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The Thing From Another World (1951)
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Reviews Counted:26
Fresh:23
Rotten:3
Average Rating:7.7/10
Consensus: As flying saucer movies go, The Thing From Another World is better than most, thanks to well-drawn characters and concise, tense plotting.
Runtime: 87 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Synopsis: One of the great science fiction classics made in the 50s -- the period when the genre thrived. A group of US scientists and servicemen, stationed on the North Pole, encounter an odd... One of the great science fiction classics made in the 50s -- the period when the genre thrived. A group of US scientists and servicemen, stationed on the North Pole, encounter an odd magnetic phenomenon that confuses all of their instruments. When the crew goes out to investigate, they find a block of ice containing an odd life form. But this is no archeological discovery -- because when the block melts, an invincible, grotesque creature, smarter and more powerful than humans, rises and goes on a rampage, almost destroying the polar station. Now the occupants of the station have to stop The Thing before it kills them... and embarks on its plan to destroy the planet. [More]
Starring: Kenneth Tobey, James Arness, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite
Starring: Kenneth Tobey, James Arness, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, James Young, Dewey Martin, Robert Nichols, William Self, Eduard Franz, John Dierkes
Director: Christian Nyby
Director: Christian Nyby
Producer: Howard Hawks
Story: Charles Lederer, Donald Stuart
Composer: Dimitri Tiomkin
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Reviews for The Thing From Another World
The resourcefulness shown in building the plot groundwork is lacking as the yarn gets into full swing. Cast members, headed by Margaret Sheridan and Kenneth Tobey, fail to communicate any real terror.
The film has more frissons than most of today's mega-budget productions, simply because it has the grace to construct a meaningful situation and coherent characters.
Rather than Nyby, producer Howard Hawks is often credited for the direction of this sci-fi landmark, which features Hollywood's first space-age monster in a decade invaded by Cold War-era aliens.
Howard Hawks only produced this classic scary sci-fi feature, but it has his signature touches all over it: overlapping dialogue, smooth storytelling, compressed time and space.
This taut and entertaining thriller is to The Day the Earth Stood Still what Alien is to Star Trek, or the Rolling Stones to the Beatles.
The overall message of The Thing emerges as distinctly hawkish. Reactionary or not, though, it's still a masterpiece.
The conflict between Hendry and Carrington is one between Force and Reason, and represents a debate over whether America should cope with its Soviet adversaries through military confrontation or intellectual and diplomatic study.
The Thing today is probably best viewed as a historical document, its shock value having been diminished through time and repetition.
Doesn't pale in comparison to John Carpenter's The Thing so much as offer a respectable podling alternative.
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