FILM · 1951 · USA
The Thing from Another World
67 archived facts 8 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (67)
- #001
The core crew at the South Pole Telescope station has a tradition of watching this film and the other two adaptations every winter, on the first night after the season's last plane departs.
- #002
Close-ups of "The Thing" were removed, as the makeup was felt unable to withstand close scrutiny. The absence of close-ups, however, gave the creature a more mysterious quality.
- #003
Initially, the creature was intended to be a shape-shifter as in the novel, but the limited budget forced the producers to abandon the idea. The first conceptual sketches depict a creature that closely resembles a plant, with one of its limbs apparently transforming into a human hand.
- #004
It was shot partly in Glacier National Park and at an ice storage facility in Los Angeles. The latter was used for interior shots to show the actors' breath condensing in the cold; this was one of the special effects Hollywood never managed to achieve successfully.
- #005
Directors Ridley Scott, John Frankenheimer, Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter cited the film as an important and influential work in their lives. Carpenter re-adapted it as The Thing (1982), making the Thing a shape-shifter as in the novel. The prequel of the same name, The Thing (2011), details the Norwegian team's discovery of the crashed ship buried in the ice and the events that occur before the Thing reaches the American outpost.
- #006
Howard Hawks asked the US Air Force for help in making the film. He was refused because senior officials believed such cooperation would jeopardize the US government's official position that UFOs do not exist.
- #007
The famous scene in which the crew forms a ring around the flying saucer frozen in the ice was actually shot at the RKO Ranch in the San Fernando Valley in hundred-degree heat.
- #008
Billy Curtis played a smaller version of "The Thing" in the creature's final scene.
- #009
James Arness reportedly found his role so embarrassing that he did not attend the premiere.
- #010
Charles Lederer's original script featured a non-human-looking creature that in its original form almost completely resembled the creature in the novel (blue skin, three red eyes, a sucker mouth and wispy hair), but the budget resulted in a more simply designed alien. Test footage was reportedly shot featuring a creature with the old alien design, performed by a one-legged man.
- #011
According to makeup artist Lee Greenway, he drove James Arness in his car to the home of producer and assistant director Howard Hawks to show off the Thing's makeup. After months of frustration, Hawks told Greenway to put a Frankenstein (1931)-style headpiece on Arness.
- #012
Although science fiction fans often mock it as a far too loose adaptation of John W. Campbell Jr.'s original novella, it is actually quite close to the first six chapters of the original story. Almost all of the short excerpts from the novella repeated in the film come from these first few chapters, including the discovery of the flying saucer due to its electromagnetic anomaly and its accidental destruction using termite charges, the creature's thawing, its supposed mind-reading and its death in an electric trap.
- #013
It is generally believed that Howard Hawks took over directing from Christian Nyby (his former editor) during production, and Nyby always acknowledged that Hawks was the guiding hand. In an interview, however, James Arness said that although Hawks spent a lot of time on set, it was Nyby, not Hawks, who directed the film. Filmmaker John Carpenter, who directed the remake The Thing (1982), said in an interview that he asked Hawks this question in 1971; Hawks told him he had only made some suggestions to Nyby. Carpenter noted, however, that later in his life Hawks increasingly began to take credit for directing the film, and that the completed film contains far more of Hawks's trademarks than Nyby's later work.
- #014
Howard Hawks added "from Another World" to the title to avoid confusion with the then-popular song "The Thing".
- #015
Master stuntman Tom Steele doubled for James Arness in the fire scene. Steele wore an asbestos suit with a special fiberglass helmet underneath, with an oxygen supply. He used a hundred percent oxygen supply, which was potentially very dangerous (oxygen does not burn. It is not flammable but it is an oxidizer. It is therefore dangerous to use around something burning because it helps the fire burn more quickly.)
- #016
Although the picture opens with the customary RKO Radio tower and flashing electric bolts, the familiar "dot-dash-dot" is replaced by the picture's opening theme, unusually for an RKO Production.
- #017
Alaska was initially considered as a location, but it was decided to head to more accessible sites in northern Montana instead. Two weeks of shooting were planned there, but the lack of snowfall meant this had to be cut by a week.
- #018
This picture has more stunt performers (14) than credited actors (11).
- #019
The opening title sequence is unusual for its time in that it does not list a single member of the cast.
- #020
When a character is asked whether he knows how to use a Very pistol, his answer is: "I saw Gary Cooper in Sergeant York (1941)". He then proceeds to lick his finger and run it along the gun sight as York does throughout the film. Sergeant York (1941) was also directed by Howard Hawks.
