The Thing from Another World - "We finally got one..."
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- From Howard Hawks' production of The Thing from Another World. Made in 1951, The Thing was perfect for its time. Sightings of UFOs were going up (Kenneth Arnold used the words saucer, disc or pie-plate to describe the one he saw and the term "flying saucer" grew out of that) and this film plays into that zeitgeist perfectly.
This is my favorite scene in the film, in fact my favorite in any SF film of the 50's. An arctic research station has detected a crash landing of a large aircraft and an Air Force support crew, headed by Ken Tobey, goes up to help investigate. They fly out to the crash site with the scientists from the station and a reporter, Ned Scott, played by Douglas Spencer.
When they get there, something is frozen in the ice. A fin or stabilizer is jutting out just above the surface of the ice and a shape is clearly visible. The head of the research station suggests they all stand at the edges of the object to determine its shape. That's when they realize...
Everything in this scene is perfect. The acting, the writing, the music, the camera placement. It's not widescreen, but it effectively uses academy aperture to indicate that whatever they've found is big. The camera pans from right to left, keeping us off balance and letting us know the find is too big to fit in the frame. Dimitri Tiomkin's music is right on, especially the "sting" when they realize...
Just watch...
I have uploaded this without permission from the authors for educational purposes only. this is merely an extract, there are no other parts uploaded.
It's the dialogue that has impressed me sounding more convincing rather than 'acted'.
What makes this scene---and for me the whole movie--is the spirit of can-do optimism. There's none of the self-doubt or cynicism that infects so many modern films. These are men having the adventure of their lives, knowing that they're in danger, but never doubting that they'll win in the end. When they find the flying saucer, they're scared, but only a little. They're mostly thrilled and delighted, like a group of Boy Scouts on their first camping trip. I just love this scene because it's drenched in old-school postwar American optimism.
Exactly what got them through world wars and allowed them to cope with the world in1950.
Interesting observation.And I feel accurate.
@@dwightbrown7252 it's actually what caused korean war and Vietnam. What got folks through ww2 was surviving the depression and know what surviving was. Victory has defeated us. Cockiness is what has defeated us
8
When I was a kid, I asked my vet father if Americans ever worried they would lose to the Japanese or Germans in WWII. He said, "No, we always knew we would win, it was just a matter of time." Many of today's kids quit before they even get a challenge.
i watched this movie en 1975 in my grandmother's convenient store, and it filled my mind with lots of fantasies , in lima peru#
I saw this at the Ritz theatre in 1968 on a Saturday double feature. They always had good SciFi films at the Ritz on the weekends. That’s where I saw most of the early Toho Godzilla movies.
Luis, Greetings from Georgia, USA!
I always think of this great movie when the weatherman says "Keep watching the skies" for a upcoming weather event. That ending is so ingrained in film literature.
Still gives you chills. The film had some fine actors and great screenplay!
......the manner in which the movie's dialogue is carried out is what makes this film special. People, in normal conversations, many times 'step on' others words. This is the first time a film was made with the actors not waiting for each other to completely finish their line before the response or follow up began.
Howard Hawks used overlapping dialogue for the first time in "His Girl Friday" with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in 1940. He would also employ it in "To Have and Have Not", 1944 and "The Big Sleep", 1946, both starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Of course, all of these films predate "The Thing..." and Hawks didn't use the technique in every one of his movies as, at the time, it was controversial. "Adam's Rib", 1949, starring Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn, has dialog tailor made for the actors but it isn't overlapping, it's just rapid-fire. Again, "The Thing..." is not directed by Hawks, it is Christian Nyby's movie, even though it has all the elements that make it a great Hawksian experience. Hawks was Nyby's mentor and this is one of the few feature films Nyby would direct, as he was a prolific director of episodic television. Of course now we associate overlapping dialog with Robert Altman, Quentin Tarantino and Aaron Sorkin, but they all cite Hawks as their inspiration.
Yeah, this really worked well. Also notice how the Air Force guys never refer to themselves by rank, only by first name or "sir."
