Thing From Another World

UPC: 053939668629

Studio: Warner Home Video

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Violence, Questionable for Children]

Summary: 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, Rovi

Category: Science Fiction

Awards: U.S. National Film Registry – Library of Congress

Features: ccInteractive menus
Theatrical trailer
Scene access
Subtitles: English, Fran?ais & Espa?ol

Thing From Another World

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 08/05/2003

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 87 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Credits [1:26]
2. Arctic Mission [4:14]
3. The Flight North [3:33]
4. Smarting From Parting [3:01]
5. Carrington's Recap [3:15]
6. Crash Site [3:10]
7. Flying Saucer [3:17]
8. Explosions and Extracts [4:30]
9. Remaining on Ice [5:35]
10. Spooky Eyes [3:17]
11. His Hands Are Tied [3:00]
12. It's Alive [2:45]
13. Severed Hand [2:06]
14. Our Superior [5:40]
15. Greenhouse Discovery [5:23]
16. On the Attack [3:55]
17. The Experiment [3:21]
18. Blood Buds [2:26]
19. Frightened [3:17]
20. Fiery Confrontation [3:54]
21. Big Chill [4:29]
22. Defense Measures [4:12]
23. Big Shock [3:11]
24. Keep Watching the Skies [3:08]
25. Cast List [:23]

Mark Deming

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, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Ted Cooper  Actor 
Everett Glass  Actor 
Walter Ng  Actor 
Robert Bray  Actor 
Lee Tung Foo  Actor 
Robert Stevenson  Actor 
John Dierkes  Actor 
David McMahon  Actor 
Ray McDonald  Actor 
Edmund Breon  Actor 
Norbert Schiller  Actor 
Allan Ray  Actor 
Milt Kibbee  Actor 
James Young  Actor 
George Fenneman  Actor 
William Neff  Actor 
Paul H. Frees  Actor 
Billy Curtis  Actor 
Tom Steele  Actor 
Howard Hawks  Producer 
Charles Lederer  Screenwriter 
Christian Nyby  Director 
Dimitri Tiomkin  Composer (Music Score) 
Margaret Sheridan  Actor 
Kenneth Tobey  Actor 
Robert Cornthwaite  Actor 
Douglas Spencer  Actor 
Dewey Martin  Actor 
James Arness  Actor 
Robert Nichols  Actor 
Bill Self  Actor 
Eduard Franz  Actor 
Sally Creighton  Actor 

Country: USA