- #021
James Arness complained that the "Thing" costume made him look like a giant carrot.
- #022
Robert Cornthwaite, who played the sexagenarian Doctor Carrington, was actually only 34 years old when the film was shot.
- #023
Margaret Sheridan received top billing even though she did not have a large role in the film. This was because Sheridan was under the wing of Howard Hawks, who believed she had the potential to become a major star. She was originally supposed to be the female lead in Red River (1948), but she became pregnant.
- #024
When producer and assistant director Howard Hawks tried to take out insurance on the creature, five insurance companies turned him down because "The Thing" is frozen in a block of ice, cut with axes, attacked by dogs, set on fire and electrocuted.
- #025
It took makeup artist Lee Greenway five months and eighteen sculptures of the creature to find a design that satisfied Howard Hawks.
- #026
This was the first of two films made by Howard Hawks's own production company, Winchester Pictures Corporation. Winchester was Hawks's middle name.
- #027
Note how much of a character's speech overlaps, since dialogue is interrupted by another character's sudden interjection. The rapid-fire delivery of "realistic" recalls Howard Hawks's 1940 film "His Girl Friday (1940)."
- #028
Kenneth Tobey, the star of the film, claimed in many interviews that Hawks was actually the one who directed it, contrary to the interview given by James Arness. Tobey said that he worked with Christian Nyby many times after this film and that Nyby was a good director, but that Hawks shot most of the film.
- #029
James Arness and John Dierkes were both 1.90 meters tall. However, the handsome Arness was chosen to play the monster over the much more raw-boned and cadaverous Dierkes.
- #030
In an interview with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" program, when asked about the biggest scare they had ever had at the movies, Ebert stated that this film frightened him to death, especially the scene in which they burn the "Thing."
- #031
The cost of the "Thing": forty thousand dollars. Adjusted for inflation, this would be equivalent to three hundred seventy thousand dollars in 2015.
- #032
It was the 46th highest-grossing film of the year, beating other science fiction films that have since become classics, such as When Worlds Collide (1951) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).
- #033
Although they are not named, some well-known faces and voices appeared in the film. John Dierkes appeared in many John Ford/John Wayne westerns, George Fenneman was Groucho Marx's announcer and served as a television sidekick for many years, and Paul Frees, everyone's favorite "disembodied voice," was one of the scientists (and stays until the end of the film).
- #034
It is no surprise that Kenneth Tobey and James Arness disagreed about who directed the film. Directors often had their assistants direct the "action" sequences so that they could focus their time on the talking roles, where most of the film's "important" parts are centered. Assistant directors were usually tasked with shooting multiple action sequences that the directors could later view with a more objective eye.
- #035
Howard Hawks's close friends Ben Hecht and William Faulkner are thought to have contributed to the screenplay. However, long-standing rumors that Orson Welles contributed to the dialogue are believed to be unfounded.
- #036
Despite all the secrecy about James Arness's makeup and the time it took to apply, he appears on screen as the Thing for less than three minutes. He appears at the door of the greenhouse for less than five seconds and again at the climax for about two minutes and five seconds. The scene in which he fights the dogs, the fire scene and the final part of the electrocution scene were done entirely by stand-ins.
- #037
Scotty says he reported on the executions of Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray, who were found guilty in 1927 of murdering Ruth's husband, Albert. The crime inspired James M. Cain's 1943 novel Double Indemnity (1944), which also formed the basis of the screenplay for the classic 1944 film of the same name.
- #038
Scenes from this film are shown in John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) while Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews) and Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards) watch the film on Halloween night. As mentioned in another entry, Carpenter later remade The Thing From Another World as The Thing in 1982.
- #039
The film takes place between November 2 and November 3, 1950.
- #040
It was included on the American Film Institute's 2001 list of the 100 Most Heart-Pounding American Films.
- #041
This was the first of six films Margaret Sheridan made over the course of her career, during which she generally preferred motherhood to being a star.
- #042
According to a report in Boxoffice, the departures from Anchorage and the landings at the Arctic station were filmed at the Lewistown MT municipal airport.
- #043
Complaining about how hard it is to get a story approved, Scott wonders what Truman would say, and Eddie answers, "Margaret." Harry S. Truman was President of the United States at the time the photograph was taken, and his daughter Margaret was his personal confidante.
- #044
The ski-equipped aircraft seen throughout the film is a C-47, the military designation of the Douglas DC-3.
