Factual error: The scientists are supposed to be at or near the North Pole. When Capt. Hendry takes off from Anchorage, Alaska the sky is dark (day-for-night) but when he arrives at the Polar base it is broad daylight. The dialogue says the date is Nov. 2 (presumably 1951). Later, when the "Martian" is accidentally released from his block of ice by an electric blanket, the sky is dark again. Later the sun is back up. At the North Pole the sun sets around Sept. 21 and stays down until March 21, when it comes back up. NOAA says polar twilight lingers through "early October" but by November the sky is black 24 hours a day and stays like that for most of the next six months. Also, when he arrives Capt. Hendry is told the explosion took place about 50 miles "due East." If you're at the North Pole there's no such direction as "due East". No matter which way you head, you're heading due South. And from the plane, Hendry refers to "that peak ahead" being due East. The Arctic ice cap is a thick sheet of ice floating in the ocean. That's why submarines can sail underneath it. There are no "peaks" near the North Pole. These guys were thinking of Alaska, not the North Pole.