Movies in Movies: The Thing From Another World (1951)

Gathered together from the cosmic reaches of the universe, here in this great screening room with comfortable recliners, are the most powerful forces of good ever assembled. Keith!

Wait, this is sci-fi? I kinda was thinking it was a quirky rom-com.

Terry!

Thank God the cows have never made a noise. They're so quiet.

Derek! I always make sure to walk on the wooden planks of any hallway that has wooden planks. Just in case. And the power twins, Zap and Jordan, with their magical lemur snort dedicated Welcome back to Fumbling Their Way Through Movies, one forgotten gem at a time. This week we watched 1951's The Thing from Another World, which was in 1978's Halloween. This is Fumbling Through Film.

I doubt very much if it can die, as we understand dying.

Cats. Yes. Well, Doctor?

No arterial structure indicated. No nerve endings visible. Porous, unconnected cellular growth. Just a minute.

Imagine that.

Just a minute, Doctor. It sounds like you're trying to describe a vegetable. I am. Are you getting all of this, Mr. Scott?

Oh, for Pete's sake.

Quiet, mister. You know, Doctor, that could be why the bullets fired by Sergeant Barnes had no seeming effect. That's right. Merely holes drilled into vegetable matter. This green fluid here, like plant sap. We'll probably find it has a sugar base. Please, Doctor, I've got to ask this. Yes, Mr. Scott? It sounds like, well, just as though you're describing some form of super carrot. That's nearly right, Mr. Scott. This carrot, as you call it, has constructed an aircraft capable of flying some millions of miles through space, propelled by a force as yet unknown to us. An intellectual carrot. The mind boggles. Shouldn't.

Hello and welcome to another one-of-a-kind, genre-defining, brand new episode of Fumbling Through Film. The only show that dares to bring together 3 dudes to talk about movies. These, however, aren't just any movies.

Indubitably, yes. My equations have studied the movies under microscopes, and you're correct. It's not just any movie.

I think I was hoping you'd say it boggles the mind.

It boggles the mind.

It shouldn't.

It boggles the mind that Terry would think it could be any movie.

Terry's calculations are a little bit off, Keith, because these are the ones we've missed, overlooked, or feel are simply worthy of visiting. Therefore, X plus Y plus Z over 2 equals any movie.

That's not what that means.

That is 100%. It's the only thing I remember from, uh, high school, uh, algebra.

There you go.

Yep.

The any movie equation.

Yep, the very generic x plus y plus z over 2.

It equals any movie we want.

Yeah, we had chapters on it. Took forever.

Yeah, that was a big part of my final.

Anyway, my name is Derek and I'm a fumbler. Joining me at the blackboard here in the Fumble Dome, working out more equations, is the Prime Minister of Fumbling and Film, Keith.

Hey, hey, what's up? KG Fumbler, extraordinaire. Good Will Hunting of any movie.

Good Will Hunting of any movie.

Huh.

I stand at the blackboard doing the equation and come out with any movie.

So you're Will Hunting of any movie.

I've got a beautiful mind.

Or you're hunting the goodwill of any movie.

I don't know.

He's up to something, I know that.

It's not your fault.

Tough to figure out, but I, I think we figured it out.

I agree. Uh, the other person nodding in the corner going, yes, yes, I see, is the Dr. Dre of Kansas, Terry.

Yeah, hello everyone. Yes, it does indeed, uh, boggle the mind.

It shouldn't.

A movie that exists in any form, no matter which way you try to describe it. It's boggling. It can't be.

It is.

There must be mystery left in this world.

Now, the way you said that they're moving any form, that means what? Like LaserDisc, VHS, CD, Blu-ray?

Yes. Liquid, gas, liquid, gas, and solid.

Yeah.

The 3 forms of matter.

Mm-hmm.

And all the 3 forms that matter. Sorry.

That's true. Not just the 3 forms of matter, but the only forms that do matter.

Yes. Because all the characters exist in those 3.

Yeah. Don't even try to get me started on that 4th form. I ain't listening about that.

Then we get the 9th form, the ghost form.

Watch out. Yeah, I don't want to become 9th form Terry. Ectoplasm.

Big jar of ectoplasm. Big goopy mess. You know what else is a big goopy mess?

What?

This podcast.

Oh, so to make it a little less—

I'll tear you off guard with that one.

Well, to make it a little less goopy and a little bit messy, let me tell people what it is we do here. Every week we watch movies, but not just any movie. Nope. One of us—

there goes my formula right out the window then.

Every month one of us chooses a theme, a genre, A guiding light, some sort of electrified hallway that we lure creatures down.

And they have to stand specifically straight in the middle of the room.

They gotta be on the planks.

The wooden planks that will channel the electricity.

The, the famously conductive wood.

It's how we power the Fumbledome.

Yeah. Plant power.

Yep.

All of my— all of our outlets here are made out of wood. They're wooden outlets. Wooden wiring. Everything's wood.

Yeah, fire safety didn't like that, but you know, we're allowed to do whatever we want on this— in the, in the Fumbledome.

Yeah, we, we make our own physics.

That's true, we do it all the time.

Anyway, one of us chooses theme, genre, guy— we, we choose movies that adhere to that, and then on the 4th week, we truly fumble by choosing a random movie from a wheel. Anyway, this month it's DTF, down to fumble. Y2, year 2, M8. Is that where we're at? M8? Is that right?

That's right.

Oh God, the M stands for month. The 8 stands for the number after 7.

Oh, before I heard that, 7, 8, 9.

Oh God. Yeah, that's why 6 is, 6 is afraid of 7 because 7, 8, 9, and 10.

And 10. Hold on, that's the first I'm hearing 10 got got.

Yeah, I know. Late breaking news. 10 got got.

7's like a black hole, 7. It just is sucking in every number past it.

Mm-hmm. Anyway, uh, that is a Keith month.

Yes, it is.

So Keith, tell the people what it is we're in for.

All right, we're, uh, uh, inception, fumble inception. We're looking at movies inside of movies this month.

Movies inside of movies.

Yes.

So basically a movie that appeared in another movie.

Yeah. Like last week in DTFY2M8, the M stands for month.

W-1.

We watched, uh, the Street Fighter, which was in the movie True Romance.

Talked about in True Romance, displayed on screen in True Romance.

Yep.

So that means this week is Dub 2, Week 2, Terry Week. Terry, what do we— what do you got in store?

Well, I picked The Thing from Another World from 1951.

From 1951? Going in the Wayback Machine to get to this one.

He's known— he's known to do this.

I like to go back in time, look at the history of film. I'm kind of a film historian in many ways. But mostly importantly, it's the only movie I thought of right away when Keith brought it up because it shows up in Halloween, the original Halloween movie. That's what the little kids are watching on TV for Halloween.

Nice. It just dawned on me, this movie is 75 years old this, this year.

Holy damn.

Dang indeed. Dang, dang. Now before we talk about our viewing of the The Thing from Another World from 1951. Before Terry does a deep dive and takes us closer than we can imagine to The Thing from Another World from 1951, did any of us have any previous knowledge, history, or experience with The Thing from Another World from 1951?

Heard of it, but never watched it. I've seen John Carpenter's remake, which is excellent, but that's about it. That's as far as I go.

Yeah, same here. Uh, I don't— I, I've seen Halloween a bunch of times. I don't think I remembered that it was in there. And I, you know, definitely had never heard of it before. I have seen, uh, John Carpenter's thing. Been a long time. And, uh, based on watching this, I want to do a rewatch of that pretty soon too.

Well, I have seen this one before. When? Oh, I couldn't tell you. Where? Not sure. But this is definitely one of those Saturday morning or afternoon, Son of Svengoolie monster Saturday movies sorts of things, right?

