His name was JAMES ARNESS, but his father's name was Rolf Cirkler AURNESS, and his grandfather's name was Peter AURSNESS in Norway. Peter changed the Norwegian spelling in 1887, when he first stepped on United States soil. His mother's name was Ruth Duesler, and her family came from Germany.
When he was born on May 26, 1923, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, his birth name was James King Aurness. Three years later, his younger brother Peter Graves was born on March 18, 1926, as Peter Duesler Aurness. The new last name, Graves, came from his maternal grandfather, Hess Graves Duesler. The family were Methodists.
Above, the image of James Arness, except for one from a 1951 science fiction motion picture, that the actor is most remembered for.
In June 1942, after an on again, off again, attendance record, James King Aurness graduated from "Washburn High School", I turn to the website for "Beloit College", a liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin for the following::
https://www.beloit.edu/live/news/1394-fridays-with-fred-bright-lights-and-beloits-paul
The summer before he entered Beloit College in 1942, Jim Arness (then Aurness) worked in a logging camp in the mountains of Idaho. It was an appropriate experience for the strapping 6- foot-7-inch young man, whom the college yearbook later dubbed “Beloit’s Paul Bunyan.” He had often found himself restless, eager to explore the wider world beyond his hometown Minneapolis. Several times he’d taken off with a friend, crisscrossing the United States and even traversing the Caribbean Sea, in search of adventure. Despite his checkered high school career, however, Arness’s mother urged him to try college. Summer over, Jim sat down and filled out an application to Beloit College, thoughtfully pondering over its many questions - - - -
Note: the above year is 1942, and when James finally reached "Beloit" for classes, the month was September, and many of the male students were being drafted into the United States Army.
James Aurness wanted to be a Naval Fighter Pilot, and feared his poor eyesight would disqualify him. He was correct that he would be disqualified, but it was his 6-foot, 7-inch height that blocked his flight dream. In March, 1943, James King Aurness was drafted into the United States Army. On January 22, 1944, he landed at the "Anzio Beach Head", which is misleading, because prior to the actual beach landing. Aurness was ordered first off his landing craft to test the depth of the Mediterranean Sea, it came up to his waist.
During the actual "Battle of Anzio", "Rifleman Aurness", was severely injured in his right leg, and sent back to the United States and the "91st General Hospital", Clinton, Ohio, for several surgeries.
According to the website for "Med Department/com" at:
https://www.med-dept.com/unit-histories/91st-general-hospital/
The 91st General Hospital was activated on 20 June 1943 at Schick Hospital, Clinton, Iowa, (designated General Hospital by WD GO 64, dated 24 November 1942, bed capacity 2,014, first patient received 12 February 1943, specialties general medicine, syphilis, general and othopedic surgery, psychiatry –ed)
Returning to the "Beloit College" website, my reader will find the following entry:
Although accounts vary, post-war found Jim on vacation in California where he visited a friend on the set of a small theater. The director asked him to join the group and at one of their performances, a Hollywood agent singled him out and in no time landed him a part in the Loretta Young film, The Farmer’s Daughter. With his surname simplified to “Arness,” his film career developed slowly, in part due to his unusual height.
The above quote had one thing correct, the first motion picture the future James Arness was seen in, was March 25, 1947's, "The Farmer's Daughter", starring Loretta Young, Joseph Cotton, and Ethel Barrymore.
Above, left to right, portraying Loretta Young's "Katie Holstrom's" three-brothers are, James AURNESS portraying "Peter Holstrom", Lex Barker portraying "Olaf Holstrom", and Keith Andes portraying "Sven Holstrom".
Above, the three-brothers are watching Joseph Cotton's,"Glenn Morley", speaking to their sister.
On November 10, 1947, the crime film-noir, "Roses are Red", was released.
Above left to right, Patricia Knight portraying "Jill Carney", James Aurness portraying "Ray", probably Charles Lane portraying "Lipton", websites like "IMDb", have him identified as leading man Don Castle, and Douglas Fowley portraying "Ace Olivier". Below, Patricia Knight with the real Don Castle portraying "Robert A. Thorne/Don Carney".
Some time prior to being cast in the uncredited role of a "Gang Member", for the James Craig, and Lynn Bari western, "The Man from Texas", released on March 6, 1948. James Aurness finally took the advice of H. C. Potter, the director of "The Farmer's Daughter", and dropped the letter "U" in his last name, and became James Arness.
Above left, Arness's first wife Virginia Chapman, married in 1948, she would divorce the actor in 1960, and die from an accidental drug overdose in 1977. Next, their son Rolf Aurness, who would become the 1970, "World Surfing Champion", next, Virginia's son Craig Michael, that James Arness would adopt, he would be known for his photographs in "National Geographic Magazine", but he would die in 2004 from lung and anemia complications. Next, James daughter, Jenny Arness, in 1975, at the age of 24, Jenny died from a deliberate drug overdose.
