Thing from Another World, The (DVD)

Right off the bat, this review is biased. This is a favorite movie of mine and each year for Halloween, I watch this movie and "The Creature from the Black Lagoon". I personally love the older classic monster movies and do not like most of the newer generations of horror movies. If all the movie has to offer is gore, that isn't really my taste in movies. "The Thing from Another World" does not have any gore in it. With modern ratings, it is probably a G or barely a PG rating. If you have not seen the movie before, I suggest you give it a try. It is a pleasant view of an older style of film-making and the story inspired another classic, and great, monster or horror movie: John Carpenter's "The Thing" and its more recent sequel also titled, "The Thing". In some ways, the story also feels like it inspired some episodes of the "X-Files" and other movies and television programs that have come after. The plot is straight-forward which is common for films of the era. The Thing is the bad guy. The Air Force officer and his crew are the heroes. The scientists fall on both sides of the fence based on their perspective regarding The Thing. Also typical for this era, the leading lady in the film is more of a damsel in distress than an action star but she is more capable than others and is not portrayed as being incapable of taking care of herself. Part of the scientists want to open a dialogue with The Thing because it is a vastly more intelligent species that has mastered the ability to travel between stars. Once things start to go poorly, some of the scientists exhibit common sense and a legitimate desire for self-preservation and want to eliminate The Thing. The characters do not waffle on who they are or how they behave. In that respect, they are less developed but for the era and genre, that is not uncommon. Also, considering the story takes place over the course of a couple of days, there would not be much time for the characters to experience a change in their personas. The effects for the time are typical but better than some movies. Most of the movie follows the human characters and the story is mostly told in the interior of the scientists camp in the Arctic. The Thing of the title of the movie does not have much screen time and there is not an attempt to tell any of the story from its perspective. A little trivia about The Thing, the alien is played by James Arness who went on to the more famous role of US Marshall Matt Dillion in the long-lived western drama "Gunsmoke". He was partially selected to play the alien because of his large stature and in some scenes where he is with some of the other cast members, he does appear physically intimidating. I previously had a copy of this movie on DVD and I honestly cannot see much of a difference in quality between the DVD and the Blu-Ray release. It is 70 year old black and white movie shot on film with cameras decades before high definition was a thing and a lot of people went to drive-in movies. The video WILL NOT compare to modern films or television shows shot in 16:9 frames, 1080p, or Dolby sound. If those things are paramount to you, then the movie will be disappointing. However, if you watch it as an enjoyable piece of film history and a classic monster movie that is serious and not campy, I think you will enjoy the movie a great deal. Personally, a big reason I bought the movie on Blu-Ray was because I prefer the slimmer and shorter Blu-Ray packaging. The package for this movie is no-frills. A simple, plastic case with a paper insert is all there is.Being a fan of this movie and the remake and prequel that followed, I would purchase these movies again in a collected edition if one existed. Some elements of the movie that I think helped influence other works include the premise of the protagonists being isolated and being in an enclosed area. I think this is a forerunner of ideas that were explored in the movie "Alien" and in episodes of the "The X-Files" such as "Ice. They are common themes and present in many films, television programs, and novels but I think at least some of them were influenced by this movie.

OK, it's in black-and-white, so you don't see blood and gore in living color. In fact, you don't see blood and gore at all--special effects were low-key back in those pre-PC days. But "The Thing From Another World" has something too often lacking in thrillers back then and now--a brain behind the camera! In this case, it's the brain of producer Howard Hawks doubling as uncredited director for a friend who was nominally "directing" his first film. In addition, Hawks and buddy Ben Hecht, known as the "Shakespeare of Hollywood," were uncredited contributors to the screenplay. No wonder the actors' lines snap and sparkle as in other Hawks hits like "The Big Sleep," "Red River," "Rio Bravo," and "His Girl Friday" based on the "Front Page" play written by Hecht and Charles MacArthur. So you have a tight, fast-moving story full of interesting dialogue, and no big-name actors so any of the soldiers and scientists confronting The Thing in a remote arctic station could be its next victim. But wait! There's more! This was the very first alien invader film ever made, just a few short years after the "Roswell Incident" in New Mexico. That makes it the great-granddaddy of hostile alien films from the "Alien" to "The Astronaut's Wife," "Mars Attacks!" and beyond. It set the mark for everything that followed. The cast is a good one. If there is a "leading man" it would have to be James Arness in the title role of the monster. But you'll never recognize him--his appearances are few, brief, and generally a surprise. The commander of the soldiers is Kenneth Tobey. Although never a big star himself, he studied at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse with Gregory Peck, Eli Wallach, and Tony Randall. Hawks picked him for this role based on a short comedy bit he did in "I Was a Male War Bride." Also in the cast is a young, upcoming Texan, Dewey Martin. And keep your eye on Douglas Spencer as the lone newsman in the bunch, who voices the film's final warning: "Look to the skies!" A character actor, Spencer's main occupation for years was as stand-in for star Ray Milland. The sets look real and really cold--you can see the actors' breath in many scenes. The camera work is outstanding, including one scene lighted only by a flaming stuntman. And the film is chocked full of hopes and fears of the 1950s. A confident military, some cold scientists who prize knowledge over emotion and some who fear they're treading on God's toes, a dawning recognition we may not be alone in our universe, and all the fears of the Cold War and the Red Scare. Quite a load for one movie to carry. But what I remember best about this film is the Saturday matinee at the theater where I and most of the other kids in town first saw it. The soldiers are tracking the deadly Thing through the arctic station with a geiger counter that follows it's radioactive "scent." The tick-tick-ticks come faster and louder as the soldiers approach a large cabinet. Is the Thing inside? They whip open the door--and out tumbles one of the sled dogs the monster has killed! Boy, every kid in that theater jumped, and popcorn shot straight up several feet from the boxes we were holding. As the popcorn fell around us, it looked like a snow-storm inside the theater. Now that's entertainment!

