1951's 'The Thing From Another World' was forerunner to 1982, 2011 movies

Two weeks ago, in a post on April 14, I wrote about how much I enjoyed watching the 2011 science fiction-horror movie, “The Thing,” which is actually a prequel to one of my favorite all-time movies, 1982’s “The Thing.” I made mention of the fact that both of these movies are based on a 1938 science fiction novella called “Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell Jr.

While researching all of that, I learned that Campbell’s novella was also adapted into another movie, 1951’s “The Thing From Another World.” I’d never seen this old movie, so I put it at the top of my NetFlix queue and finally got the chance to watch it just the other day. I was not disappointed.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with “The Thing” movies, they’re about a group of military officials and scientists who find a crashed alien aircraft that’s been trapped in ice for thousands of years. They eventually stumble upon an alien who’s frozen in ice outside the ship and they take him back to their base for examination. The alien eventually escapes, begins to cause havoc and has to be dealt with by the humans.

Listed at No. 274 on Fangoria magazine’s list of “300 Best Horror Films,” “The Thing From Another World” was directed by Christian Nyby and Howard Hanks. The cast included Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, James Young, Dewey Martin, Robert Nichols, William Self, Eduard Franz, Sally Creighton and James Arness.

Arness, who is best known for his role as Matt Dillon on the TV series “Gunsmoke,” played the role of “The Thing” in “The Thing From Another World.” Those of you who have seen the 1982 and 2011 movies will know that the “monster” was a shape-shifting alien, but “The Thing” in the 1951 film more closely resembled Frankenstein’s monster.

One big difference in the modern movies and the 1951 movie is the setting. The 1982 and 2011 movies were set in Antarctica, whereas the 1951 movie is set in the Artic, that is, on the opposite end of the planet. Interestingly, according to the Internet Movie Database, portions of the 1951 movie were filmed in Montana’s Glacier National Park, a Los Angeles ice storage plant and at the RKO Ranch in the San Fernando Valley in 100-degree weather.

This movie has been hailed as an influential classic for years. Directors John Carpenter, Ridley Scott and others have said that the movie had a big influence on their lives and careers. Five decades after the film’s original release, in 2001, the U.S. Library of Congress also selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry.

In the end, I got a big kick out of this movie, and I hope to read Campbell’s novella very soon. How many of you have watched “The Thing From Another World” or have read Campbell’s novella? What did you think about it? Did you like it or dislike it? Why? Let us know in the comments section below.