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Hello everyone! A few weeks back, Ruth recommended I try my hand at picking out the appropriate critique for a film from the bygone era. I had my head spinning with the titles and one after the other rose from the depths of the cinematic ocean to catch the eye and hold the focus of the viewer. To achieve that. Allow me to present you with my choice.
This film has a total runtime of 87 minutes, which has been expertly crafted into a superb masterpiece. With a beginning, middle, and end, the movie is the epitome of great storytelling. This masterpiece is the work of Howard Hawks, even though the credits state that Christian Nyby was behind the camera. No matter who the actual director was, Mr. Hawk has indelible thumbprints on this card of charm.
The plot takes us middle of a blustering storm snatching surface on one corner of an Airforce base and the officers’ club outside Alaska. As television sets were buzzing and roaring, reporter Ned Scott was cast into the club to defrost and afterward stumbles upon the crew of the C-47 assigned to Spartan base who were trading barbs and engaging in quid pro quo poker. As is customary courtesy is exchanged between Captain Pat Hendry.
The narration goes, “Go see general Fogarty immediately.” Ken Tobey portrayed the lead character with an elegiac calmness that was reflected in every other ‘Red Scare’ Sci-fi movie.
An interesting report was delivered from a remote scout base close to the North Pole known as Polar Expedition Six. Actually, there isn’t much more information to go off on. Take the dog sled and a plane and look into it. We shift to the flight of a C-47. Ned Scot and the crew wonder what the purpose of the flight is while sheet metal skis are fixed to the airplane’s wheels. As the plane begins its course a clue is revealed; the plane’s navigator discovers that the compass does not match the heading of the aircraft. This starts the radio communication with the expedition so the plane can utilize its signal for navigation.
The plane is finally on the ground and the crew meets the PX6 scientists led by Dr. Arthur Carrington, who has earned numerous accolades in his career. Dr. Carrington is followed by Robert Cornwaite and many other scientists who seem to be a part of his ‘lower tier’ society. These scientists include Dr. Redding, Dr. Vorrhees, Dr. Wilson, Dr. Chapman, Dr. Laurence, Dr. Ambrose, and Ms. Nikki Nicholson who works alongside them. Dr. Redding is portrayed by George Fenneman, Dr. Vorrhees is voiced by Paul Frees, Dr. Wilson appears as Everett Glass, Dr. Chapman is played by John Dierkes, Dr. Laurence is Norbert Schiller, and Dr. Ambrose is voiced by Edmond Breon. This entire team is smartly and resplendently aided by Nikki Nicholson who is played by Margaret Sheridan. Captain Hendry seems to have an interest in her too.
These conversations are mixed, sloppy, and rough. It is evident that they need to determine the best course of action for a trip further up North. Just a few hours ago, something that was both huge and heavy seemed to move roughly within the atmosphere. The region surrounding the Arctic was likely set off by the time delay cameras, seismographs, and their placement in relation to what could have been a meteor, definitely ranges. The location could be set driven from sound and was picked up by sensitive microphones. Once again, add the creepy Theramin track while another flight is put together to try and resolve the mystery of what exactly fell down from the sky.
The mission is set down at a location where a flaw in the ice is visible from the altitude one can easily reach. All the scientists as well as the crew and the dog sled teams are ready and set off to examine a few feet of what appears to be some vertically oriented stabilizer protruding above the ice. They seem to be filing off samples and collecting them as the explorers scatter in every conceivable direction and discover that they are standing in a circle surrounding an unknown object! Shovels, picks, and axes are ditched in place of something more efficient Thermite. Charges were set and spectacularly blew up, and for whatever reason it went below the polar ice, something was ejected out away and closer to the surface that was found by the wily crew chief Dewey W. Martin behind a handy Geiger counter.
The artifact is pulled out, but stored inside a block of ice which is put aboard a dogsled. It is taken onto the airplane and returned to the cluster of Quonset huts known as PX-6. A guard is assigned to this block of ice while it stays inside the freezer. Orders are sent to General Fogarty in Anchorage. The ether is “silent” and devoid of answers due to the many questions posed. Orders issued make Dr Carrington proudly smirk while Captain Hendry and his crew prepare themselves for a lot of long workdays. However, Hendry does manage to get in some quality time with Nikki over drinks and some tame-roped bondage shown in the restored footage of the film.
