HONDO (1953)

Way off out in the middle of the unsettled New Mexico Territory, homesteader Geraldine Page sees a lone man walking across the desert towards her house.  She and her young son are all alone since her husband left...but this isn't her husband returning.  No, it's Army despatch (yes, it's spelt with an e) rider Hondo Lane (John Wayne).  He got his ass kicked a few days ago by some Indians and now he's without a horse.  Once rested up he does some chores around the house in exchange for a horse.  While he's at it he makes quite an impression on Geraldine.  He can't lollygag around though, he needs to get back and tell the Army that the Apaches are gearing up for war!  Will Wayne and Geraldine's paths cross again?

I liked HONDO.  The story is a little different than your average cowboys versus Indians story thanks to the fact that the Indians were actually portrayed as humans and not just bloodthirsty savages.  The relationship between Wayne and Geraldine was believable and I thought she was fantastic.  I knew she was a master from her performance in INTERIORS, but seeing her give a performance nearly to the same level 25 years earlier was quite surprising.  Beautiful photography, Ward Bond with a beard, quick pace, James Arness in a small role, cute looking dog.  Worth a watch for western fans.

One interesting fact about HONDO is when the production went over schedule director John Farrow (yes, Mia's father) had to leave to start on his next project so John Ford was brought in (uncredited) to finish the job!  How crazy is that?!

THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951)

An Air Force crew is sent to a scientific research outpost at the North Post.  Reason being, the head scientist believes there was a UFO crash nearby.  Once the team is assembled and briefed they go out to the crash site and I'll be damned if it isn't a UFO!  Unfortunately it's buried in ice, so they decide to free it using explosives.  Genius!  The precision exploding doesn't go too well, but they do find an alien trapped in ice.  They bring it back, still encased in ice, to the outpost.  Eventually it gets free and wrecks havoc all over the joint.

As far as adaptations from book to film go Howard Hawks' film adaptation of John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There?" was pretty loose, but it's still an enjoyable film that introduced(?) to a wide audience the claustrophobic environment/distrust-your-fellow-man storytelling that we've since seen in numerous movies like the ALIEN series, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, CABIN FEVER, John Carpenter's THE THING and so on.  The acting is lively, the story moves along at a brisk pace and the action scenes were exciting.  I just wish there had been more screentime for the Thing itself.  I doubt modern younger audiences would care for it, but from a historical standpoint THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD is a blast.

When you think about it, 1951 was a good year for horror.  Not only did audiences get THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD they also got John Wyndham's excellent novel "The Day of the Triffids" which, as far as I can tell, is the prototype for the modern zombie horde genre.  Replace the Triffids with human zombies and you've pretty much got NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

Remake 1 - The Thing (1982)
Prequel to the remake - The Thing (2011)