James Arness's next motion picture put him back in the Second World War.
BATTLEGROUND premiered in Washington, D.C., on November 9, 1949
The story and the screenplay were written by Robert Pirosh. He would win the "Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay". Pirosh had participated in the actual "The Battle of the Bulge" that the motion picture was about. It was Pirosh's "War Journal" that formed the basis for his screenplay.
The motion picture was directed by William "Wild Bill" Wellman, who before the United States entered the First World War, was flying combat for France. He directed the winner of the first "Academy Award for Best Picture", the First World War air combat motion picture, "Wings". My article is "WILLIAM A. 'WILD BILL' WELLMAN: '3' with JOHN WAYNE: 'Island in the Sky', 'The High and the Mighty', and 'Blood Alley" at:
https://www.bewaretheblog.com/2017/07/william-wild-bill-wellman-3-with-john.html
Look on the above poster's actor's names and you will find on the third small print line, "JIM ARNESS", who portrayed "Army Sergeant Garby", seen below. Which was a promotion from his actual rank of "Corporal" at Anzio Beach, in Italy.
Next, the actor found himself with the uncredited role of "Rolfe Isbell", in director Jacques Tourneur's, "A-List Western", "Stars in My Crown".
Above, James Arness is to the left of actor Alan Hale, Senior, portraying "Jed Isbell", in his last motion picture.
Staying in the western genre, next, had James Arness playing part of a villainous family for John Ford.
WAGON MASTER premiering in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on April 15, 1950
On the above poster are the names of the films two producers. The first is John Ford, who made a deal with "Republic Pictures" to film 1950's, "Rio Grande", the last picture of his "Cavalry Trilogy", IF they let him go to Ireland and film "The Quiet Man". While making "Rio Grande", he snuck-in this feature with many of the other film's cast. For those who may be interested, my article is "John Wayne in John Ford's CAVALRY TRILOGY: 'Fort Apache' 1948, 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon' 1949, and 'Rio Grande' 1950" battling Native American's at:
https://www.bewaretheblog.com/2017/12/john-wayne-in-john-fords-cavalry.html
The picture's second producer, Merian C. Cooper's name may not be familiar to my readers, but I'm sure his 1933, "King Kong", will be. Together, Cooper and Ford, made 1949's, "Mighty Joe Young". My article is "Merian C. Cooper: Before 'King Kong' to 'Cinerama" the story of an American spy found at:
https://www.bewaretheblog.com/2015/10/merian-c-cooper-before-king-kong-to.html
Ben Johnson portrayed "Travis Blue". He had been one of the stars of "Mighty Joe Young", my article is "Ben Johnson: Roping a 12 Foot Gorilla" found at:
https://www.bewaretheblog.com/2016/06/ben-johnson-roping-12-foot-gorilla.html
Harry Carey, Jr. portrayed "Sandy Owens". He was the son of silent and 1930's western star, and close friend of John Ford, Harry Carey. Like his father, Wayne, Paul Fix, and the next actor I want to mention, Junior was a member of "The John Ford Stock Company".
Ward Bond portrayed "Elder Wiggs". My article is "Ward Bond of Director John Ford's Stock Company" found at:
https://www.bewaretheblog.com/2025/01/ward-bond-of-director-john-fords-stock.html
Above left to right, Ben Johnson, Harry Carey, Jr., and Ward Bond.
Joanne Dru portrayed "Denver". She had previously been in director John Ford's, 1949, "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon", and director Howard Hawks's, 1949, "Red River".
Brief Look at the Screenplay:
The screenplay opens in what seems an unrelated event to what follows for the majority of the motion picture. The "Clegg Gang", led by patriarch "Uncle Shiloh", portrayed by Charles Kemper, robs a store in a small town and that turns into murder. In their escape, "Shiloh" receives a gunshot wound. "Floyd Clegg" is portrayed by James Arness.
Switch to two horse traders, "Travis" and "Sandy" bringing their string of horses from Navajo country to the town of "Crystal City". There, they sell all of them to "Elder Wiggs", the leader of a large group of people and wagons heading for the "San Juan River" area of Utah, but in need of a guide. Not actually mentioned by name, but "Elder Wiggs" is the head of a religious group based upon the Mormons. The two horse traders, whose backgrounds might be a little suspicious are hired and the wagon train leaves.
The wagon train comes upon a stranded "Medicine Show" in the desert, and they join the group. However, there will be some problems with some members of "Elder Wiggs" wagon train toward the new arrivals, because of their religious views toward "Saloon Show People", such as "Denver". Remember this is 1950 and the "Hayes Office" was protecting the morals of the movie viewing audience, so "Denver" is a "Dance Hall Girl", not prostitute.
Everything seems to calm down and a romance begins between "Denver" and "Travis", much to the delight of "Sandy", and even "Eder Wiggs". However, enter the "Clegg's" and "Shiloh" with a festering gunshot wound.
