rights to freedom of press and to realize what such a news story would mean to the world, Capt. Hendry’s response is, “I don’t work for the world, I work for the Air Force.”!
That scene and those lines didn’t get in there accidently.
This means that as far back as 1951, Hollywood was working with corrupt forces within our government to undermine our Constitution.
It’s amazing how much one can learn by watching old films.
6 years ago
Exceptional directing of dialog, well adapted to the screen format while still managing to convey an unusual degree of realism. Very rare, very hard to do.
The chief scientist is a terrible character, though. Simple-minded, pig-headed, his reasoning nothing but a string of wild assumptions. Very disappointing and inconsistent with all the other characters, who were universally excellent, from the airplane crew, to the weatherman, the generals, the newsman, and even the other scientists.
I’m not sure everyone on the planet realizes this movie covers only the first couple of pages of the very long original pulp story by John Campbell. But this more modest story works very well.
6 years ago
Classic old Monster Movie. I wish I had the time to watch it, I haven’t seen it in a long time!
6 years ago
Clint Eastwood had his very first walk on role in this classic movie. He can be seen entering a room and I THINK he may also have had a line and then he’s gone. If you recognize him in it he is REALLY young! Look for him in it
6 years ago
What an old time classic!
People kept their clothes on, no sex and every other word wasn’t F this or F that. They actually spoke in coherent sentences with a plot that was fun. Today they produce third world crap with no redeeming moral values.
6 years ago
The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock and the The Blob were other favorites! We loved all the Hitchcock films – Psycho, Marney, the Rear Window were all very good! Another good series was the Twilight Zone with Rod Sterling.
6 years ago
One of my favorite films …
