THE THING (THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD)

US, 1951, 87 minutes, Black and white.
Robert Cornthwaite, Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, Bill Self, Dewey Martin, James Arness (as The Thing).
Directed by Christian Nyby.

The Thing, which R.K.O. somewhat nervously sub-titled From Another World, was a B movie success in its day and has risen to the status of a science fiction classic. It was made in the atmosphere of quite a number of B budget science fiction films which relied for their inspiration on popular stories as well as comic strips. They resembled in many ways the popular serials. However, they were beginning to gain a bit more respectability with the work of such directors as George Pal and Byron Haskin e.g. Destination Moon, When Worlds Collide. Director Christian Nyby made a few features but worked mainly in television.

The film is generally attributed to his producer, veteran director Howard Hawks. Hawks made many action classics including Hell's Angels and Only Angels Have Wings. He was noted for his John Wayne westerns: Red River, Rio Bravo, El Dorado, Rio Lobo. He always considered a man's director and showed men in difficult situations - their comradeship and confronting difficulties - with a touch of tough humour. The women were always strong men's women. Critics comment that this is the atmosphere of The Thing. The musical score was by Dmitri Tiomkin, the noted musician who wrote such popular themes as High Noon, The High And The Mighty, Friendly Persuasion. The film is more realistic in tone than so many films of the time. It is also very much anti-science - Hawks said this emerged from the making of the film, it was not intentional at the beginning. James Arness is the monster, The Thing. The Thing has been reshown in many science-fiction festivals and has become something of a model for this kind of alien confrontation. It was seen on television in John Carpenter's horror film Halloween and has been imitated and admired in such films as Ridley Scott's Alien.

1. The reputation of the film? In its time? The reasons for its classic status? The background of its writing, production? The stars and non-box office names? Howard Hawks and his work as producer - influence of his style?

2. The production values of the film: the re-creation of the Arctic, the airbase, the planes, special effects? The portrayal of The Thing itself? Black and white photography? The Dmitri Tiomkin score?

3. The Hawksian themes: men isolated, robust, facing crises, making mistakes, fighting them? The isolated situation and the requirements for toughness? The place of women in this atmosphere? The women standing up to the Hen? The ironic and humorous touches?

4. The background of science fiction film around 1950? B budget and production? The artificial nature of science fiction? The conventions? The influences of the serials - contrived drama, cliff-hangers etc.? Shock rather than suspense? How were these conventions transformed in this film? The reliance on suspense rather than shock?

5. The realism of the film: 1950s in America, attitudes towards flying saucers, interest in science and technology and its development, reliance on it, the armed forces and the protection of America, the cold war? Experiments? The possibilities of invasion from other planets? Headline news and media coverage? The need for people to cope with life from another world? Audiences identifying with this at the time? How dated does it seem now? In the light of later elaborate science fiction?

6. The film playing on fears of flying saucers, things from outer space, keeping such invasions secret, newspaper headlines? The importance of the end and the warning given to the audience? (Echoes of Orson Welles' War of the Worlds?)

7. The presentation of the base - realistically: Hendrie and his toughness, coping with difficult situations, pilot, making decisions? His friendship with Nikki - and the memories of their competing in drinking, her tying him up to get advantage? Giving him the notes? Scotty and his interest in the news story? Getting on with his job? Carrington and the overtones of the obsessed scientist, the emphasis on the rational and emotionless pursuit of science and technology? The doctor? Mrs. Chapman? The crew and their duties? The easy interplay of the dialogue between the characters on the base? Fluid movement of the camera around the base so that the audience got to know it? A sense of the place and the bonds between the people there?

8. The atmosphere of authenticity: life at the base, the Geiger readings during the flight, the discovery of the submerged flying saucer, the famous circle to measure the size and shape of the saucer? The explosions? The discovery of the Thing in the ice cube? Its being preserved?

9. The humans coping with the extraordinary: keeping the Thing frozen, acknowledging fear, the creation of an atmosphere of tension, the irony of the ice falling, the Thing killing the dogs, the screams? The discovery of the nature of the Thing and provision against it? Carrington and his experiments? The build-up of suspense as to what the Thing would do and how the group would cope?

10. The film's attack on scientists and their obsessions? Carrington and his personality, his views, the emphasis on the rational? His stealing of the plasma? His discovery about the plants and the Thing's capacity for reproduction?

11. The Thing and its ominous menace? The fact of its being at the Arctic, theories about the invasion. the plant characteristics and the development, the capacity for destruction, control, the need for blood? The final confrontation and destruction of the Thing? The spectacular use of electricity?

12. Themes of ingenuity, heroics, the ordinary citizen being heroic? Practical? The emphasis on science fiction? How authentic is the story in retrospect? Why has the film then become a classic?