"Shiloh" attempts to control his boys after he immediately learns there is a doctor among "Elder Wiggs's" group. Which is the "Medicine Show's" founder and con-artist, "Dr. A. Locksley Hall", portrayed by Alan Mowbray.
The wagon train meets a group of, initially appearing to be, hostile Navajo's, but after learning about the groups religious purpose. The Navajo's invite them to their camp and a to observe a native ceremony. The peaceful scene blows up when some of the "Clegg" boy's rape a Native American girl.
"Travis" and "Sandy" go after the "Clegg's", and a little more about who the two guides might have been in their past comes out from the two's actions. In the end, the entire "Clegg" gang is killed, but any animosity toward the two "Horse Traders" and the members of the "Medicine Show" disappears.
On April 27, 1950, in Season One, Episode Thirty-Three, "Matter of Courage", of "The Lone Ranger", James Arness first appeared on television. He appeared as "Deputy Bud Titus". At the time he was paid $35, equal as of this writing to $466 to play the role.
From this point forward in my article, I will be skipping some films of the lesser work by James Arness. That I believe are no longer necessary to move his career along as I want. Should my reader want a complete list, please go to IMDB at:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000790/
In 1951, James Arness was seen in two science fiction motion pictures. the first was:
TWO LOST WORLDS released January 5, 1951
10-years-earlier, in 1941, Victor Mature and Carol Landis portrayed prehistoric lovers in producer and co-director, with his son, Hal Roach's, "One Million B.C.".
In August 1938 a 69 page novella under the pen name of Don A. Stuart appeared in "Astounding Science Fiction" magazine. Stuart's real name was John W. Campbell, Jr. and he would eventually become the editor of that publication. Which later on changed it's name to "Analog Science Fiction and Fact". John W. Campbell, Jr's impact on science fiction writing was described by Issac Asimov in "Asimov A Memoir" as:
the most powerful force in science fiction ever, and for the first ten years of his editorship he dominated the field completely.
For actor James Arness between 1951's, "Two Lost Worlds" and 1951's, "THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD", he appeared as the uncredited, "Belle Admirer Mine Guard", in the 1951 western, "Belle Le Grand", and in the uncredited role of "Bullock", in comedian Danny Kaye's, 1951 comic pirate motion picture, "Double Crossbones".
The Following is the Section of My Above Linked Article on "The Thing from Another World"
The screenplay for this classic Science Fiction motion picture was credited to Charles Lederer. For gossip, his Aunt was Marion Davies, the mistress of newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. Davies raised the boy after his parents divorced and would have nothing more to do with him. Charles Lederer married Virginia Nicolson in 1940, after she divorced his good friend Orson Welles the same year. Some of Charles' other movie credits include 1953's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", 1957's "The Spirit of St. Louis" and the original "Rat Pack" 1960 version of "Ocean's Eleven".
Two other names are associated, but without on screen credit, with the screenplay. Ben Hecht was one of the greats of screenplay writing. He was also a journalist and novelist, but his motion picture credits contain the original 1932 "Scarface", both Alfred Hitchcock's 1945 "Spellbound" and 1946's "Notorious", Carlo Ponti's 1954 "Ulysses". Where he adapted Homer's "The Odyssey" for a movie starring American actor Kirk Douglas. Hecht also wrote the original story "Queen of the Universe" that was turned into the 1958 cult Sci-Fi classic "Queen of Outer Space".
The other screenplay contributor, as with all his films, was Howard Hawks. Scenes like the opening Poker Game have his signature character dialogue. As one character starts talking over another character's lines giving a realistic touch to the conversation within Hawks' crisp dialogue.
The first time credit for directing a feature film went to Howard Hawks' long time cameraman and film editor Christian Nyby, but there are three views on who actually directed "The Thing from Another World".
One holds that it was only Nyby. The counter opinion focuses on scene composition, indicating within some of the shots, there is the known look of Howard Hawks. As Christian Nyby's defenders point out. After being Hawks' camera man for so many years. It is logical that Christian Nyby should have been aware of how Hawks shot certain types of scenes.
Then there is the story that Hawks did not want his name associated with directing such a low class motion picture genre, such as science fiction. As nobody knew he had helped write the screenplay. The only place his name would be seen was as the producer and that made sense for Hawks backing Christian Nyby's directorial debut. So, Howard Hawks gave Nyby's the director's credit, but had performed the work himself.
The third idea is that it was actually a joint directing, but again Howard Hawks wanted his friend Christian Nyby to receive all the credit.
This writing team used the first 31 pages of John W. Campbell, Jr's novella for the basis of their screenplay. The five major changes to "Who Goes There?" start with the location. We are now at the North Pole and not Antarctica. Next, is a change to the discovery of the spacecraft, from one that already crashed on the Earth millions of years ago. To one that only crashed a few hours prior and had been photographed by the scientific base's camera system and thought to be a meteor. The space craft's sudden changes in direction had changed the scientist's thinking to something possibly piloted.