The guard posted to watch the Thing in the block of ice is terrified when it comes to life. The guard gets out and wraps himself with an electric blanket. Then the guard places the blanket over the block of ice to cover the Thing’s staring eyes that follow him. This blanket for some reason melts the ice and allows the Thing to escape. Luckily, the guard gets a few shots off before the monster makes his escape.
To the surprise of everyone, panic never sets in the moment the crew, eggheads, and Nikki start talking about what the plans of the Thing might be. Carrington is okay with adhering to General Fogarty’s instructions of keeping whatever it is alive at any cost, however, Hendry and his crews have their second thoughts. A search is called, for both inside and outside. An arm and a hand are retrieved and analyzed. They are perfectly still the entire time while the dialogue and amputation go on. They begin to add their two cents which includes moving. As a consensus is made, notes are taken by Nikki who’s the speaker. It’s not human, but it is a vegetable. It is armed with a type of armor that makes it shellproof to us. What does one do with or to an alien, radioactive vegetable?
“Boil it. Cook it. Or fry it?” Nikki suggests hypothetically as Hendry and his crew progress with the brainstorm. They begin from the Greenhouse, collecting every piece of equipment and whatever else they see that can be used for destruction while barricading and nailing down the doors that are within reach. Crews blinded by the idea take note of the clumsy sounds of entry and breaking echoing within the vacant connecting hallways. The bucket of kerosene gets poured.
When the Day Room goes dark, a Flare Pistol is beeped and the lights are switched off. The door opens and the Thing steps in.
The Thing enters, shambles from afar, backlit and silhouetted, and meets Co-Pilot with an axe. With a large splash of kerosene and igniting flare, the Thing is set ablaze. Swinging arms set Nikki’s protective mattress on fire, and the Thing retreats through a nearby window as billow and wail of the storm begins. While the wounds of the Thing are being treated, damage control is done. Examining the retraced steps of the Thing, dead and drained of blood sled dogs are found stuffed in a cabin. An alarm needs to be raised, and repairs are made to the remaining medical supplies, and a suspicious question comes to mind. One of the scientists is Marta, and one of the heated battles snatched the bone saw. But the thing is shoving the others camouflaged into the Harrison. We goosed and Crossfire has spent the block, with gadgets over the control center as Dr. Carrington begins closing off. With a built in IV of plasma feeding the pod seed’s sprouting appendage, the Thing’s in the greenhouse window is what makes him look like the true mad scientist.
Nikki realizes that her breath is visible, meaning that it Is much colder than it should be. This causes her panic to rear its ugly head. A more elegant trap can be set using wire fencing, a wooden pallet walkway, and arcs of high-voltage, high-amperage electricity. The question that remains is, will it work? The Geiger Counters, overseen by a few scattered guards, are noticing the increasing radiation levels. The guards switch to the compound’s main generator as the Thing makes itself known. The lights go out while the generator suddenly turns off due to Dr. Carrinton. He gets stuck in a Mexican standoff before being rushed and subdued for his own good.
The Thing does not trust the power coming back on. Picking up her heavy axe, Cora Carrington attempts to plead with her husband moving back on the pallet walkway. As she crawls over to him, he darts out of the way causing her to miss. Understandably, Sera is less than impressed with her allowance to repay the favor. What a tantrum she throws. For a moment, the rest of them can only gawp as she knocks him aside. If they did not know better, they would have thought the Captain had transformed Four to ill-tempered Wainwright’s pet.
These delinquents she calls friends do not pose any trouble for Cora, as it becomes glaringly apparent. After all, he has already posed plenty of it for her in the past. One thing was certain. Once the smoldering and strange sounds started purring out of the bubbling mound of flesh that was Carrington, the snow, or less so the outside, would recover something much harsher. The needless sounds were unbearable.
With relentless insistence to everyone listening, “Watch the Skies!” Cora made certain phase two of her order was absolute devastation. As the world slowly banded together outside of the break in the score, around the rest of them it transformed into a frenzy of delight, hoping to catch a glimpse of an answer that would never come. Scott, with his head firmly between his hands desperately trying to make sense of the situation rounded out of his bloom box.
This film is just underneath 90 minutes and is filled to the brim with amazing stories that are told in beautifully crafted, shadowy, claustrophobic black and white. By the end of the film, there can be no single shred of doubt that the viewer is left scratching their heads full of questions about who the unwanted guest is. The story has no fat or wasted time allocated to sub-plots or distracting fluff, it’s laser-focused on the story and the mysterious crew of novel faces who appear, yet they somehow still manage to attempt to eclipse the iconic B-movie mystique.