Oh yeah.

I know I've seen this. There were things that were incredibly memorable and I'm just like, oh my God, I remember this. The, the ice block, the monster, the lightning hallway, all those things. I remember that. But, uh, I couldn't have told you anything specific about it prior to today's watching.

I think there's an alien involved.

Yeah, but like seeing it, I was like, I, I know I've seen this before because it's very recognizable and it like sparks my brain into haywiring. It's just how my— that's how I remember things. My brain haywires and then I crash into the wall and then I drool for a couple minutes every time I remember something.

You walk into an electrified hallway.

I do.

Helps to spark your memory there.

Yep. I always make sure to walk on the wooden planks of any hallway that has wooden planks, just in case.

Well, yeah, because you never walk into a room and you're like, why did I come in here? And then that's why, that's when you hit the switch next to you and it zaps you full of electricity.

Zaps me full of rememories. Rememories.

That's right. I came in here to get this book.

All right.

Oh God. I wish I had some sort of thing that could, trigger an explanation of why I do things, because I forget all the time. All the stuff— I'm walking into a room like, what was I doing again? Uh, I don't know, just leave, wander away.

Oh yeah, yeah, I do that with the fridge. Open the fridge, you're like, what am I looking for? Oh well, then I close it, come back later. Oh wait, what am I doing in here again?

Oh yeah, I'm back. Or I pop up with like open a new tab on Chrome, I'm like, wait, I was gonna just gonna do something, I was gonna look something really important.

Yes, I hate when that happens to me. My muscle memory automatically starts typing in things and I'm like, why am I doing this? I had a specific goal.

All right, Keith, you and I were on a mission from the government.

Yep.

Relax. That's your mission?

Yep.

Oh God, I hope my mission's similar.

We got the wire from, from, uh, our commanding officer. We're supposed to relax and let Terry take us closer than we could have ever imagined To the thing from another world and from 1951, in another patent pending fumblers deep dive.

Anyway, so this film is directed by Christian Nyby. I assume that's how you say it. It's kind of disputed if he actually directed this or not, or maybe it was Howard Hawks who directed it.

Says a Howard Hawks production on my DVD cover.

It was official. He's only officially credited as producer Howard Hawks. But apparently he was on set every day. He's cited as having a very strong guiding hand over the film. Even Christian Ibe has claimed that he should have gotten credit for directing. But Howard has all been like, no, no, no, just give the credit to Christian. It's fine.

Christian's like, did the checks cash? Then yes, I did. I did this.

Yeah, it seemed to me like it was more of like a mentoring kind of thing. Like Howard is friends with this guy and wanted to give him a chance, and so he was just there to help him out, basically. So because Christian Niby has worked with Howard Hawks as his editor for a few films, so he edited— what's it called— To Have and Have Not, which is about an American in France during World War II, and he helps the French Resistance, but he also is at the same time falling in love with a lounge singer. Yes, so love, war. 2 sides of the same coin.

Yeah, classic tale.

Is that, is that movie like, is that directed by Howard Hawks then?

Yep, that's a Howard Hawks directed film. Another one that Howard Hawks directed, The Big Sleep. It's a noir film. Um, so a detective, he's hired by a rich family to stop their daughter from getting blackmailed from her gambling debts. Seemed okay.

We had a Nintendo Wii. Well, we still have it here. Uh, don't play it as much, but my, uh, with the Miis or whatever that you make on there. It's called Big Sleeps. That's your Mii? Yeah, it's called Big Sleeps.

Is it an homage to Howard Hawks' classic film?

Yes, classic noir.

Yeah, 100% how I came up with it.

Yeah, it's a black and white Mii.

Yeah, with a little, uh, with a— what's those, like, the bowler hats?

Mhm.

He's smoking a cigarette. Talking with a raspy voice.

It was a dark night when she walked into my office, legs from here to there.

Little did I know murder would be on her breath. Yes, that's your me just talking to itself. He also edited Red River, which stars John Wayne as his darkest hero yet.

I think Red River is also a soda, isn't it?

Yeah, it's one of those Walmart ones, I think, isn't it? Like the Walmart brand soda.

Like Code Red? Is it supposed to be a ripoff of Code Red?

I don't know.

Maybe it's an official film tie-in.

No, Green River is what I'm thinking of. Green River soda.

Oh, okay. Green River. That's like, that's Walmart's like Mountain Dew then.

No, green. It's a famous bright green Midwestern lime soda. Oh, from the Sprecher Brewery in Wisconsin.

Oh, have you ever been there, Derek?

No, I have not.

Well, you can get a tour. You pay for a tour and then you get, I think, 3 samples of the beer. Or if you do the sodas, it's unlimited soda.

Nice. I like unlimited soda.

Yeah, I got sick off it myself because I drank too much of it.

Keith, you gotta, gotta go in there and have some sort of temperance, even.

Unlimited, you say? Just go straight to the spout and just like, go, go, go, go.

Yeah. I gave, I gave, I gave like somebody else my drink tickets for the, the beer and I just drank the soda instead. 'Cause I don't, I don't, beer doesn't sit well with me. So I just sat there. I just remember like one time going, 'cause I did the tour a couple different times and then I just remember getting like really sick off it 'cause I drink way too much of it.

They got a picture of you. Don't serve root beer to this man.

Yep. Yeah.

He also edited Red River, which stars John Wayne in his darkest role yet.

Wait, is that a soda?

Is it a Code Red ripoff? Maybe.

No, I think you mean— I think you're talking about Green River there.

Oh yeah, that's right.

The trailer claims this is his darkest hero.

John Wayne's darkest hero?

Yes, he is playing the darkest role he's ever done. Um, it's a man and a son traveling. John Wayne plays the, the man, of course. Why, who else would he play? He's not the son. God knows.

No, heavens no.

Um, he's way too old to be doing that.

He's too manly to be his son.

Yeah, no, he's nobody's son. Only God's son.

Yes.

Father and son traveling down the Chisholm Trail, and they're transporting a bunch of cattle. A bunch of bad stuff happens, you know, as you're going down the, the Wild West.

Do they do stuff to the cattle that is unmentionable?

Oh, it's— you wouldn't believe how dark his hero is. In the dark of the night, he does horrible things with the cattle, but at least he's still a hero. He's still a good man, so thank God.

Just, just not to the cattle. He's here to— the humans.

He's more of an anti-hero.

Yeah.

These are the most obedient cattle. They're so scared of him. They just walk single file peacefully across the western plains.

They don't make a peep when they walk around. Wow. These cattle are just so well behaved.

He's a hero to men.

It's all men. Thank God the cows have never made a noise. They're so quiet. Wow, they just line up to get butchered. We don't even have to—

They're throwing themselves to get in there to get butchered.

Please kill me now.

I've never seen cows so eager to get their brains blasted out by a little air rifle thing.

In fact, they grabbed the air rifle, put it to their forehead.

Do it, do it, please.

Eyeing John Wayne in the corner.

Get me out!

Anyone out?

This is a dark movie. Wow.

Yeah, but John Wayne is a hero, so don't forget. He's a good man. He's a good man still, so let's not forget that. Anyways, Christian Iby's directing credits were mostly TV after this movie, um, after The Thing from Another World. I mean, he, he directed episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man.

Excellent.

Lassie.

Excellent.

Great, great show. And then of course for Keith, he did Kojak.

Who loves you, baby? Not Kolchak. Yeah, Kojak.

Yes, 2 different things.

Not to be confused with Kolchak the Night Stalker.

No, I need to watch that.

I love how you can't just say Kolchak, you have to say the Night Stalker afterwards.