- #045
Several unusual snap fasteners were added to the collar of Captain Hendry's (Kenneth Tobey) leather A-2 flight jacket, presumably to make it easier to attach a non-standard insignia.
- #046
It was remade in 1982 as The Thing (1982), which was followed in 2011 by a prequel also titled The Thing (2011).
- #047
At roughly fifty-five minutes in, there is a long shot of the camp with the nose of the C-47 in the foreground. You can see the engine heaters attached with hoses and the name "Tropical Tilly" scratched onto the nose of the plane, an irony for an Alaska-based aircraft, along with a hula dancer.
- #048
When they all fly to the crash site for the first time, they see where the craft came down and discuss it. It came down, slid and then stopped and melted into the ice. They show a long shot of the skid and finally where it stopped. If you slow down or pause the film, the following emerges: at the start of the skid, at the landing point, there is something that looks like a man in a hat kneeling in front of some kind of machine. This may be the ice-cutting machine that made the entire carving of the scene.
- #049
The radio operator who rolls his own cigarettes became the pot-smoking radio operator in John Carpenter's version.
- #050
Weather problems in Montana caused the budget to rise from $980,000 to $1.1 million and added weeks to the production schedule.
- #051
The Thing does not appear until the fifty-seventh minute of the film.
- #052
According to Air Force magazine, the typeface used for the passage stating that the Air Force officially denies UFOs is the same typeface used in the opening credits of Star Trek TOS.
- #053
James Arness did not attend the premiere of The Thing from Another World (1951) because he found the role of "The Thing" embarrassing. He said his makeup made him feel he looked like a giant carrot. However, at about the forty-fifth minute of the film, one of the doctors describes "The Thing" as "a giant carrot," among other features. Perhaps this was the inspiration for Arness's words.
- #054
James Arness was hired two months before principal photography, during the design and development of the makeup.
- #055
Auerbach and Olson, the two characters reported killed in the greenhouse, never actually appear on screen and are not among the cast.
- #056
John Carpenter cited Howard Hawks as an inspiration. He included parts of this film in Halloween (1978), echoed its final line in The Fog (1980) and remade the film as The Thing (1982).
- #057
Scotty mentions that he attended Ruth Snyder's execution but says he could not get a photograph because cameras were not allowed. While the State of New York did not officially permit cameras at executions, Chicago Tribune photographer Tom Howard smuggled in a camera strapped to his ankle and photographed Ruth Snyder in the electric chair mid-execution. The photograph became a tabloid sensation. Tom Howard was the grandfather of George Wendt and the great-grandfather of Jason Sudeikis.
- #058
This was Howard Hawks's only venture into science fiction as a writer, director or producer.
- #059
This is the second of two adventure films starring James Arness about men facing danger in the polar regions. The other was Island in the Sky (1953), two years later.
- #060
At around 38:54, the close-up of the Thing inside the ice block is not the same creature seen elsewhere in the film. The Thing in the ice block has a round head and huge, almond-shaped black eyes, bearing no resemblance to the Frankenstein-style makeup James Arness wears for the rest of the film.
- #061
Both John Dierkes and Douglas Spencer would reunite two years later in the classic western "Shane."
- #062
Everett Glass, who played the gentle Dr. Wilson, later portrayed Timmek, the leader of the underground human civilization, in "World Without End," another notable 1956 science fiction film.
- #063
It was never clarified whether Nikki is the character's name or a nickname based on the surname Nicholson. Given the context of being at a military/scientific facility, it is most likely a nickname based on her surname. The credits refer to her only as "Nikki," though some fans insist her full name is the repetitive Nikki Nicholson.
- #064
Crazy Coincidence: while talking about their dates in Anchorage, Margaret Sheridan and Kenneth Tobey mention a night in San Francisco and how he moved all over her like an octopus. Five years later, Tobey would appear in It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), which tells of a giant octopus attacking San Francisco.
- #065
Early in the film, the calendar page in Nikki's office shows October 1950, since the first day of the month falls on a Sunday. If the action takes place on November 2-3, 1950, as stated, then Nikki apparently forgot to change the calendar page before Captain Hendry arrived.
- #066
In the military group, Cpl. Barnes is not given a first name, and Crew Chief Bob has no surname.
- #067
When Captain Hendry receives orders to protect the Thing, he asks one of his men to try to change the Army's mind. However, the Air Force was established in 1947. The film was made in 1951. The Army Air Forces no longer existed. Perhaps pre-production began before the name change.
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