One of the classic sci-fi films of the 1950s, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS is the perfect product of its times. Miles J. Bennell (Kevin McCarthy, THE HOWLING) is a recently divorced doctor in a small California town. His old flame Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter, 1970s AIRPORT) has moved back in with her father after getting a divorce as well. She comes to see him about her cousin Wilma (Virginia Christine, 1964’s THE KILLERS), who believes that her uncle isn’t really her uncle despite the fact that he looks and sounds just like him.
This starts the building strangeness going on in the town, leading up to an urgent call from Bennell’s friends Jack and Teddy Belicec (King Donovan, THE DEFIANT ONES, & Carolyn Jones, TV’s ADDAMS FAMILY). They found a body — it’s the size of Jack, but without any physical definition like fingerprints. As we all know by know, the town is being taken over by alien replicants birthed from giant seedpods.
For the 1950s, the story worked as a metaphor for communism or the threat of anti-communism whatever your point of view. Now it takes on a more general meaning of forced conformism, which the 1950s has come to represent. The two divorced leads are bucking societal norms and want to live their lives as individuals, who can make their own choices. Irony is not lost on the fact that the town’s psychiatrist Danny Kauffman (Larry Gates, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT) turns out to be the leader of the pod people.
This film is a low-budget venture, but with the skilled direction of Don Siegel (THE SHOOTIST) and screenplay by Daniel Mainwaring (THE PHENIX CITY STORY) based on a COLLIER’S magazine serial by Jack Finney, the film rises above its B-movie origins. The 1970s remake starring Donald Sutherland may be tenser than this version, but its inherent creepiness is missing. The threat seems less real.
Many factors go into this feeling. The 1950s setting just fits. The black & white cinematography adds to the overall feel of uneasiness and the desire of the aliens to make the world monochromatic. Even the tacked on studio “happy” ending seems to fit, because it’s a product of its era. A good universal story can be remade to fit any generation’s take on the subject matter, but certain tales just fit certain times perfectly and this is one such case. Truly great films tend to reflect their times more clearly than can even be understood fully at the time. In some ways, the idealistic/uncomfortable conformity that this film presents is what some people feel embodies the 1950s. It’s in this quality that INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS stands as a true classic.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
