Take out your textbooks and turn to The Thing From Another World. This is how to make a thriller. One could make a case that The Thing holds up better than any film of its vintage. It is one of perhaps five films that I will watch again the minute it concludes. How many films can you point to that possess not a single lapse in dramatic narrative? There's not a wasted frame in it. The staging is impeccable, the atmosphere is palpable. It's the blueprint for every successful thriller that followed it. The film's genesis and plot line scarcely need in-depth chronicling at this point. Based on a rip-snorting pulp novella by John W. Campbell, producer Howard Hawks and scripter Charles Lederer transformed the tale of an alien menace, able to assume any form, into a stark and streamlined story of a small band fighting for survival against an unreasoning invader from space. Importantly, Hawks preserved the story's isolated arctic setting, a key ingredient in the film's terrifying success. The publicity hoopla surrounding its release was remarkable for its time. In fact, banking on The Thing's prospective financial success, The Man From Planet X was rushed through production, beating The Thing to the box office by several months. Still in need of several key outdoor scenes, The Thing's second unit crew sat idly at their Utah location praying for snow. A debate still rages among the film elite as to who actually directed the movie. Produced by the legendary Howard Hawks, it possesses all the intrinsically Hawksian touches. Rapid-fire, overlapping dialogue, two-dimensional yet altogether ingratiating male camaraderie, a cool, collected, independent female and a fast-paced brand of editing that keeps the film crackling. It is, in fact, Hawks longtime editor Christian Nyby who receives the directing credit. Nominated for an Academy Award for editing Hawks' classic western Red River, some have stated that The Thing was Nyby's reward, a show of esteem from an old master. The handful of undistinguished films that Nyby directed following The Thing helped fuel the argument that he wasn't actually in charge. Leading man Kenneth Tobey states flatly that Hawks called the shots, closely overseeing Nyby's role in the filming. Without doubt, Hawks monitored the production's progress, but as Nyby had learned the rudiments of efficient pacing from Hawks, why wouldn't The Thing look like a Hawks film? While this debate is certainly of unlimited interest to all film fans, in the end, The Thing succeeds because it is an unequaled example of team filmmaking. Every element is a part of a greater whole, an unstoppable juggernaut of suspense hurtling toward a satisfying and spine-tingling conclusion. Individual segments stand out, but never distract us from the film's single fearsome theme -- that an unconscionable horror is closing in on us and we've nowhere to run. There are no showy performances. Various cast members are likable, even funny, but their characterization does nothing to alleviate the oppressive suspense. Likewise, there are no unique directorial flourishes. No jump cuts or shock close-ups -- nothing that might interrupt the narrative stream. Likewise, the teams within the film reflect this philosophy. Kenneth Tobey is clearly in charge of the Air Force detachment, but democratically so. The survival of the group is paramount to him and helpful suggestions from any source are implemented. The interruptive, overlapping dialogue further serves to equalize the team members, as no one seems to ever have the last word. This team is focused. This team defeats the monster. Conversely, the team of scientists on hand answer to just one authority, the pompous Prof. Carrington, whose egomania in the interest of science proves to be his undoing. His team fails. Wisely, Hawks chose to display the creature either in shadow or in fleetingly horrifying shots. Scenes of the monster's blizzard-swept struggle with sled dogs or dashing ablaze into a snow drift are thrilling. It's clear that he's huge and wearing a uniform of some kind, but beyond that he is a figure of mystery who means only to kill us. The segment wherein our desperate band learns of the Thing's intelligence is one of the film's most chilling. It seems the murderous invader has shut off the base's heat from the outside, attempting to freeze its inhabitants from their shelter. "An intellectual carrot -- the mind boggles!" If many of these elements sound familiar -- the bloodthirsty alien invader, the intrepid military band, the autocratic scientist, the claustrophobic sense of isolation -- it's because any thriller made after The Thing is, in some way, indebted to it. No one's ever done it better. More than likely, no one ever will. Wildly murderous alien invaders entered popular culture with the debut of Wells' War of the Worlds at the turn of the century. The notion that another planet's inhabitants might think of us Earthlings as food -- or simply in the way -- has provided a recurring theme exploited by sci fi filmmakers of every strata: Earth vs. the Flying Saucers 1956 When it comes to guilty pleasures, watching the nation's capitol being obliterated by soaring saucers mounted with death rays is curiously untoppable entertainment. The aliens themselves are tin-covered, wizened weaklings. The climactic saucer battle staged by effects wizard Ray Harryhausen is unforgettable. Acting: B Atmosphere: B Fun: A Atomic Submarine 1959 Dick Foran, Tom Conway, Arthur Franz, Brett Halsey, Joi Lansing -- a sturdier cast of B film stalwarts you'll never find. This time, the alien -- a fearsomely furry cyclops -- is ensconced beneath the polar ice cap feeding on the Earth's magnetic fields. Acting: B- Atmosphere: C+ Fun: A- It Conquered the World 1956 Arguably Roger Corman's best-known film, due in large measure to Paul Blaisdell's justly familiar cucumber creature. A memorable troop of scenery chewers -- notably Lee Van Cleef, Peter Graves and Beverly Garland -- fall under the sway of the veggie Venusian. Acting: B Atmosphere: D- Fun: A+ Mars Needs Women 1966 Director Larry Buchanan concocted this frenzied embarrassment as part of AIP's direct-to-TV package. Tommy Kirk and his troop of love-starved Martians are trolling for mates in order to replenish their dwindling female population. Catch of the day is lovely scientist Yvonne Craig who possesses a brain to die for. Acting: D Atmosphere: D- Fun: C