| The Thing From Another World - 1951 | ||||
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Destination Moon, RocketShip X-M, and Flight to Mars all were stories about mankind moving out into the Universe to engage unknown challenges and threats. In The Thing From Another World, it came to us. It goes for our throat from the opening credits as the title burns away. Our story begins as an Air Force pilot is dispatched from Anchorage to investigate the report of a downed plane in the Arctic. As their plane moves further north, a interference in their compass readings force them to follow a beacon to a polar outpost. There, they reconnoiter, and hear that the magnetic interference began at the same time as a reported seismic event, the impact of something approximately fifty miles away. Upon investigation, they find a trail as something very hot impacted the ice and melted itself below the surface. The party circles the indistinct object they can see beneath the ice, and it is obvious that it is no plane; the object is round, and they see, frozen beneath the ice, a figure. In extricating the body from the ice, they accidentally destroy the saucer trying to melt it free with thermite, but they manage to bring the body back to their home base encased in a block of ice, where the body is inadvertently thawed and re-animated. Now, the alien creature is on the loose. Attacked by the sled dogs of the camp, the creature loses an arm before it runs off. Incredibly strong and seemingly immune to the cold, the analysis of the arm reveals that the alien is essentially a plant, though highly intelligent, and thoroughly alien.It becomes more ominous when the discovery is made that the creature may be capable and willing to prey upon the animal life of this planet. A dog, and then several scientists keeping that secret, are killed to apparently provide blood to nourish seed pods from the alien creature--if it is not stopped soon, the threat posed by one monster could quickly multiply. Now the only question--how can they kill it before it kills them? There are distractions in stunted romance and a scientist who becomes increasingly whacked out in the way that scifi scientists so often do, but they are merely small details along the way. The story stays sharply focused on the suspense of a monster on the loose and a party of humans stuck in an isolated location. In a grim, almost noir style, director Christian Nyby tells a hard, tight story that only slows enough to introduce elements that then go on to elevate the conflict (although many say producer Howard Hawks exercised such control over shooting that Nyby is director in name only). There are numerous standout scenes, quick shocks and real spectacles, all adding to the intensity of the situation. The ominous music by Dmitiri Tiomkin works well, particularly in the classic scene of the discovery of the alien ship in the ice. Though the story of the alien threat coming to Earth became the dominant theme as the 50s space craze wore on (due more to the lower expense of filming an alien on Earth than Earthmen on another world than to artistic considerations), this film began that form, and it is better than any of its successors. The creature was played by James Arness, brother of Peter Graves and best known from his role as Marshall Matt Dillon on TV's long-running Gunsmoke. Though based on John W. Campbell's short story Who Goes There?, the film changes much of the story. The 1982 remake by John Carpenter is much more faithful to the original material, though perhaps is less successful because of that, while the original film, though purists decry sacrifices made to the original material, remains a classic. It may not be as explicit, but, perhaps as much as a 'thing from another world,' this THING is from another time, as well. "...KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES!"
PLUSES: Masterful fundamental filmmaking, effective direction, and a tight production all around. MINUSES: Unnecessary romantic subplot, a silly loopy SF scientist, but I'm reaching here... |
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