Greetings, This was a B-movie with B actors with a B expense account, but this film always impressed by the dialogue. Now, I loved the film and every aspect about it, but it was much later that it hit why I watched the movie at least once a year. It was the overlapping dialogue! One of Howard Hawks' successful directing secrets. I am now a Hawks fan. The Thing is one of the top three 'classic' sci-fi pictures of all time. :-)
That was Howard Hawks style. He often had overlapping dialogue in his films. I have always found it annoying.
I love it. It works so well in this movie, especially with the military crew, and the group of scientists. You really feel like the military guys have been a unit for a long time, and you can feel the same with the scientists. It feels very realistic, and also appropriately claustrophobic in the setting.
ONE of the best movies,and one of the greatest scenes.
What always impressed me about the direction of this film was when there are multiple actors in a shot, they are all perfectly positioned.
Take a look at the cockpit shot when the Geiger Counter starts to flash. Every head its in the right place.
The scene where they spread out on the ice to find the shape of the ship is great, especially with the music to set the eerie mood. Now a days the movie makers would CGI an actual space ship, not anywhere near as effective as not showing it and leaving it to the imagination of the audience.
Very well said -- I remember it well, from when I was only 6.
Don Gilleo
1:51
3:52 STING CHORDS
@@francisobrien7452 They don't. Make movies like this one anymore, it seems nowadays. If there's no. swearing, and. No. Sleazy. shots. Of nudity. the film. Industry. won't make a movie, shows you where this sick. World is heading,. If you want to watch any good. Sci.
Fi. It's the. Ones. From. The. 1950s. Just look. at. all. the great. Movies. Of the. Past. AND TO THINK THEY DIDNT HAVE. ALL. THE. COMPUTER. SPECIAL. EFFECTS. THEY. HAVE NOW,. AND STILL DONT. COME CLOSE. TO HOW GOOD THOSE. OLD SCI. FI. MOVIES. WERE, SITTING IN. A CONVERTIBLE, TOP. DOWN. ON. A WARM. STAR. FILLED. SKY. AT THE DRIVE IN,. YOU. COULD. FILL. UP YOUR. CAR,. GO. OUT. TO EAT. ON A. FRIDAY NIGHT. AND GO TO. THE. DRIVE. IN. ALL. WITH. 10 DOLLARS. AND. STILL HAVE. MONEY. LEFT OVER,. NOW. YOU GO TO. MCDONALS. IT. COST. YOU. Almost. 9 DOLLARS. FOR. ONE. HAMBURGER ,AND THATS. NO. FRIES OR. DRINK OUTRAGEOUS,! GREED. NOW DAYS. HAS. NO. E,ND
I like the respect for the military here. Camaraderie and dedication to mission that we seldom see in Hollywood these days
Great Comment above.
When those scientists all fan out, and then raise their arms to form the buried saucer's circumference, the profundity of that moment, combined with Dimitri Tiomkin's unabashedly-weird score, still thrills me to the core.
The Music has SO much to do with making B-Movie magic transcendent...
Fav sci fi movie
Both Kenneth Tobey and Hugh Marlowe are two of most underrated actors in all of Hollywood! They both could carry a movie as the lead actor without any problem. Kenneth Tobey's performance in this movie is superb. He is completely and totally believable as a USAF Captain who finds himself in charge of a group of individuals facing a complete unknown terrifying enemy from another world. He should have received an academy award for this picture because he was perfect. Howard Hawks was also superb! Every supporting actor in this incredibly scary movie, (for this time period), was spot-on but none better than Tobey. This feature will always be a classic along with "The Day the Earth Stood Still" with Hugh Marlowe.
I recently re-watched 'The Thing' on TCM. It is a scary movie and it is great 1950s sci-fi. But what struck me this time was the dialogue. It is so quick and nimble. The back-and-forth between the characters is really great. They had to work hard on some of the scenes to get the words and timing correct. Movies in the 2020s don't usually have that kind of repartee. Next time, listen to it. It's clever.
"Geiger Counter is going crazy." Ah the 50s. High radiation procedures call for taking photos and lighting a cigarette...
The scene where the explorers discover the object in the ice is round was thrilling.
That has to be some of the best "oh shit" music I ever heard.
Holy cats!
This is the type of world I hoped to live in. Collegial, hard working but respectful. The men are manly but not macho. They even have sympathy and compassion for each other, the way I was taught real men should behave.
