A Howards Hawks film in all but name. His framing is utterly recognisable, as is group of tightly knit protagonists (think everything from Ceiling Zero to Rio Bravo). However, in conversation with Peter Bogdanovich, Hawks says he gave Nyby the job as he had done a great job cutting Red River and wanted to direct. Hawks was 'at the rehearsals and helped them with the overlapping dialog'. Nyby has clearly followed in the master's footsteps.
We finally got to see the film that's on in the background in Halloween.
And it's a lot of fun, particularly in the banter between all the people, and that constant rapid-fire overlapping dialogue which gives it such pace. The actual plot is like any cheap fifties science fiction film really - a blood-eating alien is found in the North Pole. There's a quick discussion about how interesting a bit of science it all is before they kill it.
Unknown cast: Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, James Young, Dewey Martin, Robert Nichols.
A Winchester Pictures / RKO release. Written by Charles Lederer and (uncredited) Ben Hecht (based on a four page story 'Who Goes There?' by John Campbell), photographed by Russell Harlan, music by Dmitri Tiomkin.
I must admit to being somewhat under the fairy lights by the time we finished it, so looking forward to it again already.
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