Yeah, you have to say it like that because you might get it confused with Kojak.

Yes, exactly.

I love it.

I guarantee nobody remembers Kolchak, and so you just say without the Night Stalker part, they think you're talking about Telly Savalas.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

I think so. This movie was written by Charles Letterer, and it's based off a story, Who Goes There? That was written by John W. Campbell Jr.

John J. Jingleheimer Schmidt.

Yes, that's what it feels like.

That's my name too.

What? Impossible. You will die.

There can only be one.

Only one can exist. Howard Hawks is also listed as an uncredited writer on this film.

Oh boy.

Well, this guy didn't— he didn't want anything to do with this movie.

He had a heavy hand in it, and I think he was— I think as people kind of theorize, he was a little embarrassed about having— you know, this is like back in the '50s, sci-fi was thought of very schlocky and like not— oh yeah, very like, um You know, you know, there's like Space Odyssey. When I came out, I was like, wow, serious sci-fi that has all these crazy questions. That's not how sci-fi was seen. They always thought it was just like, you know, for children, kind of a low-quality entertainment kind of thing.

Yeah, like, this is, this is sci-fi? I kind of was thinking it's a quirky rom-com.

A thing from another world trying to find love inadvertently falls into the hands of a loving captain.

Women are for Venus. Things are from Mars.

Yeah, yeah. That's one of the aliens. Just that's backgrounds. That's B. That's the B plot. The other one is the captain and the secretary.

Yeah, there it really is.

The North Pole secretary.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true. It is more rom-com-esque, I would say. Maybe that was Howard Hawks's influence. Influence.

Yeah, that's the parts he wrote.

More smoking, more bondage.

Tie him up now. Make him drink. Wipe his chin off. Uh, so Charles Lederer, he's written a fair amount of stuff. A lot of it's super old that I've never heard of, uh, but a couple recognizable things. So he did the original 1960s Ocean's Eleven. Oh, classic heist.

Frank Sinatra.

Yeah. He also wrote the original Kiss of Death.

Ooh.

Sounds familiar? I have not seen it. It has been remade at some point.

Morgan Freeman in the remake.

Yeah, I don't know who's in the original. Frank Sinatra, probably.

Humphrey Bogart or something, I think.

Ooh, Bogey.

I think it was The Bogster. So that one's about a, um, a thief. He gets caught, but he refuses to give up his partners. But when his wife dies mysteriously, he kind of changes his mind because I think his friend that helped him do the robbery betrayed him and killed his wife. So now he's after the guy. Classic. He gets the kiss of death.

Oh, is that what it is? The kiss of death is—

It's when your friend comes up to shake your hand, but he shoots you. That's the kiss of death.

Is that what it is?

Really?

Mm-hmm.

That's what the trailer said, at least. It's like a classic— like, you're expecting something nice, but it kills you. Like, oh, this guy's come to shake my hand. Boom, I'm dead. Oh, this girl was coming to hug me, but then she like stabs you in the stomach. It's the kiss of death.

Okay.

It's a very classic mob term.

Mob term. Okay.

Yep.

Some sort of— makes sense.

Criminal lingo.

I'm unfa— I'm unfamiliar with things like that.

Yeah.

Oh yeah. I never—

Terriers are, are tied to the criminal underworld.

Yeah.

I've got connections.

I don't know any criminal lingo.

Terry's got a guy.

Of course he does. Yeah.

My mob guy. We're good buddies, but I do never sh— I never shake his hand.

No, that's the kiss of death.

Or kiss him.

Yeah.

I'll never kiss him.

Don't kiss him either.

Yeah. Um, even if he asks really hard, I'm not gonna do it.

Listen. I have nothing against you. You're nice, but you're in the mob.

Come on, just right on the cheek here. Come on. No, no, no, no, quit asking me.

Especially when you have that knife in your hand.

Yeah, it's like, what's that behind your back? Uh, don't worry about it, bud. Just come over here, get a little smoochy.

Come on.

This guy, he also wrote something called Monkey Business.

Oh, I like the sound of that.

This sounds amazing. It was directed by Howard Hawks. Has Marilyn Monroe in it.

Okay.

The story kicks off when Rudolph the chimp, who like lives slash I guess works in a lab—

Oh, makes sense. Yeah, yeah.

He's like, some guy owns this chimp apparently, but you know, Rudolph's in there just mixing with chemicals. He accidentally finds the formula to eternal youth.

The chimp does?

Uh-huh.

Okay.

And in fact, the formula kind of reverse ages you a bit, so like it takes you Ages you backwards, like temporarily. But it's kind of weird because it's like not necessarily physically aging you backwards, more like mentally sometimes. Like you're still like kind of like in the movie, the guy's eyes get better. So like it does help you in some ways, but you don't like shrink and turn into a child. You're still an adult.

They didn't have the technology to do the movie magic for that.

So they're just like, well, yeah, they didn't have the technology to do that, but they did have technology to make it look like a chimp was mixing chemicals.

Yes. Yes, they had the technology to make a chimp mix chemicals and create the Fountain of Youth.

You don't need technology to make it— just train a chimpanzee to do that.

True, true.

Yeah, that's just nature. That's not technology.

Yeah, I mean, most chimpanzees would kill to get into a laboratory.

Yeah, they love laboratories, famously.

They do.

Historically.

Historically, they, um, yeah, they enjoy themselves when they go there. Um, Yeah, it looks not that good. I'll be honest. I'll be honest. Chip, chip thing. I don't know. I thought there'd be a lot more monkey business involved, but really just that one thing. The one monkey business of the, of Rudolph doing his thing.

What if that Rudolph turns into like some hyper-intelligent monkey and he runs a business?

See, that was, that's more my speed. I love that. Rudolph does take the serum and I think it just makes him more youthful too. He like gets more energy and stuff. So I think they complain that his hair is kind of old and matty, and then he drinks it and they're like, wow, he's so smooth now.

So it's not just like hair conditioner, it's actually—

Yeah, well, the Fountain of Youth. Oh yeah, it's also part hair, you know, like it's a 3-in-1 kind of thing.

Like shampoo, conditioner, Fountain of Youth.

Uh-huh. Yeah, it does a little bit of everything, which is kind of nice. Um, John W. Campbell Jr., uh, he has written some stuff, um, but not an author I really know much about. His biggest thing, at least in like media, is, uh, his little short story that The Thing is based off of, Who Goes There?

Mm-hmm.

Um, that's like basically all his credits on IMDb is stuff around that. And I guess he is kind of regarded as a fairly influential figure in science fiction, like a very early, uh, influential figure. Unfortunately, he took kind of a strange turn into pseudoscience and ESP, you know, like devices that can enhance one's personal psionic abilities, stuff like that. He kind of actually believed in that. So people thought he was a little weird. Yeah. Isolated him from his peers. He believed it was real. Treated it as if, yeah, it would actually work. And he actually, like, worked very closely with L. Ron Hubbard on some stuff. Oh boy. Mm-hmm. But they did have a falling out at some point and stopped working together.

Oh yeah. As most people do with L. Ron Hubbard.

Yeah.

Yeah. That didn't turn out so good. Well, maybe in his— for him, it kind of did, I guess. I don't know. But not for John W. Campbell Jr. Unfortunately, he also started to go into some more unsavory political stances, uh, a lot later in life. Further alienated him from his friends. I guess he kind of just fell off the wagon a little bit. He'd always been kind of known as the guy who's like the devil's advocate. He'd like to stir the pot a little bit in discussions, you know, he'd take the other side just to kind of get the discussion going.

Mm-hmm.

