5 Otherworldly Facts About 1951’s ‘The Thing From Another World’

THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, (aka THE THING), top center: James Arness, left from top: James Young, Dewey Martin, Kenneth Tobey, right from top: John Dierkes, James Young, Robert Cornthwaite, Margaret Sheridan on poster art, 1951. — Everett Collection

1951’s The Thing from Another World, which airs on TCM tonight at 8pm EST, is more than just one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time — it also inspired another one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time, John Carpenter‘s 1982 Antarctic fear-fest The Thing. Both films are based on the 1938 sci-fi short story “Who Goes There?,” which told the tale of a polar research base invaded by an ancient alien who can take on the form of other living things.

That short story was very different from what audiences had come to expect from realist director Howard Hawks; but he bought the rights to the film because he had noticed the increasing popularity of sci-fi publications and thought he should get a foot in the burgeoning market. Hawks joined the film as a producer, but felt the original story was too complicated for film, so he made some tweaks: here, it’s not an alien shape-shifter that runs amok on a polar research base; it’s an alien plant that feeds on blood, walks like a man, and can kill sled dogs and research scientists without breaking a sweat (breaking a dew?).

Though it received mixed reviews at the time, today the film has been celebrated by the American Film Institute and singled out for preservation by the Library of Congress. It’s also been praised as one of the only 1950s sci-fi films that remains actually scary to modern viewers. A lot of that is due to the involvement of Hollywood visionary Hawks, who didn’t exactly write or direct the film …. but also didn’t not write or direct the film.

To learn more about that and more mysterious facts about the film, read on … if you dare.

1The title was changed to avoid confusion with a novelty song

You may notice that in the opening credits of the film, the words “The Thing” appear first, in large, stylized type; the words “From Another World” appear later, in smaller font. That’s because those additional words weren’t originally part of the title; it was actually just called The Thing. Producer Hawks changed the title out of fear that viewers would think it was connected to Phil Harris’s hit 1950 novelty song “The Thing.”

Harris came to fame on Jack Benny’s radio show, and would later voice two classic Disney characters — Balou in 1967’s The Jungle Book and Little John in 1973’s Robin Hood. But in 1950, his song “The Thing” — which tells a bizarre comedic story of a man who finds an unnamed object on the beach, and discovers that it terrifies and upsets everyone who comes into contact with it — was a tremendous hit, spending several months on the Billboard charts and even reaching number one.

Given all of that, it’s understandable that Hawks wanted to be sure to make sure the public didn’t show up to his film expecting a rollicking cinematic adaptation of Harris’s song.

2Christian Nyby directed it …. but maybe he didn’t

screenshot of the opening title for the 1951 movie

Nyby had a long and accomplished career as a film editor, working on Hawks-directed 1940s classics like The Big Sleep and Red River. However, Nyby wanted to transition into a directing career — a directing career that began with The Thing From Another World.

However, almost since the moment of its release, there’s been some questions about who directed the film: Nyby or Hawks? In his capacity as producer, Hawks was on set every day, and it’s documented that he did uncredited revisions on the script. The film bears so many hallmarks of Hawks’ work, including snappy dialogue and dynamic pacing, that Hollywood myth has long held that Hawks directed the film, but gave the credit to Nyby so that he could join the Directors Guild and start a new career, which he did soon after, becoming a journeyman TV director, while also helming a handful of films in the ’50s and ’60s.

In a 1997 Los Angeles Times article about the controversy (written by one of Nyby’s descendants), Nyby’s son, Christian Nyby II, declared “Dad directed it,” and claims that his subsequent work never showed the same level of craftsmanship because TV shows work with much tighter restraints than film.

George Fenneman, who played one of the scientists, recalled that “Hawks would once in a while direct, if he had an idea, but it was Chris’ show,” while Robert Cornthwaite, who played the corrupted Dr. Carrington, said “It sickens me, some of the things that have been said … Chris always deferred to Hawks, as well he should. Hawks was giving him the break, after all, though he had done much fine work for Hawks and had his confidence. . . . Maybe because he did defer to him, people misinterpreted it.”

But perhaps the most definitive take on the situation was Nyby’s own comment at a 1982 cast reunion. Asked point-blank about the controversy, Nyby said, “Did Hawks direct it? That’s one of the most inane and ridiculous questions I’ve ever heard, and people keep asking. That it was Hawks’ style. Of course it was. This is a man I studied and wanted to be like. You would certainly emulate and copy the master you’re sitting under, which I did. Anyway, if you’re taking painting lessons from Rembrandt, you don’t take the brush out of the master’s hands.”

3Marshal Matt Dillon was the monster

THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, <a href=

Long before he was keeping the peace in Dodge City as Marshal Matt Dillon on 20 seasons of Gunsmoke, James Arness got his early big break as the creature in The Thing From Another World. Though he’d been acting since 1947 (often in small, uncredited roles), Arness finally got significant screen time as the titular Thing. He was featured heavily in the promotional material, and made the princely salary of $750 a week (roughly $9,225 per week today). However, Arness supposedly wasn’t proud of his work on the film, and refused to talk about it later in life.

4Some scenes were basically filmed in a refrigerator

THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD, Dewey Martin, Douglas Spencer, Robert Cornthwaite, John Dierkes, Kenneth Tobey, 1951

Everett Collection

Original plans for the film’s production included the idea of shooting the entire thing in snowy environs like Alaska. However, that would have required the US government to allow them to shoot on their military bases, which turned out to be a no-go.

So the production worked out a different way to shoot scenes where the film’s characters are freezing: some outdoor shots would be filmed at Montana’s snowy Glacier National Park, while the indoor scenes depicting the base after the Thing has destroyed its heating system, according to a 2020 article published in American Cinematographer, were shot inside a Los Angeles ice storage facility.

5It makes a cameo in a John Carpenter classic

Carpenter famously made The Thing in 1982, but he asserted his love of the film a few years earlier: Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Tommy (Brian Andrews) are watching the opening credits of the film shortly before Laurie’s babysitting gig goes to hell in 1978’s Halloween.