That, is why John Carpenter used the scene in Halloween when the kids had the T.V. on Classic and he loved it, And so have I over a hundred times. Music sheer terror... AND SOME OF THE BEST ONE LINERS. Monumental..
of my best films ever
Mine to.
Seen this when it came out. Scared the hell out of me for years!😊
My Favorite film of All Time.
Thomas Tiernan game of thing too
The music and feel of this clip conveys the shock that will really occur when "alien life" goes from being a theory to being a fact
Very rare to get a couple of movies based on story that are both 10/10
This is the point when I grab some provisions and start heading in the opposite direction.
'The Thing' scared the crap out of me when I was young. I always liked it.
Me too. I was sure he was in my closet for months. I would not even breathe more then I had too.
As a kid, _The Thing_ was one of those movies I watched from behind the sofa ...
I first saw this movie in Germany when I was about 7 years old. There was a special feature on German television called "Rain Film". They used to show a movie on rainy afternoons when people couldn't be out and about. That particular movie scared and thrilled me so much that I never forgot it. Back then, researching a movie was pretty difficult so I just had to wait and wait and wait until finally, in 2000, I found it on DVD and bought it immediately. I have watched it ever since for god knows how many times, mostly alone on snowy Friday evenings, with a pizza. I still cherish these moments with myself, my childhood memories, my self made pizza and this movie and I will keep on doing so. I never asked anybody to join. Everybody's welcome, wife, son, anybody, but so far, nobody wanted to. That's fine. More pizza for me and I have don't have to explain why I'm watching an old black and white movie with tears in my eyes...
I love this movie! I first saw it when I was about 5 or 6 yrs. The only two scene's that I remembered were when they doused the 'Thing' with kerosene and he went running out the window into the snow. Must have been the flames on a body that I could identify with.
That was an awesome scene!
When I was 5yrs old, I was born 1949. Lived in phla pa. Snuck in a movie theater , I sat in the front row, this movie scared the life out of me. The best borrow movie I've seen.
The music score itself sets the stage.
I love it. Unfortunately, Dimitri Tiomkin would never do a score as progressive as that again. You can get it on iTunes.
cant make them like this any more , smart people left Hollywood long time ago
The smart ones fled from Europe when Hitler declared an unofficial war on millions of citizens.
One of my favorite sci-fi movies
Die Klimaforscher Prof. Phil Jones und Prof. Michael Mann (beide IPCC) haben in ihrer bekannten Hockeyschlägerkurve der Erderwärmung, den Temperaturrückgang seit dem Jahr 2000 mithilfe von Baumringdaten unterschlagen. Als dies in 2009/2010 herauskam, hat sogar Prof. Mojib Latif diese Trickserei eingestanden.
RIP Dewey Martin.
I read that Mr. Martin was a fighter pilot in the US Navy during World War II. He served in the Pacific theater.
Mr. Martin is also terrific in Howard Hawks’ “The Big Sky” with Kirk Douglas.
i love these old sifi movies :) plus the sound of the theremin as used in many sifi films :)
Good ole Paul Frees (love his voice).
@Tom Smith I'm your host...your Ghost Host..bwah ah hah
I was 7 when I saw this in the theater. It scared the crap out of me. Did not sleep for over a week!!
I've watched this clip about 37,563 times absolutely luv it.
Awesome...! Great Cast, plus Hawks' "phantom direction", plus Tiomkin's spine-thrilling score. A-1.
So much fun. Love this film!!
My love for soundtracks started at an early age. I was a kid who went to the movies every weekend, who stayed up late to watch them on TV and snuck into ones I was too young to see. I wanted to own movies, but there was no home video. The closest thing was buying original soundtracks so that's what I did. My faves are Goldsmith, Tiomkin, Herrmann, and Bernstein.
Memorable movies almost always have great musical scores. Dimitri Tiomkin was one of the best.
An all-time favorite in my family! My older brother first saw this in the movie theater & he said he dropped his hot dog & soda when the dead dog fell out of the cabinet!
I've thanked you for the heads-up, where you suggested I search.
I'll thank you again here. Clearly you are a discerning soundtrack aficionado, and your ear for Tiomkin's ingenuity is mighty fine indeed.
Just an incredible film.., the dialogue, the story, the acting.. top-notch from end-to-end...