I think he kind of started to do that too often, started to fall into like just, you know, believing what he's saying kind of stuff. So Yep. Anyways, that's a fun little tidbit about him.

Super fun.

Yes, but I do want to read his story. I wonder if it's any good. The film stars Kenneth Tobey as Captain Hendry. So he's got a lot of credits on IMDb. He was in Airplane. Okay, it's very exciting. Uh, he played Man in the Bathroom in the movie Innerspace. Innerspace is about a test pilot who gets shrunk down. For an experimental procedure and gets injected into a store clerk by accident. And Mark Short, yep, directed by Joe Dante too. He was older cop in The Howling, which is a classic werewolf film. Never seen it, but also I believe directed by Joe Dante. He played hologram priest in Hellraiser Bloodlines. That's the fourth Hellraiser film. Notoriously has the Alan Smithee credit for directing on it. It's not a good sign.

I know it's good.

Yeah, it's like this pseudonym that directors use if they do not want their name on a movie.

Yes.

And it's the Hellraiser in space movie, which is exciting. Hellraiser, they open up the box, it's in the future, they're on like a space station. Um, but a lot of the movie actually takes place in flashback.

Oh, like, best way to watch it, they have it tell a story.

Oh yeah, I love it. Yeah, it's like, wow, the space setting's pretty cool. Oh, okay. Yeah, let's go back to more like, yeah. Modern day times.

That's forty years ago.

Yeah, cool, cool. Goes through like the main character's family, his lineage. I guess he's got this connection to the Cenobite stuff and whatever. Space stuff is honestly the coolest part, but not as much as I would have liked. He also plays a character with the same name as the character he has in Thing from Another World, but this is a movie called The Naked Monster.

I like the sound of that.

It's a spoof, a satire. Exciting. It's a kaiju film about a giant lizard. He breathes fire and he can spew. noxious gas out of any orifice.

Ooh.

So yeah, he does fart on things and it like burns it.

I'd say, how many orify does this man have? Or this monster have? I don't know if orify is the correct plural for orifice. I'm sure it's orifices or orifices.

Orifices, maybe. Yeah, I do like that. Um, I don't know how many it has, but I knew where it was going as soon as it said it could spew noxious gas out of any orifice. I knew what it really meant.

Yeah.

Yep. Um, but yeah, Kenneth Tobey, he plays a retired monster hunter who must help take the beast down.

Makes sense. I would want to take a beast down too if it spewed noxious gas out of all of its orifices.

Yeah, me too. Who wouldn't? I'd be worried if someone said no, I don't, I'm not interested.

That monster keeps ejaculating noxious things on the side.

Oh God, not out of that orifice, please. Wait, what's it doing over there?

Oh no, somebody stop that monster!

Oh, it's always doing that every day.

Here comes that— here comes John Wayne to save the day.

Oh, thank God.

But yeah, a lot of cows on the monsters.

Get in line real quick.

Uh-huh. A lot of quiet cows trailing behind him.

Yeah, listen, buddy, the cows are trying to tell the monster, you gotta—

not— you gotta calm down, dude. John Wayne, he ain't playing around here, man.

He's a hero only to humans. Please don't do this.

He's the darkest character we've ever met. You gotta stop. I was gonna talk about Margaret Sheridan, who played Nikki in this, but she only had 11 acting credits and also nothing all that interesting, I thought. So instead, I thought we'd talk about Robert Cornwaite.

Sure.

He played Dr. Kerrigan.

Oh, I liked him.

Or Carrington, I don't know.

I like him.

Yeah, I did like him.

Very condescending.

Mm-hmm. He's that classic doctor who's rude to everyone. He's also a very dark character. Scientific hubris. Mm-hmm. He sees the science but not the people, you know?

Yeah.

So he's been a lot of stuff. He was also in Naked Monster, unfortunately.

Unfortunately.

Or fortunately.

I don't know.

Maybe that's he enjoyed.

Sure, he got a paycheck from it.

Yeah. That that trailer for Naked Monster basically was just like. Throwing all these names on the screen of like you know these B movie actors that could pull because probably because they weren't doing much else. You know what I mean?

Like yep. So his grandpa from The Munsters in it. Oh, Al Lewis.

He plays Naked Monster. Yeah. I wish that'd be awesome. Or maybe not awesome. But he was in the original War of the Worlds from 1953.

Oh.

Classic. Um, he was in an episode, Keith, of Kolchak the Night Stalker.

Yeah.

Whoa.

So that's that mistake with Kojak.

No, that's not Kojak the Day Stalker. Kojak the Day Stalker and Kolchak the Night Stalker. Yeah, they have their own like times.

They're kings of it in the winter. Kolchak really gets gets this stuff going.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, he gets a— my time to shine, ironically. Um, so he was even in an episode of The Munsters. Oh, now that's fun. He was in the episode 100th Anniversary where Herman Munster and Lily Munster, they both get part-time jobs at the same place and they're doing it in secret to surprise each other, and they kind of start to have a weird like fling with each other without knowing it's one another.

I am a girl.

A little office romance there.

Yes, that's some pretty funny stuff. I remember liking that one, kind of. Um, so it's a classic episode in my book. Um, he was in a TV movie called The Devil's Daughter. So this is where a young girl's soul is sold by her mother at birth to Satan, of course.

Oh, come on, Mom.

Yeah, that's not cool. That really sucks. I wish— how can you sell someone else's soul? I feel like that's cheating.

I agree.

Got bills to pay, man.

I just need like $100, Satan.

Kids aren't cheap.

That's true. You get to go straight to your college fund. I guess she didn't see this coming though, when Satan shows back up and says she's got to marry a demon now.

Oh, really?

Yeah. Shoot, that sucks. I didn't know that's what happened when you sold your soul, but all right. He was in the Westworld sequel Future World, which I didn't know existed.

I didn't know either.

You'd never guess it, but there's this theme park called Future World where things are a little suspicious.

Hmm.

Things aren't what they seem, I bet.

And there's a lot of robot people involved. Just a little bit, uh, there's some sort of conspiracy, I might say, going on. And his last credit was a movie called The Prime Evils. So this is about some Yeti hunters who go searching for a yeti, but they get mixed up in a plot by an ancient alien race. What?

All right, it's a hat on a head.

They're also the darkest heroes.

So we're hunting yetis and there's aliens too.

Yeah, and they're— yeah, they're super dark heroes. It looks a lot like kind of the Journey to the Center of the Earth situation. They go to Antarctica, or it's kind of like the— what's that place in Marvel? The the land where they— in the middle of the Arctic, which is a big old jungle. Savage Land? Yes, it's basically a Savage Land situation. They're in the Arctic, they find a big jungle in there, and that's where yetis live. And they live in peace, they're building huts, it's really nice. Um, it also turns out the aliens live there too. Uh-oh.

And there's— there's yetis and aliens. Are there dinosaurs as well?

Uh, the aliens look a lot like dinosaurs, so I'd say yeah, kind of. It's kind of strange though, because, uh, this movie came out in 2023, but the guy died in 2006.

Huh.

So I was suspicious, right? This has happened before.

Is it stock footage or something like that?

Yeah. I was like, is it stock footage? Did he like get miscredited? Is there another, uh, what's his name? Robert Carthwaite out there?

Who's also in Triple X: Return of Xander Cage.

A weird soundtrack. Uh, yeah, you get like—

yeah, did he get, um, like, uh, what's it, sampled?

Yes.

But no, I did find out why. So it looks like a lot of this film was actually filmed back in 1994.

What?

