Rating: 
Summary: Terrible
Review: I saw all the wonderful reviews of this "classic" film and decided to go out and buy a copy. Was I dissappointed. Don't let anybody fool you about this film. Perhaps it was good compared to other horror films released in its time but even that is hard to believe. Now, I don't claim to be a maven of the "horror" genre but this film just didn't live up to its expectations. Aside from the fact that I found the plot development to be rather slow and drawn out, the acting really turned me off. I didn't find the acting to be natural as others seem to believe. The acting was so contrived it was disturbing(and not in a horrific way). I felt like the dialogue was rushed and that each character felt they needed to churn out their lines as fast as possible, which really made me nervous listening to it. And in this hurried fashion, the characters interrupted each other often resulting in much of the dialogue being muffled and lost. This was my main concern with the movie. It lacked the emotion and convincing acting necessary to enthrall the viewer in the characters' dillema. One thing's for sure. I'm never watching this movie again.
Rating: 
Summary: Sci-Fi Classic at its best - simple, chilling and taut
Review: This is truly one of the 50s classic "invasion from space" films. Kenneth Tobey stars as an Army Air Corps aircraft commander who leads a contingent of U.S. airmen and civilian scientists who battle an alien lifeform for control of a remote North Pole scientific research station. Written in the early days of America's flying saucer paranoia, it details how the seemingly-dead occupant of a crashed flying saucer, discovered by the science crew, comes to life and terrorizes the members of the polar research station who have been cut-off from help and reinforcement by a severe polar blizzard. The alien, played by James Arness (Matt Dillon of later Gunsmoke fanme), lives on the blood of humans he kills and uses the blood to nurture his newborn young. The cast and crew of this low budget, black and white film are talented and deliver a taut, edge of your seat performance. As cited in the closing line of the film, "Look to the skies. Keep looking. Keep looking." This video is a bargain at twice the price for true, classic scifi afficianados!
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely a Sci/Fi Classic
Review: Hi you all from Melbourne Town, thanks to Amazon I just received the DVD copy of "The Thing", we all know the story, I'm simply going to say the the quality is 100% fine very good picture and clear sound, Warner Brothers have done a very good transfer to DVD, many thanks. I am now waiting for films like the "Bamboo Saucer" and "Crack in the World", and maybe a host of lesser "B" grade movies to come to DVD. The scene that always brings a smile is the reading out of the Reference Number "629-49 item 6700 extract 7500 131...oh, that one" they just don't make films like this anymore!
Rating: 
Summary: BIG Disappointment.
Review: what is good about this film?? With a big tall men acting like a maniac. Everyone's acting is also too comical. The only good about this film is I guess it is considered as a "classic". Nothing more. So, I guess I am FORCED to give TWO stars. There are TONS of better scar movies out there which were made in the 50s. Forget it....I was very disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Great in spite of......
Review: A remarkably good Sci Fi movie in spite of the "Thing" resembling a vegetable version of Dr. Frankenstein's monster. This would have been a superb movie if those producing it had insisted on originality when it came to the alien. However, this aside, it is so far beyond the later "The Thing" with Kurt Russell that its laughable. This original was at least logical in the way it had the story and characters treat the antarctic cold ( other than the vegetable alien not freezing solid!) in contrast to the absolutely insane and stupid way the story and characters of the later version handle the cold ( witness Russell in a sombrero, jeans, and a leather jacket out side in the antarctic winter!!!!! something that would guarantee death in less than three minutes and severe, life-threatening frost bite in less than 15 seconds!!!!)
The Hollywood hacks responsible for the later version insult the audience and spit on them with such outlandish, idiotic character activity, but this original version does a good job showing a group of people confined to a small outpost in the most severe and deadly winter on earth battling a hostile life form from another planet. It is the setting of the bleak, unrelenting antarctic winter and the little outpost inhabited by a handful of scientists and military personnel that is what I really liked about this show - that and the tension the characters feel and face when the alien is at large and attempting to kill and feed on them
Great show all in all!
Rating:
Summary: Keep watching the skies!!!!
Review: Possibly my most favorite 50's sci-fi movie. The Thing from Another World has an intense and interesting plot right from the start. The Kenneth Tobey character has the coolest looking leather flight jacket I have ever saw..it's worn and wrinkled perfect, this jacket looks cooler than the Fonz's from Happy Days. I also think the Margaret Sheriden character is very attractive...these are good reasons to watch this people!! My favorite scene from the film is when the characters are out on the ice, trying to see what is under them, then they spread out to determine the size and shape of the object under the ice...the music stops..."We found one, we found a flying saucer"! That scene gives me goosebumps, the music score thru the whole picture is great. Can't go wrong with this one if you like the genre of 50's sci-fi. Later
Rating:
Summary: The Father of Alien
Review: I just love this film and have done since I was a kid, but I have only recently noted the similarities to Alien. There's the scientist who doesn't want to destroy the Thing, but to save it for science (OK, by the time Alien was made, we were more cynical, and the bad guy wanted to save the Alien for corporate profit), there's the claustrophobic confinement in the Artic base with nowhere to escape (just like on the space ship), and they even use the Geiger counter to build up tension as the Thing approaches unseen. They used a similar device in Alien. And as in Alien, the Thing is only on screen for a very short time throughout the film.
