The Thing from
Another World
Dir: Howard Hawks, Christian
Nyby
1951
*****
John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic The Thing
was based on John W. Campbell’s 1938 short story Who Goes There? but it wasn’t
the first adaptation. In 1951, Christian Nyby – under Howard Hawk’s guidance –
directed his version of the now famous story and in doing so changed the horror
film forever. Back in 1951 horror films were sensational and very few
relied on real science or indeed intelligent ideas. Horror films were
generally directed by what special effects the studios could come up with and
which big name actors they could get to star in them. The Thing
from Another World enjoys great special effects and some
great actors and you could even call it sensationalist, but what really makes
the film so great is the intelligent script and screenplay. There is no
overacting and the ‘mystery’ follows logic and only logic. It is a thinking
man’s horror, if you will. The film stars Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth
Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, and Douglas Spencer, none of them found
great success in their acting careers although Kenneth Tobey and Robert
Cornthwaite both became cult heroes in later life. I’ve never understood
it, as their performances are so real and perfect in the film. Melodrama was
sadly the style of the day and this is the only reason I can think of as to why
they were so often overlooked. I love an old 50s b-movie and often the lower
the budget the better the film was but there was something different
about The Thing from Another World that made it feel a little more mature
than all the others. I certainly never felt the same levels of suspense or
horror than I did with the others, with William
Cameron Menzies’s 1953 Invaders from Mars being the only
exception. The Thing from Another World was still the
first. It begins as a United States
Air Force crew is dispatched from Anchorage,
Alaska at the request of Dr. Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite), the chief
scientist of a North Pole scientific outpost. They have evidence that an unknown
flying craft has crashed in their vicinity, so reporter Ned Scott (Douglas Spencer) tags along for
the story. Dr. Carrington later briefs Captain Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) and his
airmen, and Dr. Redding (George Fenneman) shows photos of a flying object moving erratically before
crashing - not the movements of a meteorite. Following erratic magnetic pole anomalies, the crew and
scientists fly to the crash site where the mysterious craft lies buried beneath
refrozen ice. As they spread out to outline the craft's general shape, the men
realize they are standing in a circle; they have discovered a crashed flying
saucer. They try de-icing the buried craft with thermite heat
bombs, but only ignite its metal alloy, causing an explosion that destroys the
saucer. Their Geiger counter then points to a slightly radioactive frozen shape buried
nearby in the refrozen ice. They excavate a large block of ice around what
appears to be a tall body and fly it to the research outpost, just as a major
storm moves in, cutting off their communications with Anchorage. Some of the
scientists want to thaw out the body, but Captain Hendry insists on waiting
until he receives further instructions from the Air Force. Later, Corporal
Barnes (William Self) takes the second watch over the ice block and to avoid
looking at the body within, covers it with an electric blanket that the
previous guard left turned on. As the ice slowly melts, the Thing inside
revives; Barnes panics and shoots at it with his sidearm, but the alien escapes
into the raging storm. The Thing is attacked by sled dogs and the airmen recover
a severed arm. A microscopic examination of a tissue sample reveals that the
arm is vegetable rather than animal matter, demonstrating that the alien is a
very advanced form of plant life. As the arm warms to ambient temperature, it
ingests some of the dogs' blood covering it, and the hand begins moving. Seed
pods are discovered in the palm. The Air Force personnel believe the creature
is a danger to all of them, but Dr. Carrington is convinced that it can be
reasoned with and has much to teach them. Carrington deduces their visitor
requires blood to survive and reproduce. He later discovers the body of a dead
sled dog hidden in the outpost's greenhouse. Carrington has Dr. Voorhees (Paul Frees), Dr. Olsen
(William Neff) and Dr. Auerbach stand guard overnight, waiting for The Thing to
return. Carrington secretly uses blood
plasma from the infirmary to incubate seedlings
grown from the alien seed pods. The strung-up bodies of Olsen and Auerbach are
discovered in the greenhouse, drained of blood. Dr. Stern is almost killed by
the Thing but escapes. Hendry rushes to the greenhouse after hearing about the
bodies, and is attacked by the alien. Hendry slams the door on the
Thing's regenerated arm as it tries to grab him. The alien then escapes
through the greenhouse's exterior door, breaking into another building in the
compound. Nikki Nicholson (Margaret
Sheridan), Carrington's secretary, reluctantly updates
Hendry when he asks about missing plasma and confronts Carrington in his lab,
