Main Cast: Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, Dewey Martin
Release Year: 1951
Country: US
Run Time: 87 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
The scene is a distant Arctic research station, where a UFO has crashed. The investigating scientists discover that the circular craft has melted its way into the ice, which has frozen up again. While attempting to recover the ship, Captain Patrick Hendry (Kenneth Tobey) accidentally explodes the vessel, but the pilot -- at least, what seems to be the pilot -- remains frozen in a block of ice. The body is taken to base headquarters, where it is inadvertently thawed out by an electric blanket. The alien attacks the soldier guarding him and escapes into the snowy wastes. An attack dog rips off the alien's arm, whereupon Dr. Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite) discerns that "The Thing" (played by future Gunsmoke star James Arness!) is not animal but a member of the carrot family, subsisting on blood. While the misguided Carrington attempts to spawn baby "Things" with the severed arm, the parent creature wreaks murderous havoc all over the base. Female scientist Nikki (Margaret Sheridan) suggests that the best way to destroy a vegetable is to cook it. Over the protests of Carrington, who wants to reason with the "visitor" (a very foolhardy notion, as it turns out), the soldiers devise a devious method for stopping The Thing once and for all. This oversimplification of The Thing does not do full justice to the overall mood and tension of the piece, nor does it convey the lifelike "business as usual" approach taken by the residents of the military base in dealing with something beyond their understanding. A superior blend of science fiction, horror, naturalistic dialogue, and flesh-and-blood characterizations, The Thing is a model of its kind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
To this day, film buffs argue about whether or not Howard Hawks, the credited producer for this low-budget sci-fi classic, actually directed it; if he didn't, Christian Nyby (who got sole screen credit) certainly learned the master's style very well indeed. With its rapid-fire, often overlapping dialogue, matter-of-fact presentation of scientific jargon, independent-minded women who can give as good as they get in an argument, and admiring but unglamorized portrayal of men in uniform working together, The Thing certainly feels like a Hawks movie, which is to say smarter and snappier than most B-movies of its day. More important, The Thing was one of the few films in the era of Guys In Rubber Monster Suits that understood that less can be more. We rarely get a good look at the mean-spirited invader terrorizing a military outpost in the Arctic wastes, but the results give the creature an air of threatening mystery more powerful than any explicit presentation. And while the premise -- a cognizant vegetable from another planet that feeds on human blood -- is absurdity itself, the film plays down its thematic incredulity in favor of a tense tale of isolated individuals who must come together to defeat an angry foe; it's elementary filmcraft, but well-executed and boasting fine work from a cast whose talent exceeded their fame. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
James Arness - "The Thing"; Robert Nichols - Lt. MacPherson (Erickson); Bill Self - Corporal Barnes; Eduard Franz - Dr. Stern; Sally Creighton - Mrs. Chapman; Robert Bray - Captain; Edmund Breon - Dr. Ambrose; Ted Cooper - Lieutenant; Billy Curtis - The Thing While Shrinking; John Dierkes - Dr. Chapman; George Fenneman - Dr. Redding; Lee Tung Foo - Cook; Everett Glass - Prof. Wilson; Milt Kibbee; Ray McDonald; David McMahon - Gen. Fogarty; William Neff - Olson; Norbert Schiller - Dr. Laurenz; Tom Steele - Stuntman; Paul H. Frees - Dr. Maurice Vorrhees; Robert Stevenson - Capt. Smith; Allan Ray - Officer; Walter Ng - Cook; James Young - Lt. Eddie Dykes
Credit
Albert S. D'Agostino - Art Director, John Hughes - Art Director, Michael Woulfe - Costume Designer, Christian Nyby - Director, Roland Gross - Editor, Dimitri Tiomkin - Composer (Music Score), Lee Greenway - Makeup, Russell Harlan - Cinematographer, Howard Hawks - Producer, Darrell Silvera - Set Designer, William L. Stevens - Set Designer, Don Steward - Special Effects, Linwood G. Dunn - Special Effects, Phil Brigandi - Sound/Sound Designer, Clem Portman - Sound/Sound Designer, Dick Crockett - Stunts, Billy Curtis - Stunts, Bob Morgan - Stunts, Tom Steele - Stunts, Teddy Mangean - Stunts, Charles Regan - Stunts, Charles Lederer - Screenwriter, John W. Campbell Jr. - Short Story Author
