Scientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.Scientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.Scientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.
- Awards
- 1 win total
- Dr. Ambrose
- (uncredited)
- Tex Richards
- (uncredited)
- Dr. Chapman
- (uncredited)
- Dr. Redding
- (uncredited)
- Lee - a Cook
- (uncredited)
- Dr. Vorhees
- (uncredited)
- Dr. Wilson
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe skeleton crew at the South Pole Telescope station have a tradition every winter-over of watching this movie, and the other two adaptations on the very first night after the departure of the final plane of the season.
- GoofsAs the flying saucer explodes, the camera tilts up to follow the blast, revealing the top of the Arctic backdrop built around the set.
- Quotes
Ned "Scotty" Scott: All right, fellas, here's your story: North Pole, November Third, Ned Scott reporting. One of the world's greatest battles was fought and won today by the human race. Here at the top of the world a handful of American soldiers and civilians met the first invasion from another planet. A man by the name of Noah once saved our world with an ark of wood. Here at the North Pole, a few men performed a similar service with an arc of electricity. The flying saucer which landed here and its pilot have been destroyed, but not without causalities among our own meager forces. I would like to bring to the microphone some of the men responsible for our success... but as Senior Air force officer Captain Hendry is attending to demands over and above the call of duty... Doctor Carrington, the leader of the scientific expedition, is recovering from wounds received in the battle.
Eddie: [Softly] Good for you, Scotty.
Ned "Scotty" Scott: And now before giving you the details of the battle, I bring you a warning: Everyone of you listening to my voice, tell the world, tell this to everybody wherever they are. Watch the skies. Everywhere. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies.
- Crazy creditsOnly technical and production credits precede the film, no acting credits.
- Alternate versionsThere is a version which shows Dr. Carrington wandering through his "nursery" of baby "things" on his way to the generator to shut it down as the others prepare to fry the creature. The "things" have grown to a height of over 12 inches.
- ConnectionsFeatured in House of Horror: The Thing (1957)
All right, now . . . I have to say, I loved The Thing from Another World. I loved the dialogue in this movie. It's been a long long (Jesus Christ, a loooong) time since I had this much fun listening to exposition. Yes, exposition. The obligatory plot details that no one cares about that some poor sap spells out? Yes, that exposition! Thing from Another World actually gains momentum with its exposition whereas your typical film slows down and comes to a screeching halt for it.
Nyby spreads the exposition across about half a dozen characters, and they have real conversation with overlapping, quick fire, back and forth, dialogue, and in brief instances multiple conversations going at the same time. The result? Five minutes of exposition becomes one minute of exposition. Will the audience catch every single detail of their plan? No, but the audience doesn't need to either. Thank you Howard Hawks!
Lace this exposition with characterization, inside jokes amongst characters, hints at their history together, and friendly pranks, and The Thing from Another World not only knocks out exposition with one blow, but develops their characters simultaneously, yielding a wonderfully complex and realistic relationship between the characters and plot. No spot light and overdone Shakespearian aside with melodramatic boo-hoo backstory that brings elicits yawns and groans, no little nerd with all the answers getting to explain everything while everyone asks stupid questions--nope--the Thing from Another World is above that drivel.
Nyby and Hawks sold me on the characters from the get go, placing emphasis on how they introduce the characters and not so much in what their character backstory is. I salute the filmmakers for this decision, and in response was more than willing to suspend my disbelief for the sake of the film's needs.
Follow it up with well lit and well staged action sequences--the fire scene was perhaps one of the most beautiful and glorious moments caught by b/w photography--and the Thing from Another World delivers with all its 1950s charms. I'll take a film with narrow corridors and electrodes over all out war with CGI bugs/machines any day of the week.
- jaywolfenstien
- Nov 2, 2004
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- El enigma de otro mundo
- Filming locations
- Glacier National Park, Montana, USA(second-unit footage)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $1,600,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 27 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1