Yep, the dialogue is great. Back and forth, quick and witty.
It’s probably the first post war sci fi. There optimism is genuine and real. The world is recovering from probably the worst terror ever. Finding optimism from beyond their Little Rock.
Destination Moon (1950) was the first postwar sf film
Such snappy dialogue and great creep factor. Classic.
Sappy? my ass...
It's a trait of Howard Hawks movies. Rapid fire dialogue.
@@jeffsmith2022 "Snappy", not "sappy". Unless Rick edited a typo. :)
I would like a remake of this... keep the spirit, the odd, unsettling music, and keep this same vibe.
Saw it at night with my mom on tv in the early 60s. Sweetly scary. My mom loved these movies. This scene was filmed in death valley on a 100 degree day. Hey, that's movies!
watched this as a kid and in later yrs got it on vhs then dvd, whenever a snowstorm came through nyc i would hunker down at night light up some weed and watch this one of a kind classic..
Im convinced they are actually flying a real plane that's how natural and real the acting was.
To Steven Smyth, 1950-60s SciFi came in the twilight of the Studio System and is often why their direction, writing, and at times special effect were excellent considering the budgets they worked with. Them led the audience on discovering the Ants almost like a police procedural and used sound to hint at what was out there menacingly before the big reveal....
That scene where they try to "figure out the shape of this thing," still works today perhaps because of the music. One thing I noticed, the crewmen operating the flaps (Dewey?) is standing up during the landing. One would think everyone would have to be seated and strapped in "for landing."
They really knew how to fly em in those days Beav!!
The flap controls on the C-47 are on the center console. He never reached forward.
At 0:49 you can see the equipment used to scrape the ice towards the right of the frame. The last half of this clip was on a Hollywood back lot.
Saw this when I was 6, and it scared hell out of me!
Likewise.
Not that your opinion really matters.
4:00 What a classic and iconic scene
One of my all-time go-to sci-fi favorites!! 😎👍
This movie scared the hell out me. I was only 9
Remember seeing this in the 1960s when I was a kid. Brilliant film
When this movie was made, that airplane was still new, and some of them are still flying today.
Musical score is incredible. Really add's to the scene.
I saw this when I was a kid and it scared the pants off me. I couldn't sleep right for days.
I love the music in these old movies so much
Watch the skies!!!
anyone else reminded of captain america: the first avenger a little bit? i love that type of homage
had to read an article for class that mentions this movie and i had to come see for myself!
I love all three Thing movies. I know a lot didn't like the prequel, but I love it.
Ahhhhh.....Absolutely Perfect SCI-FI. Great music score and dialog....The first flick for Jim Arness? The cast is fabulous. I'm pretty sure they have all checked out by now. This film and, "Them" are two best Sci fi flicks of the era...maybe of all time...and Arness is in both!
James Arness is an evolved vegetable come from outer space. His flying saucer crashes and becomes frozen in ice. The Thing is retrieved and inadvertently thawed. Havoc ensues until it is killed using electric current. Even in 1951, we were thinking about the directions in which extraterrestrial life might evolve. It is a chilling scene as the men circle the ice-covered saucer to reveal its shape. We are admonished to "Watch the skies!"
Still remember the chills i got from this film. Wouldnt go down in the cellar for a long time and even today dont lije them....
One of the Best Ever !! Superbly acted by all involved! I think I remember reading a while ago that the scenes ( which were most of the movie ) of the indoor lab and encampment were shot in a Refrigeration Storage Building in Elizabeth, New Jersey!! Being a Jersey Guy I’m Hoping that’s True!!
This movie the way it was directed needed no special effects, the story line and the way it was told left it all to the audience imagination, it's what makes it a classic!
Of course the Kurt Russell' 1989 remake with a human head walking across the floor with spider legs was pretty epic too. LOL!
Barnes, bring some tools, doesn’t matter what type, just bring ‘em.
Have this on the DVR without commercials. One of my favorite sci-fi movies.
IMO, this is the best 50's science fiction film. Simplistic plot I admit, but it moves very well and the incredible dialogue is 20-30 years ahead of it's time. You could possibly argue for Forbidden Planet, and that's fair, but I'd vote for this one by a hair.
