Sci Fi September # 30 – The Thing From Another World
Filmed in black and white, TTFAW is set at the North pole where a group of scientists at a research camp discover what appears to be a huge plane buried under the ice. A plane carrying a dog team and a newspaper reporter land to help look for survivors not realising that the survivors might not be human.
Probably the most recognizable name in TTFAW is James Arness otherwise known as Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke. While his name is probably recognizable, he certainly wasn’t as he played the monster/alien. Being 6′7″, Arness brought a size to the creature that prosthetics couldn’t have done convincingly in 1951.
The movie is based on a short story by John W Campbell called “Who goes there?”.
The enclosed atmosphere of the movie in the huts of the research camp heightens the terror as the inhabitants have no where to run from the monster and are forced to face and deal with it.
The movie ends with the newspaper reporter saying the lines “Watch the skies, everywhere, keep looking, keep watching the skies.” This tied in perfectly with the UFO frenzy that was going on in the early 50s.
This is a classic movie that inspired movies such as Alien. A must see