Some of the "witty" dialogue is painfully strained and sounds like it came from a writer who had been working on a cheap romantic comedy the week before, but that's a minor point. And the scriptwriter gave the world one of history's most memorable lines - "an intellectual carrot - the mind boggles".
There's not the level of violence that you get in Alien - only two corpses throughout the entire film - but there is plenty of tension, and it's well worth watching. And there are a couple of interesting political points too. Given the fact that the fifties are regarded as a time of political naivety, it's surprising that there is a general feeling of hostility towards politicians, scientist and senior officers (the general is a buffoon, and the brilliant scientist is downright dangerous - when he boasts of the splitting of the atom as one of science's greatest achievements, a member of the flight crew suggests that mankind would have been better off without it).
Rating:
Summary: Legendary film is as good as its reputation
Review: If you're an aspiring filmmaker, don't get lost in the goo and blood of John Carpenter's remake of this film. Howard Hawks' 1951 classic "The Thing From Another World" is the blueprint, the beginning breath, the almost perfectly blended combination of science fiction, horror and action that all future films of these genres should eventually be judged by.
What is left unseen is far more terrifying, if not fascinating, than what filmmakers can show. Sounds in a back room, growls in the darkness, shadows fighting for their lives - this is the kind of horror that can chill to the bone. "The Thing" should be viewed late at night with the lights and heaters turned off. It's also one of those rare films where each time you see it, it gets better.
A ship crashes in the North Pole, and the military and a few scientists fly out to investigate. They discover a buried flying saucer. They eventually take the pilot, an eight-foot hairless alien, back to nearby headquarters. The creature is accidentally thawed out and begins wreaking havoc to kill humans for blood. It's a vegetable that asexually reproduces with this blood, and no man or woman is safe. As the creature begins stalking the humans, turning off the heat to freeze them out, the men hurriedly devise a plan to trap it and cook it - literally.
This is no "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" played for laughs. The action is always serious and the scares, including one of the greatest jump-out-of-your-seat moments in history when a door is opened, are earned with ingenious skill. The military team, spouting numerous wisecracks, works together to destroy the alien menace. You may have seen this before, but in 1951 it had never been done. Not really. Not like this.
A cast made up almost entirely of unknown actors (Kenneth Tobey would go on to cult status and a very long career) is crucial to the success of this film. This was probably not intentional, but it further gives "The Thing" a documentary aura which aides the suspense. The location work is terrific, with the exteriors lensed in Montana and the headquarters filmed inside a refrigerator in Los Angeles. These actors are literally cold and the shivers are real.
Producer Howard Hawks had already established himself as one of the great directors in history ("Red River," "His Girl Friday"). While this film is not officially a director's credit for him (Christian Nyby, his editor, was given the nod), it is generally considered his baby. The male bonding, tough females and overlapping dialog (a true wonder in "The Thing") are all Hawks' trademarks, and it is our great fortune that one of the finest directors in history would take on a horror/sci-fi project.
The battle between the scientists, wishing to save the alien, and the military trying to save lives, has been studied for years. Certainly the fear of Communists in a very paranoid post WWII society fueled much of this film's symbolism. The alien (famously played by Sheriff Dillon himself James Arness) attempting to grow exact replicas of itself - an army of faceless warriors marching to the beat of global takeover, is a thinly disguised version of the Soviet threat.
I am always thrilled when notable directors and actors create works of horror and science fiction ("The Day the Earth Stood Still," "The Exorcist," "The Changeling," "Interview with the Vampire"). Usually a wasteland of inexperienced hacks, "The Thing" is an example of a legendary talent redefining and creating a genre. This film is a timeless classic, and to this day we still "Watch the skies."
Rating:
Summary: Howard Hawks equals successful movie.
Review: Kenneth Tobey a resilent character star does commendable work at the direction of Howard Hawks. A real classic for science fiction buffs. "A stranger in a strange land" the leader of the scientific team reminds Tobey (who plays a AAF captain) just before Tobey reminds the alien (played by young James Arness) that the human is still superior in intellect. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The yardstick by which SF movies are measured...
Review: Sometimes one is tempted to think of the 1950's as a golden age of sci-fi flicks: many of the classic films and TV shows stick in the mind. But "The Thing" really outclasses the competition thanks to the influence and direction of Howard Hawks.
Unlike modern films that seem to degenerate into senseless violence and overblown action, this film stays within itself, offering smart, slick dialog that's well delivered. If anything, the focus here is not so much on the monster as it is on the human drama and conflict. Okay, the villainous scientist is pretty much Snideley Whiplash, but the tartness and rapidity of the gorgeous dialog transcend the mediocre plot.
The classic moment here, of course, is the group standing on the ice on the outlines of the craft and finding that they are in a big circle.
The John Carpenter remake is good, a worthy movie in its own right, but this film is still eminently watcheable 50 years on and is still the best period genre flick.
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