And it's just now getting released, um, 30 years later. Yeah, the film, it got cut short like in production because the director died. Oh, and then they'll do it. The studio was having trouble funding the film. It was going under at the same time. Uh, and eventually there was a campaign to raise money by the original effects supervisor to try and get it completed, get finished up the film. And, uh, so they had like a Kickstarter or whatever and they got enough money. So they actually finished it and released it in 2023.

Hmm. Interesting.

Yeah.

And it has a lot of stop motion in it, Derek. So you might—

Oh, you know, I love that.

That's about as deep as I think we should go. The ice is a little too melted now. I feel like I'm starting to dip my toes into, uh, the Arctic Ocean. Yeah, so—

Goddamn it, Terry, we got way too close.

I think all the plant monsters are starting to wake up too.

So the deep dive crashed and it's under the ice. I think the 3 of us need to make a circle to see how big the area is. Yeah.

Quick. Yes.

I think we should just get frozen.

There was a scientific way to measure the space.

They should freeze us down here so we can be found later.

Right.

Oh yeah.

I agree with that. With our podcasting equipment.

When science has officially figured out what any movie is, they can— Or what's wrong with us. Unfreeze us.

One of the two.

Yeah.

Keep me in a cryo until they can finally cure me of whatever's wrong with me.

Yeah. Whatever this, whatever this is.

Yes.

This podcast?

Yes, yes. Wake me up, it's like, are you still recording that? Uh-oh, put them back. Dang, dang indeed.

Wow, Terry, that was a lot of information.

Yep, deeper than I expected. Margaret Sheridan failed me, but you know what, uh, that doctor guy, Robert Cornthwaite, he did a great job.

Yeah, I don't think he's ever failed anyone ever.

No, he even was succeeding after death.

Yeah, 30 years. Well, not 30 years after his death, 30 years after their director's death.

Mm-hmm. His legacy lives on.

Well, I think what we have to do now is we need to talk about our viewing of The Thing from Another World from 1951.

Yep, I think we probably ought to do that.

75 years.

That's an old film.

It is. That's really old.

Yeah. Is that is that our second oldest film next to Snake Pit?

When did Snake Pit come out?

I think that was in the 40s. That was an Oscar-winning film.

That was 48. Yeah.

So this is now the second oldest, and I will say much better results than Snake Pit.

Yeah, I agree with that.

I like yeah, I liked a better Snake Pit. That's for sure.

Mm-hmm.

This is more my speed. I like sci-fi. I like kind of I I'm. You know, some of these old sci-fi films can be a little dated, of course. You know, it's like you said, 75 years old, so of course it's going to be dated. It's got a little bit of that charm to it too. I like older movies like this. Um, it obviously has issues, I think, but it's not like— there's something kind of cool about it too, just like watching the old, like, low-budget B-movies of the day kind of thing.

Yeah, I haven't seen John Carpenter's The Thing in a long time. But I know enough of it. I've seen it enough times and, and like bits and pieces of it throughout the years and stuff like that to know, like, I, there's things I was like, I, I guess I was, again, it's 1950s, so, but I, I think I was expecting this movie to be maybe a little bit more menacing than it was.

Yes.

Maybe like what would've been scary for the time in 1951. Um, wasn't expecting it to scare me, uh, at this time, but like a little more intense than it was. It's like, oh, I was joking earlier about it being like a bit of a, bit of a rom-com. Like all that stuff going on with, you know, the, the captain and the—

Danielle.

Yeah. The captain and the secretary lady. Like, just really, I was like, this is so weird that they're— this isn't like— they keep popping back to this. Like his, uh, you know, people that are under his command kind of constantly giving him shit about it. You know, when he goes to see her for the first time, they're like, we want to come along too. We need to give her a talking to and stuff. It's like, what? They just keep coming back to that. And then the reporter guy constantly being like, hey guys, don't do anything till I get that picture. Hold on, don't do anything till I get the picture.

And he doesn't take the picture.

Yeah. And then at the very end when he faints and stuff like that. So I found this to have a little more humor, I think, than I was expecting it to. Not in a bad way. I enjoyed All of it, but it it came across I think a little more lighthearted than I was thinking it would.

Yeah, I felt like that it was very lighthearted. Then the ending felt very weirdly like ominous, where like the reporter's like, "And remember viewers, keep your eyes on the sky. Watch the skies." And I'm like, "Why are you saying that? That's really like it really like puts a weird tone at the end of the film." Yes, it's coming. That's basically what he's saying. Like, are we gonna get?

bombed.

Like, why are you saying that? Yeah, it came out in the Cold War kind of stuff, so it makes sense.

Yeah, like, so this movie, I dig it, but right, like, it has, it has those old movie pacing problems. Yeah, for me, big pacing problems. Spend a lot of time doing nothing, a lot of exposition. A lot of, a lot of things because they don't, they don't have the technology to show as well as they would like to, right? So they do a nice job. I like the ice block of the monster's cool. There's, there's a lot of explanation of what's happening, what's going on. Not enough monster doing stuff, not enough monster being like— you can't— it's not scary.

Like the monster itself is barely even in the movie. Yes, you barely see any of it.

It's not scary. There really isn't a message to it or a theme. Like, the monster isn't representative of anything. It's just— they dismissed it as a vegetable or like, you know, plant alien, right?

They're like, wow, it's smarter than us. I'm like, really? But it doesn't seem that smart to me.

No, it's like Frankenstein.

Yeah, it looks like Frankenstein and it walks around and grunts and groans. Like, there's no like Thought or like tactics behind what it's doing.

And it said like it was like cloning itself, right? But we didn't see that at all.

It had those little baby plants in there, or did the doctor make those?

I thought the doctor made those. I thought the doctor was trying to like grow things, grow like— but like I thought there was gonna be more of them, that there'd be like 2 of them, like, oh, we got one and oh, there's another one, or anything like that, right? But that didn't happen.

No, the monster's just— his potential is very squandered.

Yeah.

Yep.

I did like the, the severed hand that moved when they were examining it. That was cool.

It's like the creepiest part, probably.

Yeah, that. And he's fighting dogs.

The dog corpse is pretty creepy, I guess.

Yes, he's out there fighting dogs and they're— they keep showing it like, what's going on out there? Not much. Like, it's a person fighting dogs.

Yeah, at one time he picks one up and throws it. Yeah, like, yeah, there's stuff going on here, guys.

There's not too much going on. Don't even worry about looking out there. Why are the dogs barking? Oh, it's fine, there's just some, you know, there's somebody out there.

Just a monster from another world wrestling dogs, slamming them into the ground. Yes.

Also, like, and I guess so that's another thing that's not ever explain unless just he's the monster finding that, you know, the people in this thing are a threat, but like it goes through and it makes it so like they lose their heat.

Mm-hmm.

Which is why they eventually decide to, you know, get in an area where they can use, you know, the electricity and protect the, their electric, you know, power supply as well. So that doesn't go out, but like he seems to be attacking them a lot at that point, like constantly going back at, at them, but there's no like Because it seems like a bit of like a mindless creature, I guess.

It's—

there's no, there's no rhyme or reason for what it's doing. Like, why didn't— like, once it got out of the block, why doesn't it just escape and be gone? Yeah, it's just constantly coming back.

Yeah, yeah, needs revenge.

Yeah, why'd you wake me up? I was having a good day.

I was sound asleep, you assholes.

I crashed this thing on purpose.

I needed a vacation.

Jesus, they weren't supposed to find me yet. Dang it. Yeah, I don't know. I wish the monster was in it more because he's not threatening. He's not like, you know, like sometimes they act like he's like he could be anywhere. I'm like, he's not showing up. He's not here. You know, like he's not gonna get you. Like it's not that kind of movie. I don't know.

And you have a Geiger counter that lets you know if he's getting close at all.

