The Thing from Another World (1951)

There are no enemies in science, only phenomena to be studied. The Thing from Another World is set at The North Pole and finds a bunch of U.S. airmen, scientists and a journalist getting more than they bargained for when they investigate a space craft frozen in the ice. What is most striking about the film is the basic human story of team work, the pulling together of mankind during a crisis, this theme is a big shift from the short story by John W Campbell Jr. (Who Goes There?). Where that story and later John Carpenter's wonderful remake focused on paranoia and mistrust, this film is something of the "polar" opposite (literally) as regards the group in peril. It bears all the hallmarks of producer Howard Hawks, who clearly influenced Nyby's direction. The script, with its pros and cons of a military and scientific society, is very much of its time, blending po-faced observations with straight backed joviality. But this all works in the film's favour and helps define it as one of the most important science fiction pictures ever made. Along with the other major sci-fi movie of 1951, "The Day the Earth Stood Still", "TTFAW" firmly brought the visitor from outer space idea into the public conscious. But where the former film intellectualised the alien visitor, resplendent with a message of worth, the latter is about terror, pushing forward the notion that the visitor here is a monster that wants to drink our blood and attempt World domination. No major effects work is needed here because one of the pic's highlights is only glimpsing the creature (James Arness) in little snippets, and this after we are made to wait for some time before things really kick off. This begs us to think for ourselves as regards this stalking menace, putting us firmly with this intrepid group of people, and we want to see them survive and we do care if they can or do succeed. The low end budget doesn't hamper the atmosphere or flow, in fact Nyby, Hawks, cinematographer Russell Harlan and music maestro Dimitri Tiomkin, work wonders to ensure there's a level of authenticity to the Arctic base and that peril is never far away. Not hindered by many of the clichés that would dominate similar themed genre pieces that followed it, film neatly taps into fears that were to become prevalent as the 1950s wore on. It may not be perfect, but a genre star it still be - so watch the sky tonight indeed. 9/10