Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

In 1956 the United States was at one of the peaks of the Cold War with Soviet Russia. And here at stateside, Senator Joseph McCarthy was continuing his senate hearings on who was a communist. His witch hunt for communists in the midst of our own government began to infect the public conscious, known as McCarthyism. This also, either purposely or sub-consciously, infected the minds of filmmakers in Hollywood. Step in the classic sci-fi psychologically thriller known as Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

The idea that the people around you were being infected and became soulless doubles of themselves seems to mirror that of McCarthyism. The film is still frightening today because it is simple, smart, and nearly all psychological. It was named the #9 best sci-fi film by the American Film Institute in 2008, and although I don't know if I would put it that high on the list, it certainly is still a classic in my eyes.

Story
The film is set in a fictional town of Santa Mira, California, and follows a local doctor, Miles Bennell. The doctor comes back from a medical convention to hear that while he was gone there was countless patients wanting to see him. He discovers that the ones he missed, and current patients are all complaining about the same issue. They are all saying that a close friend, family member, or loved one is not the real person and that they are an impostor. Soon he rekindles an old sweetheart of his, Becky, who claims her cousin is also saying the same thing, that her Uncle Ira isn't her Uncle Ira. Miles & Becky are assured by the town psychiatrist that this is just an "epidemic of mass hysteria" and there's nothing to worry about.

Soon after Miles gets a call from his friend Jack, who tells him he has to come look at something. Miles arrives with Becky and Jack shows him a body on his pool table. The body though is almost a blank body with no lines, scars, or even finger prints. The mysterious body is also the same height & weight of Jack. While making a drink Jack cuts his hand, and later on his wife discovers the body now has a cut on its hand. This sends the couple leaving their home and running to Miles house. They call the town psychiatrist who comes to Jack's home to find that the mysterious body is missing, and he once again tries to convince them their minds are simply playing with them. They are unsure of what is going on, but coupled with Miles erratic patients, they all feel something is going on, they are unsure of what it is though.

The two couples are all staying together at Miles home, trying to forget what is going on. While grilling outside, Miles goes into his greenhouse to discover a haunting site. There are four leafy pods in his greenhouse that are opening up as he watches. Soon the foamy mist disappears and out of the pods come human like bodies that resemble each of them at the house. They figure out that the townspeople are in fact being replaced by perfect physical duplicates, simulations grown from plantlike pods. The pod people are indistinguishable from normal people, minus their lack of emotion. Miles kills the pod people, and the four of them make a run for it. The couples split up, Jack and his wife try to find others, and Miles & Becky head for the highway after they are unable to get a hold of the F.B.I.

Soon the entire town is after Miles & Becky. They become trapped in Miles office, and soon find out that Jack & his wife have become one of the pod people. They escape and soon the entire town is hunting them down through the mountains. Miles & Becky hide in a cave, but soon after Becky falls asleep and is duplicated by a nearby pod. Miles is now alone and makes a run for the highway nearby. He makes it there frantically yells about the alien force that has taken over his town. Soon after he is picked up, and to newcomers he seems deranged and insane. But while he is in the hospital, being interviewed by a detective, the police receive news of an accident in which a truck carrying strange giant bean-pods is opened. They make calls to Washington, and all local police forces to stop the menace.

The story is more psychological then anything else, and that is it's strongest suite in the film. Although most of the film is just Miles unraveling the mystery, that is the most suspenseful part. You are given tid bits, clues of information that lead you to the frightening end where everyone you know and love has become a soulless alien creature. Although I believed the story to be an allegory for communist invasion of American culture, it does not seem that way. One of the producers, Walter Mirsch, released a book titled I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History. In the book he writes: "People began to read meanings into pictures that were never intended. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an example of that. I remember reading a magazine article arguing that the picture was intended as an allegory about the communist infiltration of America. From personal knowledge, neither Walter Wanger nor Don Siegel, who directed it, nor Dan Mainwaring, who wrote the script nor the original author Jack Finney, nor myself saw it as anything other than a thriller, pure and simple." From that it seems fairly clear that that was not intended for the film. But perhaps that's what it made it so successful in the 1950's. Although I'm sure people didn't know they were enjoying it for that reason, perhaps in their subconscious it struck a cord with what they were feeling at the time.

Directing
I'm afraid before this post, I had never heard of director Don Siegel. After doing some research, it turns out he was quite a working director of his time, and mentored many future directors. One of them was his assistant for a long time, Sam Peckinpah, who would go on to director the classic The Wild Bunch. The other more notable actor turned director is Mr. Clint Eastwood. Clint has been quoted as saying that everything he knows about filmmaking he learned from Don Siegel. Which is a big statement, seeing that he has won two Oscars for Best Directoring. Eastwood actually dedicated his film Unforgiven to Siegel.

For this film, Siegel shows great talent in being able to keep an audience interested with very little to work with. Most of the film are simple suspicions, clues to a larger picture, and a few odd discoveries. And somehow, even over 50 years later, he still has audiences terrified. That is because the film stills works as a psychological thriller. It's slow pace and impacting ending keeps you at the edge of your seat the entire time, rooting for Miles to get a hold of some high-up authorities. I think this tension built in the film keeps it from being an average B-movie from the 50's. The concept, and acting, could have easily fallen to the waste-side and Siegel could have focused all his attention on the pods, but he didn't. He focused the film and his attention on the people being infected by this strange and alien force, and the people who are affected by these consequences. Overall I think Siegel did a great job from acting to cinematography, all which keep this a A-movie, not a forgettable B-movie.

Acting
As I've stated before, I usually can not stand 50's acting. It is usually over the top, over stated, and very on the nose. But this film, while following a level headed doctor, keeps the people at a normal level. They are not acting as if on a stage play, and are acting as normal people being thrown into extraordinary circumstances. The lead role of Miles, played by Kevin McCarthy, was nearly pitch perfect. He is essentially playing the audiences point of view, filling us in on every clue he comes across, and we are supposed to feel his emotions, which we do. When watching the film I was bothered by the actors face, one of those, "I know that guy from somewhere." Turns out Mr. McCarthy has acted in nearly 200 pieces, and the one I remember him from is from the comedy cult classic, UHF, where he plays the evil R.J. Fletcher. But I digress.

The film's acting I think is a credit to Don Siegel, who as I stated before, kept the film from being a forgettable 50's B-sci-fi film. You are terrified for these characters who can trust anyone in their small town, and must run from becoming the next pod person. They all tap into that 50's paranoia that was so rampant in the time. I think they are a part of the reasoning for the film to have been a critical and commercial success in it's time. You feel for every character in the film, and are saddened to see them turn into pod people, who are emotionless and frightening. The actors of the film definitely hold the film up to a classic level.


Although I have not seen the other remakes, adaptations, or sequels to this film, I would hope that this is the best of them all. Although you never really see the grotesque world of the pod people or their hatching, you are tapping into the scary side of the film: the psychological. This is it's strongest suite, and it was refreshing to see a film that did not show the gore and horror show that it could have been, which would have cheapened the suspense of the film. Overall it is a great film, and still scared me on my most recent viewing. There is a reason the Library of Congress inducted it in National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." That is because it is! And it is still a classic today.