Thanks for that trivia on North Dakota. Amazing how well they did that scene, but in those days, one really had to know cinematography.
One of the great movie thanks so much
I was about 10 years old when I first saw this movie , but for some reason this scene scared the living daylights out of me !!!
Loved the rest of it , I'm an adult now, but I still get chill when ever this scene comes up !!!!
Thank you film makers !! 🙂🙂🙂
A really good scene with so much detail and intelligence.
Great musical score adds to the drama!
Forgot I was watching on UA-cam. Got totally sucked in and was upset when the clip ended. Great movie!
Best Movie ever. Can't watch this enough on Tubi☺♥♫☼☼‼‼
The brilliance, apart of course of Rob Bottin's work, in JC's version of TT was the disintegration of trust amongst the personnel. Bill Lancaster (son of of Burt) wrote the script.
The 1951 film was the complete opposite.
Classic Movie...Classic scene... : )
If you've never seen this movie it is definitely worth your time to watch. If you can't find a free copy laying around somewhere, it can be purchased on Amazon Prime video.
"This geiger counter going crazy!"
That would be my queue to go. The 50 were very different when it came to radiation...
The definitive "Thing". So much better, all across the board.
The very first horror/scary movie to use sound to enhance the fear effect
What Codemann010 said. Such a fantastic sequence, and my complements on your Title selection.
The 1950s aliens are the best because they were pure, though some could take on the appearance or inhabit human beings for the most part they are as advertised Aliens!!! Next to the iconic Forbeden Planet, The Thing stands out not only in menace but also in imagination that made the Golden Era of Scifi unique in American Cinema.
Love all the characters in this movie.
Jim Arness's best film. He doesn't say a word.
I have such a great affinity for this film. The dialog is brilliant, pacing is excellent and cinematography is wonderful.
The only area in which this film falls short is in the actual depiction of The Thing itself. It's a true letdown to learn the protagonist that has been carefully sculpted by the director is little more than a guy (James Arness in a early role) in a suit.
Surely even at the time this film was made there were better options than that?
Still, always an enjoyable watch.
thats the thing
I love this film, hats off to Robert Cornthwaite, Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan and all the other 'character' actors , so very, well done.. Exception,.'Barnes, bring some tools'?
This was probably Paul frees Best live action role because he does not just have a cameo in this movie no, he’s part of the group of scientists
Great start of movie flying. 🛸
The tractor at 0:51 wasn't,t supposed to be in the film
Still a great science fiction movie
Awesome!
The geiger counter is at the top Captain; let's get closer so we can all get roasted!
Mark H. Now that's funny. Funnier than dogshit in Obama's milkshakes.
The Original is always the best!🙂
Yeah the remake with Kurt Russell sucked compared to the original 1951 classic. Same with a 1951 classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. Great movie. The remake with Keanu Reeve sucked rubber ducks
@@lorenzomaximo1818 John Carpenter's film is far superior to this in all respects. One of the greatest horror films of all time. Not sorry to tell you. Can't argue that the Days the Earth Stood Still remake sucked though.
indeed sir you can't replace the karizma of the original film in any remake
@@lorenzomaximo1818 The characters in this movie for the most part liked each other, had a camaraderie. The Thing not so much. It was about who was infected until almost everyone was wiped out. Ending in a question mark. . To each his own I guess.
@@Userius1 I disagree with both of you. For its time, this was a fantastic movie and is as fun to watch as when I saw it as a kid. Carpenter's "The Thing" is a classic in its own way and one of my favorite movies. The 2011 prequel was, well let's say it was The Godfather III of the trilogy.
Oh,i love this movie..!!!!
I agree. The new movie doesn't even bring anything to the table. It's a prequel to Carpenter's version (which I find to be a classic in its own right) and has to end where his begins. Now that George Lucas has told the back story for his saga, everyone else has to as well. No new ideas, just franchises.
Totally agree. If you turn down the sound, it still works, but not as well. What's especially cool is if you listen carefully, Tiomkin has the percussion section tap out Morse code with bells or xylophones. There's a video on UA-cam that suppresses the dialog track so you can only hear the music. Search for The Thing From Another World with Isolated Music Soundtrack.
Thanks, I will.
I want to watch this movie tonight can't get it on my tv or phone A good oldie but goodie