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The Thing from Another World | 
| Directors: Christian Nyby, Howard Hawks
Actors: Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, James R. Young
Studio: Turner Home Ent
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $6.50
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Rating:  256 reviews
Sales Rank: 1161
Format: Closed-captioned, Black & White, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Languages: English (Unknown), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 87 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.6 x 0.5
MPN: TRNDT6686D
ISBN: 0780643453
UPC: 053939668629
EAN: 9780780643451
ASIN: B00009NHC0
Theatrical Release Date: April 29, 1951
Release Date: August 5, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Scientist at an arctic research station discover a spacecraft buried in the ice. Upon closer examination, they discover the frozen pilot. All hell breaks loose when they take him back to their station and he is accidentally thawed out!
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. Hawks takes only a production credit for this low-budget exercise, but his filmmaking style transcends Christian Nyby's nominal direction: rapid-fire, overlapping dialogue, an ensemble of comrades whose professionalism is tempered by wisecracks, and unsentimental female characters (embodied by feisty romantic interest Margaret Sheridan) recall Hawks's signature works, while propelling the plot over any potential gaps in credibility. It's hardly surprising, then, that The Thing from Another World remains among the most influential science fiction movies ever shot, or that it remains exciting entertainment a half century later. --Sam Sutherland
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 256
 Just the best Sci-Fi film ever! July 15, 2010
Sam Fletcher (Houston)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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!
KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES!!!!!!! June 14, 2010
D. L. Haynes (Omaha, NE USA)
This film is very nostalgic for me as it is one of the oldest and clearest memories of my father and me. It is so vividfo me because it scared the daylights out of me then and it still gives me the shivers now.
Now lets not kid ourselves, it is a B movie but only because of the subect matter presented. Howard Hawks is non to shabby as the films producer and for the limited special effects of the day, they do a really good job of selling you on the danger of James Arness (Marshall Dillon) as this 8ft tall man killing vegtable (oops, sorry if you haven't seen the film yet). And you can't underestimate the score Dimitri Tiomkin (is that a synthsizer he used I didn't think they were in existance at this time) and the creepy soundtrack which can still raise the hairs off of the back of my neck.
All in all a well made little scifi/horror picture that still has the power to freak you out.
The Thing from Another World May 17, 2010
T. Forster (Victoria, Australia)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Great classic Sci-fi. I enjoyed this better than the remake. I don't know why remakes are made 9 out of 10 times they never equal the originals. I am a strong advicate of if the orginal was great don't ruin it with a remake as remakes are always over the top.
Watch the Skies! April 2, 2010
Bobby Underwood (Manly NSW, Australia)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Howard Hawks produced this exciting picture in that genre of sci-fi which developed in the late forties and continued through the 1950's. Directed by Christian Nyby with an atmospheric score from Dimitri Tiomkin, this is about as much fun as you can have at the movies. Charles Lederer was credited with the script, but pals of Hawks Ben Hecht and William Faulkner have been rumored over the years to have worked on it in collaboration with Hawks himself. The constant U.F.O. sightings which enveloped not only America, but the entire globe after the atomic bomb was unleashed is deftly played upon in fine style, with a reminder to always be vigilant in watching the skies!
When something crashes into the Arctic ice, Captain Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) and his crew are sent by the U.S. Air Force to help the scientific research team already stationed there. Before he can have too much 1950's innocent fun with Nikki (Margaret Sheridan) he's convinced what has landed may be more than just a plane. Their flight reveals a large circular object like nothing on earth, and Hendry's reporter pal, Scotty (Douglas Spencer), knows he has the biggest story of all time. Getting clearance to send it might be another thing, however, as the saucer explodes, revealing a survivor.
The thrill and excitement of such a discovery makes for exciting viewing, and once they bring the visitor back to the research station in a block of ice, it only gets better. A misplaced electric blanket thaws the ice man and scientists soon discover from a severed arm that it is more vegetable than human, and may need to feed on them to survive. The Captain tries to devise a plan to destroy it while the scientific leader, Dr. Harrington (Robert Cornthwaite), who just happens to be Nicki's boss insists on keeping it alive. Hendry gets orders from above more in line with science than common sense and knows they've got to destroy it to stay alive.
Along the way there's a little romance, some suspense during calls too close for comfort, and finally a real plan which might work. Being bait for an 8 foot tall vegetable man who would look like Matt Dillon if they could get close, however, isn't all it's cracked up to be. The windy cold and snowy Arctic weather are used to good effect and it all adds up to great fun for the viewer. The final scene is especially enjoyable, the romantic subplot being tidied up while Scotty dictates his story to the world, giving a fun warning to boot. Curling up on the couch with your wife or sweetheart with a big bowl of popcorn nearby is highly recommended. A real classic.
If this is the only movie you buy this year... March 21, 2010
BluRay's Blu-Ball (DC)
Do not walk.... RUN! And buy this flick. 5 star and worthy of every once of praise I could heap upon it.
This flick helped lay the Building blocks of contemporary film let alone SCI FI.
"Close the door!!" need I say more?
This movies fixes my worst day. How can I put a value on that!!
The movie remains relevant even by todays' AVATARIC standards.
All Heil Mr Ford!! Energizing countless imitators!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 256
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