The way the alien looked was impacted by the low budget of the production. A stop motion animated alien was considered, but that changed from what Campbell described to one resembling a human. Which was a lot cheaper with an actor in make-up. Lastly the tight screenplay placed all of the research personnel in one building rather than the multiple locations in the novella. Campbell had used that design to create more terror and mystery as the story progressed, but really doesn't come into play until after page 32 in the novella.
The number of people at the now North Pole research center are reduced from 32 to 16, including the arrivals on Captain Patrick Henry's plane. Two of these characters become women, Mrs. Chapman and Nikki Nicholson.
Playing Captain Henry was Kenneth Tobey in his first of three classic 1950 science fiction motion pictures. The other two were both from Stop Motion Animator Ray Harrhausen. They are 1953's "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" and 1955's "It Came from Beneath the Sea".
For those who might be interested, Kenneth Tobey was my next door neighbor in 1954, and I wrote an article about his career at:
http://www.bewaretheblog.com/2016/10/a-memory-of-my-neighbors-barbara-luddy.html
In "The Thing from Another World" the audience learns that there is a past between Captain Henry and Nikki Nicholson. The relationship is created through the use of many innuendo's in the script starting with the Poker Game and is a trademark of Howard Hawks. As are the director's strong female characters in what was essentially a 1950's man's world. Look at newcomer Angie Dickinson in his western classic "Rio Bravo" as another of his examples.
Another off camera reason for Margaret Sheridan, as Nikki, getting top billing in the picture, was that she was Howard Hawks' girl friend at the time. However, in her scenes opposite Tobey, there is a chemistry that sends sparks flying. Throughout the motion picture Sheridan gives one of the strongest performances.
In Howard Hawks version of the Campbell novel. The alien played by actor James Arness turns out to be a plant, or as surprised Reporter Ned "Scotty" Scott, portrayed by Douglas Spencer, remarks "An Intelligent Carrot".
Doing away with the duplication of members of the Research Group. The idea of "The Thing" being a plant leads to it containing seed pods to repropagate it's species and conqueror the Earth. An idea picked up and reworked by Jack Finney for his 1955 novel "The Body Snatchers".
The Research Team is headed by Dr. Carrington, portrayed by a very understated Robert Cornthwaite. My reader must remember that 1951 was only six years after the first Atomic Bomb tests and the dropping of two atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many American's and members of Congress, at the time, remained leery of the real motivations of scientists and the screenplay plays upon that concern.
Dr. Carrington is portrayed very much like those Los Alamos Scientists who created the Atomic Bomb. He sees science and its discoveries as the ultimate goal, and overlooks the associated dangers the might be caused by his research. This comes into play in his interaction with Captain Henry. Henry is a military man looking at the cold facts of reality in relationship to the now alive alien.
An example of Dr. Carrington's scientific curiosity overtaking the consequences of his actions, comes in the above photograph of the seed pods. Carrington does not see the danger in growing more "Things". Which in turn becomes more invaders capable of reproduction and the conquest of the human race.
Once more the comparison specifically to J. Robert Oppenheimer is clearly made by the screenplay. At the time of this film, Oppenheimer had received his second nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize. An unusual award for the creator of the Atomic Bomb, as seen by some today, but as the Atomic Bomb was the means to end World War 2 and in the long run saved lives. The bomb's creation became a logical motivation for the prize.,
However, J. Robert Oppenheimer had recently testified in front of "The House Committee on Un-American Activities" for being an admitted "Communist". A "Red Flag" to many American's at the start of "The Cold War". So, the similarities and concerns over the real Dr. Oppenheimer and the character of Dr. Carrington were not lost on American audiences in 1951. An undertone in the screenplay that is mostly overlooked by today's viewing audience.
Another example of science curiosity blinded by consequences, comes after the discovery that "The Thing" had entered the Greenhouse and a sled dog was drained of blood. Instead of informing the on site "The Military", Captain Henry, Dr. Carrington convinces other scientists to stay in the Greenhouse so that communication with the alien of "Greater Intelligence" can be made and the secrets of the Universe revealed. The result is the slaughter of three men,
The battle to destroy the alien invader climaxes with an electrical net being set up to destroy it. This idea is taken from the last of those 31 pages of "Who Goes There?". The alien is lured between the electrical net in the motion picture and burnt to a cinder. In the novella those at the Research Facility believe they have killed the alien at this point.
In 1951 when "The Thing from Another World" was released. American's were already involved with the UFO (Unidentified Flying Objects) craze. Even the Air Force would became involved with "Project Blue Book" the following year.
