The Thing (From Another World)
RKO Pictures, 1951

A US scientific expedition in the Arctic is menaced by a ferocious being they inadvertently thaw from a spaceship. Curiously drab suspense shocker mainly set in corridors, with insufficient surprises to sustain its length. It does, however, contain the first space monster on film, and is quite nimbly made, though it fails to use the central gimmick from its original story.  -- Halliwell's

But is it drab? Maybe the problem lies with the notorious Campbell's "Earth is superior and thus must always win" rule. The rule that made lots of early Sci-Fi novels abandon any notion that there can be any plot concerning aliens other than such in which they are conquered by Earth ingenuity and supremacy. Idea basically racists and xenophobic, but in accordance with its time. Nevertheless, such idea is prefect for the monster (space or otherwise) plots and movies. And when done by Hawks it certainly leaves its mark.

LAST SPEECH OF FILM:  " I bring you warning--to every one of you listening to the sound of my voice. Tell the world, tell this to everyone wherever they are: watch the skies, watch everywhere, keep looking--watch the skies! "

If you listen carefully you will hear this same speech in John Carpenter's 1978 Halloween. It's a Halloween night, and what other film is on TV's scary program, but the Hawks’ "The Thing". Few years later Carpenter, who has already used another film of Howard Hawks, (Rio Bravo), as pretext for his Assault on Precinct 13, went even further and made a complete remake. John Carpenters' "The Thing" is not only a remake, but can be viewed as a continuation of the Hawks’ film, as what would happen if the Thing has decided not to play by Campbell's rules anymore.