<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

The Thing from Another World
Release Date	April 29, 1951
Genre	Sci Fi, Horror
Director	Christian Nyby Howard Hawkes (uncredited)
Screenwriter	John W. Campbell Jr. (story) Charles Lederer
Stars	Margaret Sheridan Kenneth Tobey Robert Cornthwaite Douglas Spencer James R. Young Dewey Martin Robert Nichols William Self Eduard Franz Sally Creighton James Arness
Studio	RKO Radio Pictures (US distribution)

The Thing from Another World (1951) and John Carpenter's 1982 remake are based on "Who Goes There?," a story by the famous editor John W. Campbell, which originally appeared in 1939 under his pen name, Don A. Stuart.

In a way, the story is a re-telling of H. P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness—set in the Arctic (rather than the Antarctic as in Lovecraft) and emphasizing the horror of contact with the truly alien.

The story involves the discovery of an alien intelligence, buried for 20 million years in the Arctic ice, a life-form both telepathic and able to shape. The central aspect of its horror hinges on not knowing who among the team that discovered the alien is human, and who is not.

The movie was adapted by Charles Lederer and directed by Howard Hawkes who went uncredited.