DVD review
Directed by Christian Nyby
Starring Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, James Arness
Release date 19 March 2007

An intellectual carrot crashes in the Arctic only to be hounded by mankind…

A prime example of the post-war 1950s big screen SF boom, The Thing From Another World is perhaps better known today as the source material for John Carpenter’s 1982 remake, rather than as a classic film in its own right.

Looked at freshly, the movie has much to recommend it. Once you get past the casual sexism – where the two female members of the cast are reduced to being romantic interest eye candy and frequent makers of cups of tea – much of the suspense of this movie stands the test of time.

It’s hackneyed stuff, to be sure. Squared jawed all-American GIs battle a creature from another world after the misguided scientists at an arctic research station try to preserve the creature… Given the mindless monster played by James Arness in the film, I’ve often wondered just who built and flew the flying saucer the creature crash lands in… Perhaps he was cargo, like alien cattle and the more intelligent aliens perished in the crash?

Produced by Howard Hawks and directed by Christian Nyby, this Thing nevertheless features all the Hawksian trademarks, especially fast-paced, overlapping dialogue and an intelligent woman who nonetheless swoons into the arms of the macho hero. There’s some great dialogue, although the motivation of Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite), the head scientist, in insisting that the lumbering monster they’re battling is wiser than mankind is baffling.

The main attraction here is the remastered version of the film, which cleans up many of the scratches and glitches on the film… However, the other attraction – the new John Carpenter commentary – runs over the unrestored version of the film. D’oh! There’s also a pointless colourised version of the movie in which the monster isn’t even green.

The Carpenter commentary and the cleaned-up film are worth having. Carpenter is good value, and his knowledge and enthusiasm for the film are clear. There are occasional quiet patches, but he does offer some good information and great opinion on the movie, while steering clear of talking about his own remake. Mark James

VERDICT: 6/10
A classic, if low-key, SF movie which gave the world the immortal line: “Keep watching the skies!”