It's interesting to compare the August 29, 1950 version of the script
for "The Thing From Another World"
with the dialog in the film as actually released on April 6, 1951
(below). Sometime between August 1950 and the time the film was
<>completed, a pretty interesting detail was added -- the concept
of
"radiation-triggered cameras" to track UFOs. In the original script the
scientists theorize that the crashed UFO must be an advanced Russian
vehicle, atomic-powered. This detail was omitted from the completed
film, but the addition of the concept of radiation-triggered
<>tracking cameras seems to be a pretty strange parallel with the
"Los
Alamos Birdwatchers" concepts about nuclear-powered UFOs flying over
Los
Alamos. Project Twinkle's first phase of operation coincided with the
finalization of the script.
Not to be promote conspiracy theories, but what's going on here? This
was really the first major Hollywood film with a UFO theme. Did the
scriptwriters
or producers have access to interesting rumors? Defense contractor
Howard Hughes owned the studio, RKO. Is this just a strange coincidence?
THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD
Screenplay by
Charles Lederer
Based on the story
WHO GOES THERE?
by
John W. Campbell Jr.
RKO 1951
.........
DISSOLVE
10 INT. DR. CARRINGTON'S LABORATORY
....
At a large flat-topped table in the
room sits Dr. Arthur
Carrington. He is a man of 43 with
an alert, cheerful
face. He is good looking,
well built, soft spoken.
His dominant characteristic is a
smile that seems never
to leave his lips. It is
present always on his face
like an extra feature. He is
a genius of science and
a man whose brain is focused like a
microscope on the
secrets of nature....
In the room with Dr. Carrington is
a lean young man
named William Stone, in charge of
the camp's
photographic work and equipment.
Captain Henry stands silently in
the doorway, his eyes
moodily on his scientific
rival. The doctor is
studying the indicator dials of a
complex instrument on
the table. Bill Stone greets
the arrivals.
STONE
Hello, Nikki. Hello, Captain
Henry. How was the trip?
HENRY
(shortly)
O. K.
He remains staring at the preoccupied
Carrington who seems aware neither of
his or Nikki's presence.
NIKKI
(quietly)
Captain Henry is here, doctor.
CARRINGTON
(without looking up,
his voice amiable)
Yes, I know.
(his eyes stay on the indicator
dials and he continues softly)
Would you take these notes, please.
(he dictates to Nikki quietly.
She writes as he speaks)
November second, 2 p.m. Deflection
on screen nineteen continues -
twelve point three. No lessening
or wavering of disturbing element.
(he looks up and smiles
at Henry and adds softly)
Can we start now, Captain Henry?
HENRY
(coolly)
Mind telling me where we're going?
CARRINGTON
Forty-eight miles due east.
HENRY
Your message said an aeroplane
had crashed. Is that what we're
looking for?
CARRINGTON
(smiling)
I don't know, Captain.
HENRY
(covering his irritation
with difficulty)
I'd like to know what I'm supposed
to go looking for, Dr. Carrington.
CARRINGTON
(gently)
So would I.
(eagerly)
I think we should start while
the light holds.
HENRY
(without moving)
We'll start after you've given me
what information you've got.
CARRINGTON
(softly)
Is that necessary, Captain?
(he sees Henry's scowl
and is quickly contrite)
I'm very sorry. I was thinking
only of the vagueness of my
information. I dislike being
vague. Will you please read
Captain Henry my first notes,
Nikki?
NIKKI
(opening the note book in
her hand and reading from
it)
November 1, 6:15 p.m. Sound detectors and
seismographs
registered explosion due east. At 6:18,
magnetometer revealed deviation twelve degrees
twenty minutes east. Such deflection possible only
if a disturbing force equivalent to 20,000
tons of steel or iron ore had become part
of the earth at about a fifty mile radius.
HENRY
That sounds like a meteor, doesn't it?
CARRINGTON
(amiably)
Yes, very much. Except for one thing. We have some
special telescopic cameras. On the appearance of radioactivity a
Geiger counter trips the release and the cameras function. They
were
working last evening. This is the result. This first
picture was taken three minutes before the explosion, or 6:12. You
can see the small dot low there in the corner. On the next picture,
one minute later, that dot is moving west to east, moving fast
enough
to form a streak. Here is the film taken between
Stone switches on a light in a moviola
box and runs a strip of film slowly
through it. Captain Henry looks into
the box.
HENRY
What film speed are you using?
STONE
Thousandth of a second.
CARRINGTON
Moving pretty fast, wasn't it?
Here, at 6:14, it's moving upward. At 6:15 it drops to
the earth and vanishes. A meteor might move
almost horizontally to the earth, but
never upward.
HENRY
Then it isn't a meteor.
CARRINGTON
That's obvious.
HENRY
How do you determine the distance to the point of impact from here?
CARRINGTON
By computation.
STONE
Why it's quite simple, captain. We have the time of arrival of the
sound waves from the detectors, and also the arrival time of the
impact waves from the seismograph. By computing the difference, it
becomes quite obvious that they were caused by a traveling object,
and the distance from here is approximately 48 miles.
HENRY
Well, you lost me there but I'll take your word
for it...One thing doctor...twenty thousand tons of steel is a lot
of
metal for an aeroplane.
CARRINGTON
It is for the sort of aeroplane we know, Captain.
HENRY
(abruptly)
Come on, let's get going.
He walks out followed by Carrington,
Stone and Nikki.