This all started back on June 24, 1947 when private pilot Kenneth Arnold, who had over 9,000 flying hours, reported seeing nine unusual objects flying in the skies near Mt. Rainier, Washington. The newspapers picked up the story and one coined the term "Flying Saucers". Then Air Force pilots and Airline Pilots started seeing flying saucers, I mean "Weather Balloons". In 1950 the first movie, an independent production, about UFO's was released entitled appropriately "The Flying Saucer".
Throughout the entire feature Reporter Ned Scott has been trying to send out a story about the alien, but weather conditions have blocked his attempts. Finally, after "The Thing" has been destroyed, the weather clears, and "Scotty" sends his story with what has become one of the most famous five sentences in science fiction:
Tell the world. Tell this to everybody, wherever they are. Watch the skies everywhere. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies.
Playing Conservative Republican John Wayne's girl friend was Liberal Democratic Nancy Olson. Olson told interviewers of the long political discussions the two would have and said she always let Wayne have the last word. Nancy Olson didn't think the movie would do well and as far as its initial theatrical run, she was right. However, the movie developed a cult following after many showings on television and Olson always said filming "Big Jim McLain" was a great way to get a free trip to Hawaii.
The Communist Cell story line was dropped for European release. The film was renamed "Marijuana", because of European views on American politics and communism. Wayne and Arness were now after a group of Marijuana smugglers.
Declassified Soviet Union documents reveal that although he was a fan of John Wayne, Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin had contemplated the assassination of the actor around the time "Big Jim McLain" was released, because of Wayne's stanch anti-Communist position.
"Island in the Sky" is based upon a real incident that happened on February 3, 1943 to a plane in the Air Transport Command that went down in Canada. The downed aircraft was a DC-47, the military version of the DC-3, and the author had been a back up pilot on the rescue mission.
Initially Robert Stillman Productions purchased the rights to Ernest K. Gann's novel in 1950 with a plan to use actor Richard Widmark in the lead. For some reason this fell through and in 1952 the production team of John Wayne and Robert Fellows acquired the rights from Stillman. The finished picture had its premier on September 3, 1953 in Los Angeles.
Looking back today at the year 1943, when the original survival event occurred. It may be hard for my reader to visualize that any plane forced down by weather conditions in Canada, near the Quebec-Labrador border, would become a major problem to locate. However, in 1943, that area of Canada was still uncharted, pitting the odds against the crew's survival.
As in 1943, the novel and screenplay by Ernest K, Gann has the crew of the "Corsar" flying "The Northern Route" to England with much needed supplies. This avoided most German aircraft, but when the weather conditions worsen. It forces a landing on a frozen lake and makes the plane inoperable even when the weather clears.
The above two photos and the two below give my reader, unfamiliar with the picture, the isolation of the landscape the plane was forced down in. The temperatures at the time dropping at night to 70 below zero and taking the strength out of the crewmen. As their food supply starts running low.
The motion picture was filmed in California in the Sierra Nevada's substituting for Quebec. The Doner Laker area was used for filming near Truckee, Yes, this is the lake associated with the Doner Party that reverted to cannibalism to survive the winter. The National Forest Service cut down trees to open up the area for incoming and out going aircraft required to get the cast, crew, equipment and supplies in. For comparison with the four stills above of the sparse look of the area. The following photograph was taken from Doner Pass overlooking how the lake area normally looked before production of "Island in the Sky" began and would eventually return too.
There are some interesting names is this 41 role ensemble cast besides John Wayne. I am not going to mention all of them, but give some interesting information on 15.
The following scene shows James Arness as rescue pilot "MacMullen" and his radio operator "Swanson" portrayed by Daryl Hickman.
Above directly behind Andy Devine are Lloyd Nolan and Walter Abel.
Devine with his distinctive voice had been acting in character and support roles since 1926. In 1937 he had a major role in William Wellman's "A Star Is Born", In 1939 Andy Devine portrayed "Buck" in John Ford's classic western "Stagecoach", The film that made John Wayne a "Star". Two years after "Island in the Sky", Devine was hosting his own children's television program "Andy's Gang" and appearing as Guy Madison's sidekick "Jiggles" on television's popular "The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok".
Actor Lloyd Nolan was "Captain Shultz" one of the rescue pilots. Nolan in his career portrayed no nonsense characters such as "Michael Shayne Private Detective" in seven motion pictures and private detective "Martin Kane" in a 1951 television series of that name. In 1964 Lloyd Nolan would co-star in Samuel Bronson's "Circus World" starring Wayne.
Walter Abel was "Colonel Fuller" in charge of the rescue mission. Abel was a solid actor in a career starting in 1918. In 1935 he was "d'Artagnan" in "The Three Musketeers", the District Attorney in Fritz Lang's classic "Fury" starring Spencer Tracy, had a role in Lloyd Nolan's first"Michael Shayne" movie, appeared with James Cagney in another classic about the OSS tracking down Nazi spies "13 Rue Madeleine". After "Island in the Sky" Abel appeared in both the Kirk Douglas western "The Indian Fighter" and the Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift civil war epic "Raintree County" among many television appearances.