Also, it is completely legal to say Ken Tobey encapsulated the idea of a savvy military figure in the 1950s post World War 2. From his humor to his calmness, he was the ideal forward-facing member of the military. He is exceptionally incredibly ever-willing to patiently listen to a wise-cracking crew and slowly and ever so gently unraveling Whimsical Dr. Carrington. Especially willing to listen until Mr. Tobey’s crew starts becoming a problem to the expedition and the risk-assessed compound. Most incredibly ‘Us versus Them, Red Scare’ Science fiction films frame Tobey in a very strong light.
All the remaining lesser scientists, scoffers, and nerds present at the meeting and their ensemble of actors worked splendidly. The amazing performance of George Fenneman, which was done while he wore a varsity sweater, Dr.Redding, and Eduard with his whiz kid Dr. Stern. Even Nicholas Byron used his slim height to his advantage and quietly roared his way into the role of Tex Richards: the radio operated who was tall and laconic. Nicely all of them pulled together to impress within their indeed short all too brief appearances on screen.
Brimming with condescension towards Captain Hendry and his crew, Dr. Carrington played by Robert Cornwaite is the true definition of an elite individual. Dr. Carrington viewed the armed forces in an extremely narrow-minded and negative way, which led him to defile his personal paradise. It’s an embodiment of an offended heart, a class-heered liberal whom Joseph McCarthy warned in vain.
Without further ado, I present to you the Thing! James Arness looked alien almost silent and high fore-headed. An insult to the fully recognized world of wonders. (Insert Jaws reference quote here!)
After you zoom scan through Winchester Pictures RKO Radio pictures, Dr. Carrington has truely put the armor on. As the screed ignites to terrifying sounds from a theremin, Dr. Carrington ensures everything has changed. Theremins are strange instruments that produce sound without touch.
On top of that, firsthand Hermann used this in The Day the Earth Stood Still the same year. While the flames conceal the name of the film being exposed, check out the first twelve currents of The Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations to gain an understanding of what this sounds like.
Stilting conversation and an abundance of incomplete dialogues and ideas that somehow abound in the movie yet manage to make sense is a stunning feat. The long sequence in which Captain Hendry and his crew encounter the staff and scientists of PX-6 is magical and I just want to slowly dip my leg into it and then wrap myself around it slowly and comfortably.
Cinematography in part, B&W with touches of color by Russell Harlan is deceptively simple. It records gruesomeness and devices a kind of suspense that seems to underline almost over-the-top(claustrophobia) in many shots. Raus Alfredson DoD also works captured where, the Thing as he invades the Day Room, is ambushed and set on fire. A phenomenally crafted action set piece on a blackened stage. With the only light coming from the door throughout the scene until the Thing is set on fire. Escaping and causing devastation within a stunt that seems complex to pull off today without CGI, is fierce.
While much of the unknown keeps presenting itself, has the tendency to slowly build up the tension as blood and guts begin to reveal such as when the dead sled dogs are confronted. That combined with the enhanced Theramin infused on the soundtrack makes the eye of the Tiger theme mysterious. Especially when the deceased sled dogs are found and when Hendry and his crew discover the Thing and subsequently unload on the creature moments later.
The connection between Ken Tobey’s Captain Hendry and Margaret Sheridan’s Nikki is tangible and entertaining. Nikki, on the other hand, covertly grabs attention in every scene she appears in. Decades later, her character’s role served as a prototype for Warrant Officer Ripley, portrayed by Sigourney Weaver in Ridley Scott’s Alien.
The Thing from Another World is a movie that has certainly earned its passive reputation of being labeled as a “B” movie for quite a while now. Yes, it fits into many categories of a B-Movie, however, it is much more than that. The reason for this, basically, is because it had at its head a proven master like Howard Hawks. While taking on a genre of film never attempted, he was bound to have a blast with it. And indeed he did, since, along with his incredible crew and cast, did wonders. All while gifting the title of director to Christian Nyby, who had previously cut The Big Sleep and Red River for Mr. Hawks.
For unexplained reasons, like the overall charm of the movie and its music, The Thing from Another World was nominated for the National Film Registry and his later inducted in 2001. For the most of 1951.
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