A spaceship from another world crashes in the Arizona desert and only an amateur stargazer and a schoolteacher suspect alien influence when the local townsfolk begin to act strangely.
Director:
Jack Arnold
Stars:
Richard Carlson,
Barbara Rush,
Charles Drake
A crew in Antarctica finds a neighboring camp destroyed and its crew dead. Whatever killed them is nowhere to be found, unless it's hidden in plain sight.
At an Antarctica research site, the discovery of an alien craft leads to a confrontation between graduate student Kate Lloyd and scientist Dr. Sander Halvorson.
Director:
Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
Stars:
Mary Elizabeth Winstead,
Joel Edgerton,
Ulrich Thomsen
A strange prehistoric beast lurks in the depths of the Amazonian jungle. A group of scientists try to capture the animal and bring it back to civilization for study.
Director:
Jack Arnold
Stars:
Richard Carlson,
Julie Adams,
Richard Denning
Scientists at an Arctic research station discover a spacecraft buried in the ice. Upon closer examination, they discover the frozen pilot. All hell breaks loose when they take him back to their station and he is accidentally thawed out!Written by
KC Hunt <khunt@eng.morgan.edu>
Veteran stuntman Tom Steele replaced James Arness in the fire scene. Steele wore an asbestos suit with a special fiberglass helmet with an oxygen supply underneath. He used a one hundred percent oxygen supply, which was highly combustible. It was pure luck he didn't burn his lungs while breathing in the mixture. See more »
Goofs
When the C-47 transport first lands at the base, the plane comes to a halt, the propellers stop, the door opens, and the crew and passengers climb out. Not only is one of the propellers suddenly in a new position, but there is also a buildup of snow on the wing that was not there a moment before. See more »
Quotes
Hendry:
[getting ready to go in after The Thing]
Ready, Bob?
Bob, Crew Chief:
No, but go ahead and open it.
See more »
Crazy Credits
Only technical and production credits precede the film, no acting credits. See more »
As all lovers of the SciFi film genre knows, The Thing (1951), is undoubtedly one of the the finest ever produced. It's almost a perfect movie from a purely technical standpoint. The direction, no matter who it was, was scintillating, moving from moment to moment at breakneck speed. Tiomkin's gut-wrenching score, highlighted by the extremely futuristic Theremin, crushing basses and bleak windswept strings are the epitome of horror/sci-fi film scoring. The acting is legendary for it's naturally fluid feel, it's backhanded asides and well documented over-speak not matched in many movies before or since. Unlike today's boringly formula rip-offs the station is usually "well lit", at least as well lit as you would imagine a 1950's Arctic Lab to be; aided by the superb efforts of the film makers own lighting crew. This allowed for those brief moments of darkness when the lights were out to have a very real panicking effect. Not only on the audience but the besieged occupants of our Arctic fortress. I also found it refreshing that after the one incident where the "Thing" is carelessly freed, the expedition members subsequently and intelligently arm themselves as best they can and form into groups. I believe that the creature's first close up appearance is only 3 seconds long but it was enough to make me rapidly exit the living room and stop me from watching this film from when I first saw it at age 7 in 1958 until I was about 15. This chilling scene when viewed in a stop frame mode is astonishing in it's precision and choreography, check this out my sci-fi brethren. A scene my own dear father managed to duplicate with great effect, as a joke, using our dark and seldom used front porch door, which reduced me to a sniveling jelly-legged puddle when I was about 10!, which, in homage to both Dad and Arness, I duplicated some 20 years later on not only my son, but the cleaning lady and my wife with equally devastating effect. You know , they even manage a little romance without destroying the story, truly amazing. Don't we all wish Margaret Sheridan was our girl?
But I have written this comment not to just rehash what we all know to be true; but rather to pay homage to the one man who ultimately is responsible for the survival of the human race. Bob, the crew chief. Yes, Bob. In a situation where we have a rafter of genius scientists, alongside of battle hardened veteran Air Corps officers and a smart funny, gritty, albeit nerdy, newspaper reporter; we are all very lucky to have had BOB, the crew chief on the job. I will not enumerate (and spoil the fun) but his mighty contributions to the survival of this hearty group are something to behold. If you veterans who love this movie as much as I do watch this movie again, as we all will, watch it this time and see if you don't agree that Bob comes up with 90% or better of the intelligent suggestions.
For those of you who have not had the pleasure of seeing this movie it is a "must see". From a time when movies gave free rein to our own fertile imaginations; it terrified without graphic gore; amazed without a gazillion dollars of special effects and best of all entertained at a pace rarely attained by any movie from any genre in any generation.
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As all lovers of the SciFi film genre knows, The Thing (1951), is undoubtedly one of the the finest ever produced. It's almost a perfect movie from a purely technical standpoint. The direction, no matter who it was, was scintillating, moving from moment to moment at breakneck speed. Tiomkin's gut-wrenching score, highlighted by the extremely futuristic Theremin, crushing basses and bleak windswept strings are the epitome of horror/sci-fi film scoring. The acting is legendary for it's naturally fluid feel, it's backhanded asides and well documented over-speak not matched in many movies before or since. Unlike today's boringly formula rip-offs the station is usually "well lit", at least as well lit as you would imagine a 1950's Arctic Lab to be; aided by the superb efforts of the film makers own lighting crew. This allowed for those brief moments of darkness when the lights were out to have a very real panicking effect. Not only on the audience but the besieged occupants of our Arctic fortress. I also found it refreshing that after the one incident where the "Thing" is carelessly freed, the expedition members subsequently and intelligently arm themselves as best they can and form into groups. I believe that the creature's first close up appearance is only 3 seconds long but it was enough to make me rapidly exit the living room and stop me from watching this film from when I first saw it at age 7 in 1958 until I was about 15. This chilling scene when viewed in a stop frame mode is astonishing in it's precision and choreography, check this out my sci-fi brethren. A scene my own dear father managed to duplicate with great effect, as a joke, using our dark and seldom used front porch door, which reduced me to a sniveling jelly-legged puddle when I was about 10!, which, in homage to both Dad and Arness, I duplicated some 20 years later on not only my son, but the cleaning lady and my wife with equally devastating effect. You know , they even manage a little romance without destroying the story, truly amazing. Don't we all wish Margaret Sheridan was our girl?
But I have written this comment not to just rehash what we all know to be true; but rather to pay homage to the one man who ultimately is responsible for the survival of the human race. Bob, the crew chief. Yes, Bob. In a situation where we have a rafter of genius scientists, alongside of battle hardened veteran Air Corps officers and a smart funny, gritty, albeit nerdy, newspaper reporter; we are all very lucky to have had BOB, the crew chief on the job. I will not enumerate (and spoil the fun) but his mighty contributions to the survival of this hearty group are something to behold. If you veterans who love this movie as much as I do watch this movie again, as we all will, watch it this time and see if you don't agree that Bob comes up with 90% or better of the intelligent suggestions.
For those of you who have not had the pleasure of seeing this movie it is a "must see". From a time when movies gave free rein to our own fertile imaginations; it terrified without graphic gore; amazed without a gazillion dollars of special effects and best of all entertained at a pace rarely attained by any movie from any genre in any generation.