Starting out with walk-on's in two of the "Dick Tracy" movies and appearing in the major motion pictures "David and Bathsheba" and "The Desert Fox" was actor Sean McClory. McClory portrayed "Dooley's co-pilot Frank Lovat". McClory using the last name of McGlory previously appeared with Wayne in John Ford's 1952 feature "The Quiet Man". Sean McClory would join James Arness and Ann Doran in 1954's "THEM!" as "Major Kibbee".
Harry Carey, Jr., son of Wayne's idol cowboy actor Harry Carey, started in motion pictures in a 1921 western "Desperate Trails" directed by John Ford and starring his father. Of course he was only a baby at the time and has no recollection of his role. In 1948 Carey, Jr. appeared in Howard Hawks' "Red River" starring John Wayne and in John Ford's "3 Godfathers" with Wayne and Pedro Armendariz. 1949 saw him as "Second Lieutenant Ross Pennell" in Ford's "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon". In 1950 he co-starred with another Ford company member Ben Johnson in "Wagon Master".
"Island in the Sky" would be his 5th feature with John Wayne and the actor would appear in Ford's classic "The Searchers". Anyone my age should remember Harry Carey, Jr. as "The Triple R" Ranch Head Counselor in the "Spin and Marty" series on the original "Mickey Mouse Club".
Bob Steele has over 242 film credits to his career, if you count the multiple episodes of some television shows such as 1967's "F-Troop". He began his career in 1920 and ended it in 1974. Bob Steel was one of the most popular 1930's "B" Cowboys and this lasted through the 1940's as he competed with such stars as Roy Rodgers, Gene Autry and William Boyd.
Both Bob Steele and John Wayne were part of the very popular Republic Pictures Franchise "The Three Mesquiteers" started in 1936, but at different times. They both took over roles from other actors. Wayne in the role of "Stony Burke", 1938 into 1939, and Steele in the role of "Tuscon Smith", from 1940 until the end of the series in 1943. The two would appear together in "Rio Bravo" and "Rio Lobo".
A long time friend of John Wayne was actor Paul Fix playing "Wally Miller". Anyone familiar with the television series "The Rifleman", either when it came out, or plays on the Western Channel will recognize Paul Fix as "Marshall Micah Torrance". His acting career started in 1925 and he was known for playing western bad guys, or gangster's as in Howard Hawks' 1932 "Scarface". Fix would become a regular of both the John Ford and Howard Hawks stock companies. However, this drinking body of Harry Carey, Sr. and John Ford, became friends with John Wayne around 1930. When the name had just been created. What Wayne couldn't really do was act and Fix took the job of teaching the youngster how to including what became the famous "John Wayne Walk". Paul Fix would appear in 27 of the actor's movies including "Island in the Sky". My article is "PAUL FIX: The Character Actor Who Taught John Wayne To Walk" walking the cowboy way at:
With the following four actors I just want to make some brief comments. I'll start with Regis Toomey as "Sergeant Harper".
If the face seems familiar, it should be to true film lovers. Among his 270 film roles were King Vidor's 1940 "Northwest Passage" starring Spencer Tracy and Robert Young, Raul Walsh's "They Died with Their Boots On" starring Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland, Alfred Hitchcock's 1945 "Spellbound" starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck, Howard Hawks 1946 "The Big Sleep" starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Merian C. Cooper and John Ford's 1949 "Mighty Joe Young"and many guest appearances on popular 1960's to 1980's television shows.
The following actor portrayed "Sonny Harper, Schultz's co-pilot". My readers might not recognize the following face now:
He's Carl Switzer, "Alfalfa" of the "Our Gang Comedies". At the time of "Island in the Sky", Switzer was appearing on television shows and with his wife had started training and breeding hunting dogs. His clients included Roy Rodgers, Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda, and this became is main income.
Playing a role that is just described as "Fitch's co-pilot" was Fess Parker. It is said that, in a special screening of "THEM!" for science fiction fan Walt Disney, by Jack L. Warner. Disney had Fess Parker's sequence re-run several times and then told Warner he had found his "Davy Crockett". The rest is history.
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Playing the role of "Gainer" was "Touch" Connors. The nickname "Touch" came from High School Basketball and with that name the actor appeared 32 times in either motion pictures or on television from 1952 until mid-1957. When he became "Michael Connors" and then eventually just "Mike Connors" for the 194 episodes of the "Mannix" television program starting in 1967. His films as "Touch" included such 1950's science fiction/horror movies as "Swamp Women" and "The Day the World Ended", both for Roger Corman. Along with a Corman western "Five Guns West", the musical "Shake, Rattle & Rock", and as a Hebrew slave, lost among the giant cast, in Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 'The Ten Commandments".