"The Thing from Another World" is an absolute must-have for any fans of 1950's science fiction films, but is easily one of the best that the genre has produced in any era. The movie is now sixty plus years old at the time of this review, but the movie has more than held its own against time and advancement in movie making ability. I suppose that this film is to be a B-rated film that had a small budget and relative lack of acting talent, but don't let either of these issues stop your viewing of this film, the actors hold their own quite well, and the budgetary restraints don't rear their ugly head all too often. The film is an absolutely seminal film when it comes to '50s sci-fi and horror, but it also serves as a reminder of just how hysterical the world was at the dawn of the atomic age and Cold War. This film encapsulates all the things that made the '50s what they were: America was at their peak around the world, the U.S. Military was seen as a voice of reason and goodness, and the thought of outer space was distant and all too often frightening. Out of all the acting, James Arness' turn as "the Thing" is absolutely top-notch though he never mutters a single phrase. The eerie looks and sights of Arness, coupled with his imposing height makes his turn as the creature still spine tingling till this day for many viewers. Though the budget was small and the actors unknown, " The Thing" is an essential and classic movie of a bygone movie age. The film does more than just make you jump or shriek, it reminds the viewer of a time when the fear of the total destruction of the human race was so real that films like this live forever. This film is a must for all fans of sci-fi and horror no matter what the age. The film is just a remarkable and breathtaking vantage point of an America that exists only in memory now; a world that was scared to death of both space monsters and creatures, as well as the Soviet menace that threatened the peace and security of the Earth itself.

This movie was always a favorite of mine, glad to add it to my collection!

Okay, I'll admit that I love old 1950's sci-fi movies. Yes, the budgets were often meager, the special effects were primitive by today's standards, the acting could be wooden and/or melodramatic, and the dialogue was often lame and (to modern ears) politically incorrect. But the best of these movies had an undeniable giddy charm to them, and they managed to combine both the innocence and Anti-Communist paranoia of that era in a way that no modern sci-fi movie can touch. "The Thing" (1951), which was officially directed by newcomer Christian Nyby but which in reality was directed by the great Howard Hawks, is one of the best of the fifties sci-fi offerings. The film is set in the frozen Arctic of northern Alaska, where Dr. Arthur Carrington, a scientist at a US research station, has been getting some strange readings and photographs from what he thought was a crashed meteor. The US military sends Capt. Patrick Hendry and his crew to investigate, and tagging along is Scotty (a marvelous Douglas Spencer, who steals every scene he's in), a newspaper reporter who's desperate for a "big story". At the station Capt. Hendry meets Nikki (Margaret Sheridan), Dr. Carrington's attractive assistant, and they quickly hit it off. After traveling to the "meteor's" crash site, they are stunned to learn that it's actually a crashed UFO trapped underneath the ice. The UFO is destroyed in an attempted retrieval, but they do rescue a supposedly dead "crewman" encased in a block of ice, and take him back to the station. Bad move - the alien (James Arness, later of "Gunsmoke" fame) is accidentally thawed out and comes back to life. Vengeful and seeking food, he kills some sled dogs and then goes after the station's human residents. Meanwhile, a raging debate breaks out between the military personnel (who want to kill the creature), and Dr. Carrington (who acts increasingly like a typical mad scientist as the film progresses). Carrington believes that the alien could help humanity make great strides technologically and wants him to be preserved, no matter what the cost. Carrington loses the argument, but the alien turns out to be difficult to kill - bullets, subzero temperatures, and fire all prove to be ineffective in stopping him. Partly this is because the alien turns out to be made from plant matter - thus shooting it is like shooting part of a plant - it has no effect on the other parts. (This revelation leads to one of the film's most memorable lines: "An intellectual carrot - the mind boggles"!). What's worse is that the creature lives on warm blood, and it won't hesitate to kill everyone at the station to survive. I won't give away anymore of the plot, but this film is definitely worth watching if you like suspense, tension, and a few scares. This movie has also had a real influence on pop culture - just listen as, early in the film, Capt. Hendry and his men talk about the US government's coverup of UFO sightings, and Scotty's grumblings about the military refusing to let him publicize the discovery of the crashed UFO (Roswell, anyone?). In John Carpenter's original "Halloween" (1978), Jamie Lee Curtis's character watches "The Thing" while Micheal Myers stalks her friends across the street (Carpenter was a great admirer of "The Thing", and of course did a remake with Kurt Russell in 1982). And a popular book debunking the UFO mystery is entitled "Watch the Skies" after Scotty's famous last lines at the end of this movie. Overall, "The Thing" is a great way to spend a couple of hours on a dark and rainy night. Recommended!

