The Thing from Another World (1951)

SPOILER WARNING!!! This post spoils movie The Thing from Another World (1951).

I usually tell how you can tell science fiction movie is from 50's because everybody works towards common goal. Well, this movie is different. This movie has more modern themes. This begins like normal 50's science fiction movie. Everyone is one big happy family. Military and scientists work together. They even take one reporter to science station and let him hang around. However everything changes as story goes on. One another not so 50's thing is that this have strong female on 50's level. She have the other role in movie than just to be saved. She actually helps men to fight the thing and give useful information to them.

Scientists have found crashed flying saucer near north pole. They ask military to help digging up the ship and help studying it. While military destroys the flying saucer, they manage to save one passenger inside ice block. When they got back to station storm traps them inside science station and cuts their communication to small messages periodically. This is when we begin to see more modern themes. Military guys want to have orders what to do while scientists want to study passenger. Someone sets heater on ice block and the thing is set free. They found out that it is intelligent humanoid plant.

Leader of scientists wants to study life form no matter the cost. He is ready to sacrifice whole human race to know more about the thing. Just to underline Frankenstein theme the thing look much like Frankenstein monster. Leader of scientists finds a way to grow the thing's seeds by feeding them blood. Military guys try to find way to kill the thing when they got orders to keep it alive. Tension between scientist and military guys grow. Everybody is happy while the thing is locked inside green room. But it escapes from there and turns the heat off. Their commands are to keep everyone including the thing alive but military guys decide to kill it to save themselves. Leader of scientist tries to prevent that but in the end military guys electrocute the thing and burn all seeds.

This movie has themes that are almost standards in modern science fiction but not so common in 50's science fiction. Scientists are ready to do anything for science. Military wants to study potential weapons. In this they don't mention that people are expendable if they can study the thing. Leader of scientists think that way. Nowadays this is on shadow of genre changing remake. It should not be. This is good movie one its own and worth watching. I don't know how genre changing this movie was. It have themes that are common in later movies but which I don't remember from other 50's movies.

I guess you have seen the pattern. This april is scifi remake month in this blog. That was not original plan but I realized that many movies I planned for this month were remakes or had remakes. When I check could I do whole month of this. I even found movie with two remakes. That movie well be on monday's post and remakes in last two posts of april.