Yeah, that's true.

The number gets the number gets like really really up there and all of a sudden bam he comes walking around a corner like you. Wouldn't have sensed or like been able to see him coming at all, like down the hallways. I mean, it's it's a 1951 movie, so I mean, it's that's part of it is like I think that's why I didn't like totally dismiss this as like you know yeah this is a terrible like I enjoyed it because of the face for sure yeah it's what they had to work with at the time there was just more like little things here that like I don't know I I guess I was expecting even like you know when Kerrigan keeps going on about you know, he's made those plants and stuff like that. I, I guess I was maybe expecting him to be like infected by the—

Yeah.

You know, by the, the creature and like the, you know, whatever the, the spores or something that came off it or something like that. Because he seemed to be like really like big on like, oh, let's try and see if we can, you know, make duplicates of these and stuff. And all— even like his people are like, uh, no, man, you can't do that. That's like you're making a super army of you know, weird vegetable people. I don't know, it's— so the fact that he never— like, that he's just like a normal guy the whole time, he's just bent on learning more about science. I, I did— I guess I found that a little bit odd that like he wasn't. But that makes me also think that maybe I kept like connecting more back to like the John Carpenter one where like, you know, there's, you know, the, the—

Well, that's all about paranoia and not trusting everybody. And that's because the alien's different.

Yeah, yeah. And so I was kind of connecting, I guess, the two a bit that way. So I, I kept waiting for something to happen with the doctor. I just, yeah, he was, mm-hmm. Well, then we run, he runs up to the thing like, I'm trying to save you. Don't walk down this way.

That was so funny when he's just blabbing to the alien. The alien just stops and like watches him. Like it is like listening to him. It just smacks him.

You're so much smarter than us. Listen to me. You know what I'm saying?

Please, please. This is your one chance. Yeah, one chance to prove yours intelligence to these people. Please, you're gonna die. No.

Pimp slaps him right there.

Must not be important. Just slaps him. That would have been funnier though if he like did something like, oh my bad, and then starts talking English like, sorry about that.

Like, excellent, excellent. Now that he's out of the picture, gentlemen, let's, let's converse.

If you guys would quit attacking me, we could have a nice conversation here.

Just spare me some blood from the blood bank, my friends.

Yeah, I need blood. This plant needs blood.

It's just kind of weird. He's a plant-based organism who drinks blood.

Yeah.

But what do I know about that?

Whatever. This movie needed something thematic to make it interesting, I think, because it really— otherwise it's just like a series of events that happen. And then there's like a little bit like science versus military, I guess.

Yeah. Is it like worth saving if it's a threat kind of thing? I guess.

Yeah, I guess. I guess that's kind of a thing.

There's a bit of that because, yeah, that's the real only, you know, besides literally fighting a monster, the only conflict is like how to deal with the monster.

Yeah.

But it's never justified enough to be like, we should save it. I feel like the movie's firmly on the kill it side.

Yes.

Yeah. Even like all those, like the things coming over from the higher up guy, like it's like, why haven't you returned? Why haven't you responded? Why haven't you responded? Don't, don't do anything. Don't touch it. Don't do it. Like these urgent messages coming through and they're like, yeah, we're already in the process of killing this thing. So yeah, they're gonna keep that. We're gonna keep down that.

We've already burnt half of our, uh, outpost down to the ground.

And now if you don't mind, I'm, I'm gonna go and let this lady tie me up and have drinks with me, I guess. Which was also just— that's a very weird scene to throw right in the middle of the whole thing.

I, I thought whatever this North Pole outpost they had was like the coolest place to be on Earth.

I think it seemed fun.

Literally cool.

Yeah, I would have liked to have gone there if there weren't aliens to deal with.

Yeah, they're all like hanging out, having fun.

Like the guy walks in the, the first time that the reporter's like, North Pole? He's like, this is more like It's like a frat house. Like a, like a Western, you know, Western outpost type thing.

Like, you know, the full bar, the, you know, I guess somebody playing the piano in the corner. Yeah.

There's a, uh, there's a barista right there. Like that one guy is just there and like every time people walk by, he's trying to hand 'em coffee. I think he's just making coffee there and he's, yeah, that's his whole job. But they got, you know, multiple doctors, they got all these people up there. It looked like it would be kind of fun to hang out in.

A little bit.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'd stop by. I'd take—

I'd very much be down for like going for like 2, 2 weeks or something like that up to like a North Pole out, you know, outposts.

I work in the science field. If they wanted to ship me out to the North Pole—

No, I don't want to actually work. I just want to go hang out.

I'm going to get paid for it. That'd be nice. Hang out over there. Send me out there.

Why not? Put me in coach. I'll go up there. Yeah. It was interesting.

I don't know.

Yeah, it's fine. It's kind of boring, I think, which, yeah, you know, it's dated. But there's other films of the era I feel like are better.

Like, I really—

I actually do like The Day the Earth Stood Still. That's like kind of in that same era, but that's actually like much better film.

Mm-hmm.

This is just kind of typical monster movie-esque. There's some cool visuals in it though. I like some of the shots. Like, we were making fun of the circle shape thing they did, but at least it looked cool. Like, yeah, shot like them all standing, kind of ominously standing out there in the the snow. That was cool. The hand creeping, crawling was cool. Some of the music was kind of cool too. I liked some of that old-timey sci-fi music.

And I know like a lot of people, like, you know, like everyone was hyped up about like The Odyssey, how like they actually went to like real places and things like that. I kind of enjoyed like when the movie opens up and you can tell they're just on like a studio lot.

Yeah, and it's movie magic.

The—

it's— yes, the Anchorage, Alaska base thing, and you're like, there's just a fan right off to the side of the camera that's blowing fake snow everywhere as that guy comes just walking around the corner and walks into the thing. And it's— that's all it's there for, is for that scene. But I really liked— I really like seeing that, and you're like, oh yeah, they're just in a— they're in a studio someplace.

I like that too. And it's funny that you mentioned that specific scene because that— when that scene happened, I was thinking the exact same thing. Like, this is a studio lot. I'm like, I wonder what the snow banks are made out of. It's all I could think about.

Oh, yeah.

Same thing with the big ice cube. I'm like, oh, what's the big ice cube made out of? Did they just mold— you know how you get that plastic and you just mold it and blow it with a hair dryer sort of thing to give it shape? It was stuff like that. I liked trying to figure out how it all was all made. and how it worked. And I mean, obviously the monster was just a guy in a suit with some rubber hands.

One thing that really I found annoying in this movie though, and it's just a stupid thing, because like the guy, the, I guess, general guy calls, you know, the main lead guy in his office. He opens the door, steps in, and before he— like, he doesn't even get fully stepped in, the guy goes, close the door.

Like, It's cold.

You—

he can see him from there. You can see that the guy is literally like taking one step in and all of a sudden, close the door.

What are you raising, a barn?

You know, and he does it to the second guy who comes in. I'm like, you're literally like— somebody has to walk out, but somebody literally has to walk through a door before they can close it, and you're yelling before they can even get through the door.

It's, you know, this is that guy— this guy's thing. He does this to everyone.

Yes.

Yeah, he's just doing that because he thinks it's hilarious and everybody's also—

or like he's annoyed that he's in— like, he's like, can we just— can I get out of this Alaska assignment at some point? So he just kind of like, you know, makes a big deal out of like the door being open for more than a second. It's his, his thing. He just doesn't like being there anymore or something. Just yell, close the door. I'm like, you just asked the guy to come in.

It's his little inside joke he thinks is funny.

Yeah, nobody, nobody else does.

No, nobody else does. Everybody's like, god dang it. Yeah, you dread going to the office because you know the first things you're gonna hear are, close the door.