THE THING.. Need I say more. Another great classic sci-fi movie. Good quality DVD..

The Warner Archive Collection (blu-ray) of The Thing from Another World is a welcome addition to my movie collection. While the video/audio merits of this disc presentation aren't exactly stellar, the movie itself is a real classic. A very taut, suspenseful and well produced science fiction story. In my opinion, both this 1951 classic and John Carpenter's 1982 revision are about on par with one another.

First off, yes, there are two versions of this movie out there. Let's call them Version A and Version B. Most likely the DVD shown here is version A (my copy is). But a few years ago I happened to catch an airing of "The Thing" on Turner Classic Movies, and was amazed to see a good 10-15 minutes of extra footage that I'd never seen before. It's easy to spot the extra footage, as the film quality is not as good (rather fuzzy, with more scratches and the like, as are common on older film). But this extra footage fleshes out the story line considerably, adding to things like the interactions between Captain Hendry and Nikki, how Nikki was actually pretty conflicted about ratting out her boss, Dr. Carrington to Capt. Hendry regarding the doctor's experiments with the alien seeds, the really funny interactions between Hendry, his crew, the reporter and the station staff, etc. Restoring that footage makes a good movie even better. Why this extra footage was cut out, I have no idea, but it clearly did happen. What I would love to see is someone get hold of the copy of "The Thing" that TCM has and digitally remaster the whole thing, clean it up and re-release it on DVD and Blu-Ray. I'd be first in line to buy a copy. I've seen this movie many times over the years, and it is indeed a classic and well worth a look, especially if you enjoy Howard Hawks' body of work. And yes, the general consensus is that Hawks himself directed most of this movie, and it shows. Legend has it that Christian Nyby, the man credited with directing the film, became ill, had a breakdown, something (stories vary) after just a couple of days shooting, and Hawks had to take over. And a good thing, too, as this film has all the earmarks of the Master, cinematography, editing, fast pacing, rapid-fire dialogue, you name it. Howard Hawks' involvement with this movie made what otherwise would have been just another 1950s "B" grade sci-fi/horror flick (which is probably all that RKO had expected) into yet another Hawks classic. Even though this movie was shot on a Hollywood sound stage, with lots of stock footage spliced in, it does not look it. Instead you'd think that, yes, this was shot at the North Pole, and baby, it's COLD outside... Much has been said about the fact that this film bears little resemblance to the original John W. Campbell short story, "Who Goes There?" upon which it is supposed to be based, and which I have read. Quite so, it does not. And it is quite obvious why. Anyone who has read the story would realize that for Hawks to have adhered more to Campbell's story would have required a far, far larger budget than Hawks had to work with. So Hawks and Ben Hecht rewrote the story to fit the amount of money they had to work with to get the movie made. Also true is that there are no big name stars in this film. However, those of us who are into older movies and TV shows recognize, by face if not necessarily by name, practically every actor in the movie, from countless other movies and TV shows, from the 1950s to the (at least in some cases) 1980s. And Hawks made the most of the talent he had to work with, and that shows as well. If you enjoy your classic SF, this version of "The Thing" is definitely worth a look.

Film bien fait, typique des années 50 avec bien sur toutes sortes de clichés, mais qui a plutôt bien vieilli et est un témoignage de l'époque.

pelicula de culto , y el transfer el mejor que puedes tener actualmente

My first exposure to “the thing”. Happy to finally have this one in HD after growing up watching the vhs. The movie looks better than ever and the packaging is great.

If you want a classic 1951 science fiction movie. This is ok.

Soy fan de las películas clásicas de Ciencia Ficción y cuando supe que Warner Archive Collection había restaurado en formato Blu-Ray el clásico "The Thing From Another World", la compre de inmediato. Se ve espectacular, mejor que nunca, con una calidad de imagen fuera de serie, el único inconveniente es que no trae subtítulos en español. Llegó rápido y en perfectas condiciones