"Island in the Sky" was given a budget of $967,000 and made a profit of $2.75 million 1953 dollars. Almost 3 times the budget. Critics also noted that the performance William Wellman was able to get from John Wayne was against his type as a "Cowboy" and excellent. John Wayne was always attempting to change his perceived "Cowboy" image and show he really could act. "Island in the Sky" proved that point, but the critics and public would not let him change.
John Wayne portrayed "Hondo Lane". Wayne would follow this western with William A. Wellman's, 1954, "The High and the Mighty". Reaching back into the 1930's, my article is "John Wayne and 'Duke the Devil Horse" at:
What makes the George Worthing Yates's story so frightening and successful was the real probability of how the giant ants came into existence and the overall intelligence of the screenplay by Ted Sherdeman and Russell Hughes.
Normally a watcher of 1950's Science Fiction motion pictures had to suspend reality to accept the film. Otherwise you could not watch, as with "The Fly", another husband and father being turned, this time, into "The Werewolf". By two scientists attempting to figure out how to save the human race after the population of the world exceeds the ability to produce enough food to feed it, or finding a Foreign Country were a scientist is attempting to turn young people into geniuses by exposure to Gamma radiation in "The Gamma People".
However, Yates' story starts out logically enough. The audience sees a plane being used as a spotter in conjunction with a two-man New Mexico police car searching the desert on a report of a little girl walking through it. Finding the girl, who is in shock, leads to a camping trailer that appears to have been attacked and the girl's parents missing. Everything points to a robbery gone wrong, except one side of the trailer appears to have not been caved in by force, but pulled out. Also found are some ant's in a pile of sugar and a strange print in the sand near the trailer.
The girl is taken away by an ambulance, but not before the audience hears a high pitched sound and the girl lying on a gurney sits up until the sound ends. The sound is passed off as the wind.
The two police officers go to another location, a store and find the owner dead, his shotgun bent out of shape, ants also in sugar, and the walls of the store pulled out not pushed in. One of the officers remains and the audience hears the sound again. This causes the police officer to walk outside, We see him pull his gun and start to fire at something and then there is his scream.
The discovery that the girl's father was with the FBI brings in the local FBI agent. The coroner has found that the dead store owner had enough formic acid in his body to kill 20 men. With the approval of the Chief of Police, a plaster copy of the strange print is sent to the FBI Crime Lab in Washington, D.C. As a result a father and daughter team of scientists from the Department of Agriculture arrive.
"THEM!" was directed by Gordon Douglas. His future projects included directing James Garner in the world war 2 movie "Up Periscope", Elvis Presley in "Follow That Dream", Frank Sinatra and His Rat Pack in 1964's "Robin and the 7 Hoods" and the first remake of John Ford's classic "Stagecoach" starring Ann-Margaret and introducing Alex Cord. My article is "Gordon Douglas: The Little Rascals (Our Gang) - Giant Ants - and Francis Albert Sinatra" at:
"THEM!" revolves around four well written characters acted by four perfect actors for their roles.
Top billing went to actor James Whitmore as New Mexico police officer Sgt. Ben Peterson. Among Whitmore's previous work was the story of the siege of Bastogne in 1949's "Battleground", John Huston's 1950 picture about a bank robbery that falls apart "The Asphalt Jungle". Followed in the same year opposite the future Mrs. Ronald Reagan, Nancy Davis, in "The Next Voice You Hear". The George Summer Albee's story of a typical American family that suddenly hears the voice of God coming over their radio and speaking to them. My article is "JAMES WHITMORE: World War 2, Film-Noirs, Musicals, Science Fiction, Racial Prejudice, Westerns, and Harry Truman" a career at:
Second billed was character actor Edmund Gwenn as Dr. Harold Medford. Gwenn is still known today for portraying Kris Kringle attempting to prove to 9 year old Natalie Wood that he is the real Santa Claus in 1947's "Miracle on 34th Street". The actor had been in Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 "Foreign Correspondent" and would be in Hitch's 1955 "The Trouble With Harry". He was also in the 1952 film version of Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" starring Michael Rennie and Robert Newton.
Third billing went to Opera Singer turned actress Joan Weldon playing Gwenn's character's daughter Dr. Pat Medford. She would appear in several Westerns including 1954's "The Command" with Whitmore. Also in 1954 as a direct opposite to the Science Fiction of "THEM!". Joan Weldon appeared as herself and actually sang opera in the MGM Musical biography of Sigmund Romberg "Deep in My Heart".
The final lead went to actor James Arness as FBI Agent Robert Graham.
When the four leads first meet at an Army Air Force base. The father/daughter scientists request to see the little girl, portrayed by Sandy Descher, after he stops at a drug store. When formic acid is passed under the, in shock, little girl's nose and she starts to scream one word "THEM!" That scene became one of the most classic scenes in Science Fiction movie's and still makes the audience jump a little.
