Bad news about "The Thing from Another World" on BD (1 Viewer)

[andySu]

One more Thing I found. Funny how the word "thing" seems to pop up least this thread should be easy to find in the search engine.


Stereo like The Thing and other 50's sci-fi scores.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Please see my post #39. The US DVD does include the missing footage.

That's correct, the US DVD has the missing footage.

 

[LouA]

That's correct, the US DVD has the missing footage.

That's okay - I still want to see the color version.

 

[Robert Crawford]

That's okay - I still want to see the color version.

Just remember I think the color version is the shorten one.

 

[Dick]

My impression from this thread is that the vast majority of us would be more than happy with the edited edition of this film on Blu-ray, as we can always play our unedited DVD if we so desire, which almost all of us already own. Now what, Warner Bros.?

 

[Patrick Donahue]

A couple of ideas:

1) Realese the edited film in HD with the longer version included in SD as a bonus feature

2) Can they release an HD version of the whole film, with the caveat that 5mins of it came from sub-standard 16mm sources? It reminds me of that one shot in the restored Vertigo where the quality dropped for like 2 seconds...

 

[Guy Foulard]

"Holy cat" was this Thing really rated "X" in the UK you got to be kidding me.

The British censors were very squeamish about horror in the 50s and 60s--and of course their 'X' didn't usually mean the same thing ours does. Most of the early Hammers got the 'X'.

 

[FoxyMulder]

My impression from this thread is that the vast majority of us would be more than happy with the edited edition of this film on Blu-ray, as we can always play our unedited DVD if we so desire, which almost all of us already own. Now what, Warner Bros.?

No, absolutely not.


Just upscale the standard definition footage into the HD one, the quality will be lower but at least it'll be uncut.

 

[Robert Crawford]

My impression from this thread is that the vast majority of us would be more than happy with the edited edition of this film on Blu-ray, as we can always play our unedited DVD if we so desire, which almost all of us already own. Now what, Warner Bros.?

I don't get that idea and I'm against it.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Today I received the one disc UK DVD release and without a doubt, it looks better than the Region 1 DVD release. A problem some might have with it in Region 1 is the PAL speedup.

 

[Richard Gallagher]

Today I received the one disc UK DVD release and without a doubt, it looks better than the Region 1 DVD release. A problem some might have with it in Region 1 is the PAL speedup.

Mine arrived today. I have only had a chance to scan it, but it looks good from what I've seen so far.

 

[John Sparks]

Mine arrived today. I have only had a chance to scan it, but it looks good from what I've seen so far.

Well, now we need an A/B comparison from you!

 

[Steve Christou]

Well, it arrived yesterday at the Criterion and it certainly is something. "The Thing," as Howard Hawks calls his new movie, is quite a show, folks. Not since Dr. Frankenstein wrought his mechanical monster has the screen had such a good time dabbling in scientific-fiction. The thing which we encounter in "The Thing" is a vegetable phenomenon with human form which lives on animal life (that means us, the film says) and is impervious to bullets.

Mr. Hawks has developed a movie that is generous with thrills and chills and comes up with just enough light, bantering dialogue — the kind of desperate wit which acts as a safety valve under pressing circumstances—so that the film does not appear to take itself too seriously. Producer Hawks and his director, a newcomer named Christian Nyby, who used to be a film cutter, draw a full measure of suspense out of the delayed emergence of the thing from the huge ice block encasing it.

The thing, which the picture's best scientific minds say is a visitor from another planet (though not necessarily a man from Mars), is discovered after a great magnetic disturbance at the North Pole. An Army Air Force search party and a group of eminent scientists first come upon what appears to be a flying saucer imbedded in the ice. Using thermite bombs to free the saucer, they set off an explosion which destroys that prize, and then they make a second amazing find—that thing which looks like a creature neatly packaged in a ton of ice.

From there on the film is full of unexpected thrills as the head scientist, a Nobel Prize winner, no less, wants to protect and study the find and the army lads just want to stay alive. They have a tough job doing that because the thing is anxious to live, too, and has the same fondness for blood as we have for milk.

"The Thing" is played by a group of people who won't be familiar to movie-goers, but several of them, including Margaret Sheridan, as a secretary in the scientific party; Kenneth Tobey, as the captain; Dewey Martin, Robert Nichols and Robert Cornthwaite probably won't be unfamiliar for too long. The thing itself is played by James Arness and we guess he gives an out-of-this-world performance, but you never see the actor himself and Mr. Hawks has been careful not to give any full face closeups of his vegetable monster, whom the reporter refers to as a "carrot with brains."

Adults and children can have a lot of old-fashioned movie fun at "The Thing," but parents should understand their children and think twice before letting them see this film if their emotions are not properly conditioned.


Bosley Crowther - New York Times (May 1951)

 

[John Sparks]

Well, that pulled me in with the beginning sentence. Just glancing at the word "CRITERION" and I'm thinking ...WTF???

Great original review!

 

[Steve Christou]

Yeah Criterion releases The Thing on blu-ray.... if only.


"film cutter" turned director Christian Nyby barely gets a mention in the review but how much of the film did he direct?

 

[John Sparks]

That's like "Poltergeist" with Tobe Hooper. Some say he directed it all and some, like one of the actresses (Zelda Rubenstein) says that, "Spielberg was there everyday to direct."


So, who do you believe?

 

[Steve Christou]

I wrote an article on The Thing for Hubpages a few years ago and I don't think I even mentioned the controversy over the direction. Like you said it must have been similar to what happened on Poltergeist. I'm almost sure Kenneth Tobey said Hawks was "calling the shots" in an interview in some magazine, maybe Cinefantastique? Not 100 per cent on this.

 

[LouA]

Mine arrived today. I have only had a chance to scan it, but it looks good from what I've seen so far.

Hi Rich, I would guess that you and Mr. Crawford are watching the DVD on an up converting all region DVD player , or an all region Blu-ray player. I have a ten year old all region Yamaha , so I probably won't see the improvement. I've been planning on getting a multi region bluray player for a while now , but haven't gotten around to it yet .

 

[Robert Crawford]

Hi Rich, I would guess that you and Mr. Crawford are watching the DVD on an up converting all region DVD player , or an all region Blu-ray player. I have a ten year old all region Yamaha , so I probably won't see the improvement. I've been planning on getting a multi region bluray player for a while now , but haven't gotten around to it yet .

I watched both DVDs on an Oppo 103 BD player.

 

[Worth]

Yeah Criterion releases The Thing on blu-ray.... if only.

They released The Blob, so...