Oh God, everybody that's new there, he's like, he's gonna yell at you for keeping the door open. Just let it roll off your back, it's not a big deal. He's a little crazy, he's been up here for 15 years.

He's about to retire.

He thought they would take him— they him to a different location by now.

But he's put in for transfer every year for the last 10 years. Denied, denied. Something cool is going to happen eventually.

Yeah, he's actually about to retire in a couple days, hopefully.

Yeah, he's 3 days away from retirement and the UFO crashes.

Yep.

Military's like, actually, we're gonna need you to stay in this area. It's really important. Like, dang it. There's a giant carrot showed up and just ruined everything.

A super carrot. You tell me it's a super carrot.

Yes.

Yeah. Also that, that the reporter guy too, like really like laying it, oh, you guys are the first ones. You found a UFO and blew it up and then lost the, the alien as well. Way to go, guys. I'm like, they brought you along as a favor.

Like, mm-hmm.

Why don't you be a little bit nicer to him, guy, instead of like being an idiot?

Especially if you're gonna—

At least take some pictures, goddamn it.

Yeah, every time he goes to take a picture, like, something happens and he doesn't get it.

It's my favorite scene in the movie was when they lit the monster on fire.

Oh, that was cool.

Oh yeah, they kept throwing like more fuel on them.

Yes, they really made sure to kill it.

And I'm just like, oh my God, this stunt is getting out of control because there's just flames everywhere.

Yeah, also let's put, let's put the very flammable mattress thing in front of the girl to save her.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. There's flames everywhere. There's people getting burnt. And the next scene is like everybody's putting bandages on and stuff. I'm like, I wonder how much of that's real. The guy had a cast. He's like, oh, I didn't catch on fire. I just fell over, you know?

Oh yeah. He was upset that the monster didn't do it to him. He just tripped.

He may have really broken his arm in that previous scene.

They kept it in out of respect.

Yeah. Yes. I gotta roll with the punches here. There's so much fire, which was cool, right? Because the dude was literally on fire.

Yep, visually it looked really cool.

And then dove through the window.

Dove through the window, rolled in the snow to put out the fire. And everybody else was— all the, all the, the flesh, the meat people were all burning inside. Plant man was off. Yeah, roasted carrots.

That sounds good. You think they would have ate him if he hadn't shriveled away? Yes.

I would have.

It would be a waste not to, right?

Yeah, he's a vegetable man.

Yeah, I don't even know if he's sentient as far as I can tell.

No, I mean, he might be working just purely off of instinct and like electrical impulse.

I feel like if you'd— if they'd been able to get into that ship, they'd have learned a lot more about this vegetable guy. But he's probably just like some like dumb, like, uh, you know, hitchhiker. He happened to be there. You know, like he was on the outside of the ship just hanging on because, you know, plants don't have to breathe in space. So like he's hanging onto the ship and then he just got stuck there with when they crashed.

Oh yeah. That's what explained why it was out of the ship.

That would also be, that's just like, that's a whole funny thought now. Like though there were real aliens there and there was some real scientific discoveries going on. Uh, but we found the, the hanging on. Uh, yeah.

He's like the moss that grows on a rock.

It's like a particle on a ship. Yep.

Like space moss.

Space Moss. Space Moss Man.

Space Moss Man. Now that's a good idea.

I agree.

He's much more powerful than Moss Man.

Moss Man. Pathetic.

What a pathetic— yeah, come on, Moss Man. Be cool. Go to space or something.

Do something, Moss Man.

Drink blood of your enemies. Oh boy.

Yeah, do that. I think most monsters should drink the blood of their enemies.

Well, yeah, yeah, Space Moss Man, he's like kind of a dark hero.

He is. He's a hero to all moss men.

Yeah, but human beings, he's not here. And especially dogs, he hates dogs.

Yeah, dogs hate him. Dogs hate him. Women love him. Space Moss Man.

Space Moss Man, a lady killer. Not literally, but he is a dog killer, literally.

Yes.

Cows hate him, ladies love him. John Wayne.

Red River.

Yep.

All right, well, did we do it, boyos?

I think so.

Yep. Did we get through The Thing from Another World from 1951?

I believe so.

What'd we think about that thing from another world from 1951?

I mean, I liked it. I enjoyed it. It kept me, uh, you know, kept me watching. I, you know, wasn't, uh, like turned off by it or anything like that. I found even the weird quirky love story parts to be kind of funny in there and stuff. And then there are individual scenes that are really good, like the one you opened with and stuff like that. I thought it was really good. And this intense back and forth talk about explaining about the super carrots and stuff like that. And also taking it with a grain of salt, it's from 1951, so not a bad choice.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it's, it's not my favorite thing, but it's okay. It's like just the age, not great, you know. The pacing of the back then is much different than today. It's pretty boring sometimes, but it does have some moments like, yeah, I think the romance is kind of funny. It does have kind of like the weird like comedy aspect to it. Um, I do think that the monster probably should be in it more, and I wish it was like, at least if you keep talking about how smart it is, maybe show it doing smart things instead instead of just being Frankenstein. Yes, it's, it's a decent film. I think John Carpenter's version is like a million times better, um, but this is okay. It's just like, I don't know if it— I wouldn't necessarily call it— maybe for the time it was a classic, but I, I wouldn't necessarily call it a classic. It's just like a movie of the time.

It is a 1951 sci-fi monster movie. It was fine. I didn't hate it, didn't love it. I do grade it on a scale because it's from 1951, so it's little bit better, you know? Like, like if this movie came out today, it'd be like, suck. Get out of here. Why would you waste my time?

Released exactly like this.

Yeah, exactly. Like, just, it was filmed in 1951, but the director died. And then in 2026, they had a Kickstarter to release it.

The writer was like, please, we have to finish this. This is my life's work. And then it's like, oh, okay.

I just wish it, like I said, I wish it had a theme. I wish it had like more of a purpose. And I wish the monster wasn't there. I wish it was more scary or something.

Yeah.

Well, we know what we thought. What did the internet have to say? Well, on May 12th, 2022, Baron Coco had this to say. The negative, this is all caps, the negative reviews are either anonymous Or ignorant of history, this is a triumphant classic!

Wait, are they anonymous of history?

I'm sorry, is that the title of the thing?

Yes, this is— the negative reviews are either anonymous or ignorant of history, hyphen, this is a triumphant classic, exclamation point, all in caps.

Okay.

Baron Coco said this: Absolutely brilliant film, in many ways better than the book and certainly better than Carpenter's remake.

No.

Hawks' patented run-over machine gun banter dialogue was never better, and the cast of B-actors turned in uniformly great performances. And if you— and if you have a problem with the last line, one, remember the era in which this— it was made? Stalin threatening the world and equally horrifying reaction of McCarthy and HUAC being on the rise, semicolon, and 2, remember where threats to America have always come from in modern times? The skies. Pearl Harbor, the Cuban Missile Crisis, 9/11.

Oh, too soon.

The Kims and North Korea, all powerful dramatic backing. Try reading history balanced history instead of hack voices from the right and the left. Oh, 18 found that helpful, 4 not so much. 10 out of 10.

I don't know about that. Maybe there should be more sky-based threats in the film then, if that's the theme of the movie, don't you think? Like, maybe, maybe the plant— maybe Space Moss Man can fly. Give him plant wings. Why not?

Do anything. Anything was— but not to be outdone, on February 13th, one day before Valentine's Day of 2021, the Shadowlands had this to say. This film sucks.

Okay.

