The first great American science-fiction / monster movie of the 1950s is The Thing from Another World (1951).  It deviates a great deal from the famous story on which it is based, yet it wildly succeeds in stamping an effective story and style template which so many similar movies imitated.  It was produced by Howard Hawks, and directed by Christian Nyby.  The debate rages on whether Hawks assumed directorial duties; the film certainly boasts his stylistic tendencies.  My feeling is that he guided Nyby; in the end it doesn’t matter.  The film is great, regardless.

The quest for scientific knowledge is squarely pitted against the power of patriotic military might in this thinly veiled Cold War-era propaganda thriller but ultimately both factions work together to defeat the invader from space, thought to be a vanguard of an invasion.  Unlike so many other, later, ‘50s era sci-fi films, however, this one moves.  Its brisk and breakneck pace never slows, especially once the title character thaws out and starts rampaging around the Arctic base where it has been taken.

Suspense and comic moments are expertly blended.  The dialogue is droll and ironic, delivered in realistic, overlapping fashion by actors who clearly relish their script.  And there’s some very interesting sexual tension between Margaret Sheridan and Kenneth Tobey, particularly in the oft-censored scene where she ties him up in his office!

The film is at its best when exploring the complexities between the scientists, led by Robert Cornthwaite, who wish to study the Thing at all costs, vs. the military men, led by Tobey, who just want to kill it.  More questions are raised than answers are provided, which is in the best tradition of science-fiction.  “An intellectual carrot?  The mind boggles!”  Yes, it does.  Quite merrily.  My rating:  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆.  (10:4).