Director: Christian Nyby
Cast: Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, James Arness
Have I Seen it Before: Never, although I’ve probably seen the opening titles dozens upon dozens of times, as this along with Forbidden Planet (1956) are broadcast on TV during the events of Halloween (1978). When the movie was done, I was immediately overwhelmed with a need to watch Forbidden Planet again.
But then again, I usually want to watch Forbidden Planet, so that’s hardly something that’s John Carpenter’s fault.
Did I Like It: This may all sound like I will damn with faint praise, and it’s hard not to do that to a film which was so dynamically remade later on.
This film is well made b-movie fluff. We never really see the titular Thing (Arness, who by virtue of being hardly seen is barely recognizeable), which is good because given how prominently he was featured on my DVD cover, there is no way that effect would have been able to stand up even with audiences in the 1950s. All in all, this has all the trappings (for good and for ill) of a Twilight Zone episode. Slightly higher production value rules the day here, as the scenes taking place outside are believably shot amongst snowy desolation, which offsets every other scene obviously shot on a nondescript sound stage. The writing is another matter, brining it slightly below the Zone standard, with no bigger idea behind the action. This is, through and through, a movie meant for TV. Again, perhaps faint praise, but it should probably bear mentioning that for all of those reasons I imminently enjoyed the entire thing, and was struck not only by a need to watch Forbidden Planet when the movie was done, but also Carpenter’s remake, because this movie clearly had an effect on the man himself.