The two scientists next ask to be taken to all the scenes of the previous attacks, but the two will not give a direct answer to any inquiries made by either Peterson or Graham. Finally Pat's father reveals that he is not "being coy" with either law enforcement officer, but that the mounting evidence appears to be supporting a fantastic theory he has been developing. At this point Pat wonders off as a wind comes up fiercely blowing the desert sands. Suddenly we hear that sound once more and above Pat the first view of a giant ant is seen.
After the one giant ant is killed and the four leads return to police headquarters. Dr. Harold Medford asks where was the very first Atomic Bomb test located? FBI Agent Graham shows him on a map indicating White Sands. Dr. Medford informs the two police officers and the audience that that was nine years previous to the movie's story back in 1945. Which makes it genetically possible, because of the lingering radiation from that first atomic bomb test, and the way ants reproduce, to create the giant mutations. Here we have well defined scientific theory to support the giant ants, that also appears to make sense to the viewer.
Originally the picture was to be filmed in Warner Color, but the purple blue color of the ant's looked terrible and the decision to shoot in black and white was made. Color footage can be found in the extras on the original DVD release of the movie.
The motion picture was to be shot in 3-D, but Jack L. Warner decided that the format was loosing audiences in 1954 and it was released in 2-D. However, look at the film with the knowledge of the 3-D shoot and it is very easy to realize how almost every shot was set up by director Gordon Douglas with a definite foreground, middle ground and background for maximum 3-D effect. Keeping alive the story that "THEM!" was shot by Douglas in the "Third Dimension", but was released in 2-D.
In the above picture, the ant hill is in the far background, actors Arness and Gwenn are arranged at a definite left angle to Weldon, so that in 3-D the three come off the screen with depth of field. Looking at the office scene grouping still, farther above, and the 3-D set up by Douglas is also visible. The desk that Joan Weldon and Edmund Gwenn are sitting at is at an angle permitting the right corner to project itself over the audience. The placement of the two actors are offset slightly to each other to give them a depth of field. While James Arness is further back to the left and James Whitmore is even farther back than the other three actors.
Returning to the plot.
After determining that two queen ants have left the nest. A nationwide search begins, bringing Pat Medford and Robert Graham, along with Army Major Kibbee, portrayed by actor Sean McClory, to a hospital. A pilot reported seeing two flying saucers shaped like ants that forced his landing on a city street.
Jack L. Warner invited his friend and Science Fiction fan Walt Disney to a private screening of "THEM!". According to the mythic story, Walt asked that the scene in the hospital be repeated for him several times and then told Warner that he had found his "Davy Crockett" in actor Fess Parker. My article is "FESS PARKER: Giant Ants, Coonskin Caps, and Wine" at:
After the hospital scene, Pat's father is told that one of the queen ants had found an open cargo hold on a merchant ship, and at sea, her nest hatched. The ship was sunk by a Navy destroyer and the destroyer will remain at sea.
Behind and next to the Warner Brother Studio's back lot is the Los Angeles river. Although it is seen by residents most of the year as a pretty dry concrete structure. It was here that the thrilling climax of the motion picture takes place in a search for a woman's two boys.
The story moves into the tunnels, which I played in at the time the film was made, as the army searches through the maze that exists in the Los Angeles city sewer system. The boys are located by Sgt. Peterson who saves them, but before help can reach him, Peterson is killed by one of the giant ants.
The new nest with two queens is located and destroyed and this excellent Science Fiction film ends with a warning from Dr. Harold Medford:
When Man entered the Atomic Age, he opened the door to a new world. What we may eventually find in that new world, nobody can predict.
Despite Wayne's dislike of television and his recommendation of Arness, the story has spread that Wayne himself was initially offered the part of Matt Dillon. The rumor probably came about because John Wayne was the film epitome of the "Wild West" cowboy, and he did CBS the favor of appearing on television to introduce the first episode of Gunsmoke. Supposedly, CBS vice president William Dozier was sent to make an offer to the Duke, and it was when Wayne turned down the part that he suggested Arness for the role. However, Warren contradicts this account:
Some critic started the myth about Wayne, so I wrote him a long letter saying that if I had asked John Wayne to play Matt Dillon he would have broken my neck. It was never offered to him. Not that I wouldn't have loved him to do it, but one day when we were sitting at his bar I jokingly asked Wayne if he would consider doing Dillon. He turned, grabbed me by the neck, and he took this triple size martini and poured it on my head.
The Great Star of TV's "GUNSMOKE"
The television program had only been seen for 47-weeks, the 1955-1956 "Nielsen Media Research" television ratings didn't show "Gunsmoke" in their Top 30. However, for their 1956-1957 ratings, "Gunsmoke" had moved to a tie at Number 7, with "I've Got a Secret", who had moved up three-places from the previous television ratings report.
Introducing ANGIE DICKINSON
In actuality she had appeared on television 10-times prior to the motion picture and in 6-motion pictures.
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