I can't believe trash like this is even made. Thank Jesus Carpenter Came around and remade it like how it was supposed to be. John W. Campbell Jr. would be rolling around in his grave with this movie being made since he, I think, sold the movie rights to make this mess. There was nothing frightening about this movie save that it was much more friendly than Frankenstein in a film adaptation. A complete waste of an hour and a half. Watch this only to understand what an F-rated movie is. I would have watched A Star Is Born. I would rather have watched A Star Is Born. Yes, with Lady Gaga. That would be money rather spent. That would be money rather spent than needing to actually rent or heaven forbid. anyone purchasing it. And John Carpenter's only got an extra star for the rating. Unbelievable trash like this is made. At least they made it scientific. For that, it is a sci-fi movie. 4 found that helpful, 15 not so much. 1 out of 10. Isn't this—

wow, didn't A Star Is Born like actually like Yeah, it's supposed to be good. Got like some Oscar noms and wins, stuff like that.

Yeah, it was a remake too, I believe. So he's— we want to make the Shadowlands— I want to make sure that you knew it was A Star Is Born, the one with Lady Gaga.

With Lady Gaga, not the one with, uh, Barbra Streisand.

Yes, exactly.

Which is also a remake, I think, of another one, of another version of it.

Yeah, don't be confused. Don't get it twisted, son.

Yeah, specifically would rather watch Lady Gaga.

Sounds like this was supposed to be the Valentine's Day weekend movie that he watched with his— he or she watched with her significant other, and it didn't go so well.

It is romantic in some ways. It is.

Yeah, it is.

Yeah, sexy North Pole secretary, man.

Yep, yep. Like, it doesn't get much better than that.

No, if you're gonna roleplay, that's the ultimate fantasy.

Let's pretend like we're in the North Pole.

Secretary. Yeah.

All right.

Oh, we did it. We got through DTF, done to fumble. Y2, year 2. M8, month 8. W2, week 2. So that means it's on to W3, which is a me week. Yes.

Right.

Yes.

So Terry already said he knows what I chose. So I'm curious. Terry, write it in the chat right now. I'm not going to look, but just type it in there.

Yeah, because I have a guess as well.

Okay, Keith, you put your guess in there as well.

Well, I'm going to see first if Terry's is the same.

Yeah, I'm not looking at chat.

Oh, no, that's not what I was thinking. I was going here.

I have to like put my hand over the bottom right corner of the screen because the notifications pop up.

Oh, that's, that's an interesting pick.

So you guys have your guesses locked in?

Yeah.

Yes, we're locked in. Let's see what we predict.

See if one of you is correct. In, uh, a little-known cult classic, The Shawshank Redemption.

Oh, uh-huh.

It is not a cult classic, by the way.

It— well, it's on the list. It's a top 10 cult classic movie. They're watching a movie with Rita Hayworth in it. He's like, hold on, she's gonna do the hair thing. And she does the hair thing and he's like, Red likes that. And I like that as well. So that's what we're going to watch. We're going to watch Gilda starring Rita Hayworth.

Wow.

Never saw that one.

No, not a mile away would I have ever guessed that.

I was way wrong.

From the Criterion Collection.

Dang it.

It is a noir, classic noir.

Isn't it the, um, in Shawshank, that like, that's the name of the movie, but isn't like the original, like the name of this—

It's Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.

Yeah. Interesting. Okay.

Well, this is the first thing that popped in my head.

Gilda?

Shawshank. Yeah. I didn't know what it was called. I had to look it up.

Derek, you say this is from 1941 or 1942?

Oh, it is 1946. You're right.

Okay.

Still, I think the oldest technically.

It is the oldest. It's 2 years older than Snake Pit.

Dang it.

I need to get my game back in order. I need to give me an older film.

I hold the record for the oldest movie now.

It's the race to get to the oldest film. Where's that train film?

Train driving into the camera. We'll get there eventually. One day.

Somehow I missed that one.

You know what? That train driving into the screen is in lots of movies too.

Yeah, you could actually have picked that for this category.

I can't.

I would love to have an hour and a half discussion on the train running.

I don't even know if I get a cop— can you buy a copy of the train driving to the screen?

Probably on Criterion.

Yeah, probably. You'd hope so. That— the moon, uh, the rocket into the moon's eye.

Oh, that is on Criterion.

I don't know what that's called though.

Yeah.

Oh well, it's a classic.

It is a classic. All right, well, we did it. We got through week 2, dub 2, which was The Thing from Another Planet— Another World. I'm sorry, not another planet, another world. It could have come from like another dimension, I guess.

A whole new world.

It could come from anywhere.

Yeah, yeah, it could have been something subterranean world for all we know.

What if it— what if— now here's a theory. I don't know, we're already done with the review, but maybe the spaceship crashed and it just, you know, this plant guy was growing on his own.

Yeah, it just happened to crash where the thing was growing when it got frozen.

Because like he's outside the ship, right? So it's like, yeah, maybe the alien chemicals spewed onto, you know, thousands of years ago, you know, Antarctica had some grass and it was growing. It's just a little theory. Maybe he was already there. Maybe that's what killed him, or like made him go dormant. He got hit by a ship.

Got hit by a ship. He looks up, huh?

Plant monster. Now I can explain why he's so dumb, because he's literally just like a caveman.

And now all I need is somebody to stupidly forget that the blanket they're using is an electric blanket.

Oh God, I forgot about that. Why would he put an electric blanket on there? And the fact that it melted so quickly, that was my one hot-ass blanket.

Yeah, that thing was— no wonder he took it off.

It's like it's burning my skin. All right, well, we're there. We're on to Gilda. I guess that leaves us with nothing to do but to end this the way we end everything.

Yes, not with a bang but a whimper.

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

Here she comes.

It's the part I really like, just when she does that show.

Oh yeah, I know.

I've seen him 3 times this month. Ah, Gilda, are you decent? Me?

God, I love it.

I understand you're a man that knows how to get things.

Yeah, I'm known to locate certain things from time to time.

What do you want?

Rita Hayworth. What?

Can you get her?

So this is Johnny Farrell.

I've heard a lot about you, Johnny Farrell. Really?

Take a few weeks.

Weeks?

Well, yeah, Andy.

I don't have her stuffed down the front of my pants right now, I'm sorry to say. But I'll get her.

Relax. Thanks for listening to Fumbling Through Film. New episodes drop every Thursday. Got feedback or questions? Email us at [email protected]. You can see our films to fumble before you tumble into the grave and other musings on Letterboxd at Fumble Through Film. The through is T-H-R-U. You can also follow Keith on Instagram at KG3030Lives and on Letterboxd at KG3030. Terry is on Letterboxd at Terry2099. Derek is on Letterboxd at Derek the number 9 and then the word 9. All original music is done by The Dr. Dre of Kansas, Terry. So hit him up for them bangers. Our new podcast logo is done by the delightful and talented Sanjay Vicky Nayak. You can find her on Instagram at Einkstein. That's Einstein with a K in there. We'll see you next week as we keep on fumbling.

I listen to the orders from the high commanders. That's— I will have no problem relaxing.

Oh yeah, the commanders really did not let me relax, sounds like.

Nope.

I gotta go grab the thermite, throw it onto this deep dive, and melt it all away.

The thermite. Yes.

Before you do that, let me— before you do it, let me get a picture first before you start the process. Let me get a picture. Hold on.

All right.

Um, it's a little late. It's already burning.

Yeah, I want the picture of the shriveled up corpse.

The crispy shriveled up corpse that is my deep dive.

Yes. I'm gonna wait till the end if it's Till it's too late to get a good picture.

Yeah, you can always tell when it's starting to wither away as I keep going and going.

Yep.

That's kind of a nice opt metaphor for deep diving.