Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

The reason so many science fiction films from the 1950s are fondly remembered is because in most there was a black and white divide between good and evil.  Even in something like The Day the Earth Stood Still where the plot is not the usual invasion scenario there are clear ideas of what is good and what is bad.  World War II was one of the few wars with a defined evil enemy which most of the world could agree needed to be defeated and this left an impression on Hollywood storytelling for a long time.

We didn't much like the Soviet Union before the war but, as our goals were similar, we tolerated them during.  Winston Churchill knew that Josef Stalin had ideas beyond his borders but, exhausted from fighting both the Germans and the Japanese, the United States was more than willing to let the growing tensions fall into a Cold War, especially as the specter of mutually assured destruction began to loom.  Underneath the seeming placidity of the post-war United States was a sense of paranoia made manifest in Joseph McCarthy, J. Edgar Hoover and others that thought communists were hiding everywhere and just waiting for their chance to destroy the greatest nation on Earth.

It's no surprise that Invasion of the Body Snatchers, produced by Walter Wanger, directed by Don Siegel and based on the book The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney, would be interpreted as both a warning against communism as well as the dangers of someone like McCarthy.  In truth it was neither, with Wanger and Siegel finding the "pod people" to be many of the unimaginative studio executives they had to work with.  Jack Finney wrote the story, initially a magazine serial, as a fanciful alien invasion story based on the idea of people suddenly losing their humanity, where Wanger and Siegel were just hoping to make some money off a low-budget thriller.  In the end, everyone succeeded, producing one of the most original and memorable sci-fi movies of the 1950s.

Dr. Miles J. Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) is a family doctor in the small California town of Santa Mira.  He has just returned from a medical convention while his former flame, Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter) has also returned from England.  He is flooded with requests from patients who are concerned that relatives and friends are no longer who they say they are.  Initially thinking it is a psychological problem he refers a patient to the local psychiatrist, Dr. Dan Kauffman (Larry Gates).  

Bennell changes his mind when writer Jack Belicec (King Donovan) and his wife Teddy (Carolyn Jones) contacts him and shows him a body they found.  The body is featureless, but bears some resemblance to Jack, with the resemblance becoming more so after Jack falls asleep.  They soon find out that the bodies are grown from seed pods and, while the human host sleeps, the new creature grows and absorbs their memories, but not their emotions.  As more of Santa Mira becomes infested Miles and Becky try to escape before they succumb to the same fate.

There are some differences between Finney's book and Don Siegel's film, as can be expected.  The creatures in Finney's book only live for five years and display a more detached attitude from normal human life, much more in line with the 1978 adaptation of the story.  They are also more reasonable and easily defeated when confronted with some hard facts about humanity.  It's an okay ending for a book, but for a movie that features characters constantly on the move throughout most of it that would not work.  In fact, Invasion of the Body Snatchers had the perfect ending, but the studio pulled its punches to try and be more audience friendly.  They also removed much of the humor that was supposed to be in the film as well. 

The result is still a quick-paced movie with Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter going above and beyond when it comes to physical exertion.  Siegel shot the whole thing as if it was a piece of film noir, with shadows dominating many of the shots and a good portion of the movie filmed at night.  McCarthy wasn't too excited about the dialogue and did think it dumbed down the story from the novel, but the finished product works.

It's no surprise that so many people saw what they wanted in this movie, be it a warning against encroaching conformity in the form of McCarthyism or communism, or even just the removal of humanity in many people as a result of the modern world.  It is also why the movie, the story and its remake have all remained relevant through today, despite a glorious failure from Abel Ferrara to reimagine it in the 1990s.  We all know someone we would swear is a pod person, and the thought of something taking one over and continuing their life is a uniquely frightening concept.  For me, it will always be best expressed through this particular film, although that is no knock against the later version. 

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Time: 80 minutes

Starring: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, King Donovan, Carolyn Jones, Larry Gates

Director: Don Siegel