The Thing from Another World
A frozen alien terrorizes an Arctic research outpost.
The Thing from Another World is a 1951 American black-and-white science fiction horror film directed by Christian Nyby and produced by Edward Lasker for Howard Hawks' Winchester Pictures Corporation. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures and is based on the 1938 novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. (under the pseudonym Don A. Stuart). In 2001, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Christian Nyby
- Screenplay
- Charles Lederer
- Uncredited:
- Howard Hawks
- Ben Hecht
- Producer
- Edward Lasker, Howard Hawks
- Cinematography
- Russell Harlan, ASC
- Editing
- Roland Gross
- Music
- Dimitri Tiomkin
- Studio
- Winchester Pictures Corporation
- Distributor
- RKO Radio Pictures
Facts from the source article.
Plot
In Anchorage, journalist Ned Scott visits the officer's club of the Alaskan Air Command, where he meets Captain Pat Hendry. General Fogarty orders Hendry to fly to Polar Expedition Six at the North Pole after lead scientist Dr. Arthur Carrington radios that an unusual aircraft has crashed nearby. With Scott, Corporal Barnes, crew chief Bob, and sled dogs, Hendry pilots a Douglas C-47 Skytrain to the remote outpost. There, they meet radio operator Tex, scientists including Dr. Chapman and his wife, and Carrington. Hendry rekindles his romance with Nikki Nicholson, Carrington's secretary. The team flies to the crash site and finds a large object buried beneath the ice. They realize they are standing in a circle outlining a flying saucer. Attempts to free it with thermite destroy the craft due to a violent reaction with its metal alloy. A Geiger counter detects a frozen body nearby, which is excavated in a block of ice and flown back to the base as an Arctic storm closes in. Hendry assumes command and denies Scott permission to send his story. A watch is posted; Barnes covers the ice block with an electric blanket, not realizing it is plugged in. The block thaws, the creature escapes, fights the sled dogs, kills two, and loses most of its right forearm.
Production
In 1950, Lederer and Hecht convinced Hawks to buy the rights to Who Goes There? for $1,250. No actors are named during the film's opening title sequence; cast credits appear at the end. George Fenneman, then gaining fame as Groucho Marx's announcer on You Bet Your Life, appeared in a small role and later said he had difficulty with the overlapping dialogue. The film was partly shot in Glacier National Park, with interior sets built at a Los Angeles ice storage plant. The scene where the alien is set aflame and repeatedly doused with kerosene was one of the first full-body fire stunts ever filmed. The screenplay was loosely adapted by Charles Lederer, with uncredited rewrites from Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht, from Campbell's novella. Science fiction author A. E. van Vogt had wanted to write the script. The screenplay changes the alien from Campbell's story—a life form capable of assuming the physical and mental characteristics of any living thing—into a humanoid with plant-like cellular structure that must feed on blood to survive. Its internal structure makes it impervious to bullets but not to fire and electricity. Film critic Bill Warren argued the film reflects post-Hiroshima skepticism about science and negative views of scientists, a theme also present in Arctic horror works such as Who Goes There? and H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.
Reception
Released in April 1951, The Thing from Another World earned $1,950,000 in domestic rentals by the end of that year, ranking 46th among all films and outperforming every other science fiction movie released that year, including The Day the Earth Stood Still and When Worlds Collide. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called it generous with thrills and chills, but warned parents to think twice before letting emotionally unprepared children see it. Variety’s Gene argued the film lacked genuine entertainment values. In 1973, science fiction editor Lester del Rey dismissed it as just another monster epic, missing the force and tension of the original story. Isaac Asimov considered it one of the worst movies he had ever seen. Editor John W. Campbell, who published the source story, acknowledged that an adaptation would need changes because the original was too scary for most audiences, and he hoped the film would spark interest in science fiction. Today, the film is regarded as one of the best of 1951 and a great 1950s science fiction movie. It holds an 87% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 69 reviews as of October 2025, with the consensus praising it as better than most flying saucer movies due to well-drawn characters and concise, tense plotting. Time magazine named it the greatest 1950s sci-fi movie. It also appears at number 87 on AFI’s 100 Years...100 Thrills list.
Related productions
In 1972, director Eugenio Martín and producer Bernard Gordon made Horror Express, a Spanish-British co-production that serves as a second, looser adaptation of Campbell's novella. In 1982, John Carpenter adapted the original novella as The Thing, after Wilbur Stark bought rights to several old RKO fantasy films and suggested remaking The Thing from Another World. Carpenter's film paid homage to the 1951 film by using the same opening title sequence. In 1989, Turner Home Entertainment released a colorized version of the original film on VHS, billed as an RKO Color Classic.
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