where he discovers the alien seeds have grown at an alarming rate. Following
Nicholson's suggestion, Hendry and his men lay a trap in a nearby room: after
dousing the alien with buckets of kerosene, they set it ablaze with a flare gun, forcing it to jump
through a closed window into the Arctic storm. Nicholson notices that the
temperature inside the station is falling; a heating fuel line has been
sabotaged by the alien. The cold forces everyone to make a final stand near the
generator room. They rig an electrical "fly trap", hoping to electrocute their
visitor. As the Thing advances, Carrington shuts off the power and tries to
reason with it, but is knocked aside. On Hendry's direct order that nothing of
the Thing remain, it is reduced by arcs of electricity to a smoldering pile of
ash; Dr. Carrington's growing seed pods and the Thing's severed arm are
destroyed as well. When the weather clears, Scotty files his "story of a
lifetime" by radio to a roomful of reporters in Anchorage. Scotty begins
his broadcast with a warning: "Tell the world. Tell this to everybody,
wherever they are. Watch the skies everywhere. Keep looking. Keep watching the
skies". The last line is now synonymous with alien-themed sci-fi
but very few people know its origins. It is an amazing horror considering the
villain is large vegetable, indeed, James
Arness complained that his "Thing" costume made him look like a
giant carrot. The beginning of the film is eerily basic and unlike any other
sci-fi/horror of the time. No actors are
named during the film's dramatic "slow burning letters through
background" opening title sequence and the plot elements were kept a
secret before the film was released in cinemas. The film took full advantage of
the national feelings of the time to help enhance the horror elements of the
story. The film reflected a post-Hiroshima skepticism about science and negative views of
scientists who meddle with things better left alone. In the end it is American servicemen
and several sensible scientists who win the day over the alien invader. This is
about good science rather than bad science. The film was loosely adapted
by Charles Lederer, with uncredited rewrites from Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht from the
story by John W. Campbell, Jr (who went by the pseudonym Don A. Stuart)
that was first published in Astounding Science Fiction. The film's screenplay changes the fundamental nature of the
alien as presented in Campbell's original: Lederer's "Thing" is a
humanoid life form whose cellular structure is closer to vegetation, although it
must feed on blood to survive; reporter Scott even refers to it in the film as
a "super carrot." The internal, plant-like structure of the creature
makes it impervious to bullets (but not to other destructive forces).
Campbell's "Thing" is a life form capable of assuming the physical
and mental characteristics of any living thing it encounters; this
characteristic was later realized in John
Carpenter's 1982 adaptation. Carpenter, along with many other successful directors,
sites the film as being hugely influential on his own work and
with the advantage of better cameras and special effects, he made a fitting
tribute and one of the greatest horror films of all time. The big controversy
surround the film though is over who actually directed it. There is debate as to whether the film was directed by Hawks
with Christian Nyby receiving the credit so that Nyby could obtain his
Director's Guild membership, or whether Nyby directed it with considerable
input in both screenplay and advice in directing from producer Hawks for
Hawks' Winchester Pictures, which released it through RKO Radio Pictures Inc. Hawks
gave Nyby only $5,460 of the $50,000 director's fee that RKO paid and kept the
rest, but Hawks denied that he directed the film. Cast members disagree on
Hawks' and Nyby's contributions. Tobey said that "Hawks directed it, all
except one scene" while, on the other hand, Fenneman said that
"Hawks would once in a while direct, if he had an idea, but it was Chris'
show." Cornthwaite said that "Chris always deferred to Hawks, ...
Maybe because he did defer to him, people misinterpreted
it." Although Self has said that "Hawks was directing the
picture from the sidelines", he also has said that "Chris would stage
each scene, how to play it. But then he would go over to Howard and ask him for
advice, which the actors did not hear ... Even though I was there every day, I
don't think any of us can answer the question. Only Chris and Howard can answer
the question.” William Self, who later became President of 20th Century Fox Television, said, "Chris was the director in our eyes, but Howard
was the boss." At a reunion of The Thing cast and crew
members in 1982, Nyby said “Did Hawks direct it? That's one of the most inane
and ridiculous questions I've ever heard, and people keep asking. That it was
Hawks' style. Of course it was. This is a man I studied and wanted to be like.
You would certainly emulate and copy the master you're sitting under, which I
did. Anyway, if you're taking painting lessons from Rembrandt, you don't take
the brush out of the master's hands.” Perfectly put in my opinion but either
way, it’s an outstanding film that crosses several genres that was only
surpassed in 1982.
