Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)© John Vincent Brennan
Apr 30, 2001
Sometimes classic films come out of left field, Take INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956), directed by Don Siegel. A straight forward adaptation of a scary little Jack Finney story that had been serialized in Collier’s magazine, BODY SNATCHERS was one of many science fiction films made in the fifties, a decade when the genre flourished. In its day, it was a B-picture – which did not necessarily imply “bad” but rather low budgeted with no major stars, something good to fit a double bill in a movie theater.
Today BODY SNATCHERS is recognized as one of the great films of all time of any genre, and certainly one of the best science fiction films. Tightly directed by Don Siegel, and featuring Kevin McCarthy and Dana Winter in the leads, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS wisely stuck close to Finney’s original story. In the film, the population of the small town of Santa Mira seems to be undergoing a mass hysteria, where people refuse to recognize friends and family members as genuine. Dr. Miles Binell (McCarthy) slowly realizes that it is not hysteria at all, but rather a takeover – something is replacing townspeople one by one with emotionless duplicates. And the process is geometrical; the more duplicates made, the more “people” on hand to create more duplicates. In the end, Dr. Binell and his girlfriend Becky (Winter) are on the run, hunted by the townspeople for being the only true examples of humanity left in town. There are so many memorable moments in this film. Some of my favorites: a “body” found on a pool table suddenly opens its eyes; Dr. Binell plunging a pitchfork into his own growing duplicate; the shot of the entire town moving as one to the town square, as three trucks loaded with more body-making materials pulls up; and most of all, the sickening sight and sound of embryonic bodies literally popping out of the large seedpods that create them. The seedpods are the element of this movie that has stuck in our collective consciousness through the years – if you haven’t seen the film, think of four foot stuffed grape leaves that house featureless, overgrown fetuses covered in white slime and bubbles. But the most frightening moments take place in your mind. Once the premise is set up – people are no longer people – even a casual smile or glance from any townsperson suddenly looks positively evil. Just the sight of someone opening their eyes (the body snatching takes place while people sleep) becomes intensely creepy. And the blank stares on two town members’ faces as they listlessly watch two of the seed pods grow almost makes my flesh crawl.
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