INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS – 1956 “Look, you fools, you’re in danger! Can’t you see?! They’re after you! They’re after all of us! Our wives, our children, everyone! They’re here already! You’re next!”
1956. Eisenhower was president. Communism was infiltrating America, slowly slipping inside the very heart of our neighborhoods and belief systems. The invasion was starting. “You’re next!”
At least that’s what some of us thought. In 1956, with a budget of about $380K, Don Siegal directed a Science Fiction film about the gradual invasion of the US by an alien force, disguised as harmless green pods, that began to permeate a random prosperous town, Santa Mira, California. This Green Peril fed the already paranoid US consciousness. A country that had helped save the planet in World War II was now becoming aware that the Cold War was its new enemy.
McCarthyism had already reared its ugly head, and this film played right into these fears. Ironically, Don Siegal shot from a script cowritten by Daniel Mainwaring, a black listed screen writer. Its visuals were pure film noir with no process shots, rare in a science fiction film. The style fit with other Siegal films of the 1950’s such as Riot in Cellblock 11, Crime in the Streets, The Lineup.
Although not an immediate success, Invasion of the Body Snatchers has found a place in the pantheon of Science Fiction Classics such as The Birds and Night of the Living Dead. The film’s themes of alien paranoia, fear of outside intruders, and the concept of personality erasure. The idea that these invaders could replace individual human beings and turn them into “pod people,” rang true with audiences decades after the film’s release.
It had a classic original ending, pessimistic at best, in which the protagonist, Dr. Miles Bennell, screams “They’re here” as truckloads of pods leave Santa Mira to take over the world. This dark ending was changed, before release however, and in the newer version the story is told in flashback with the FBI being notified of the pod pandemic so that everything will be set straight. Obviously the tinkering with the ending greatly offended director Siegal and, over time, the new ending came across as forced optimism to many critics and the original ending was reinserted in a restored version.
Bottom line, the film is frightening from frame one. Make sure you take the time to watch this classic. It grabs you and scares you while the melodrama and style charms you. What ending do you think fits the film?
It has been remade several times as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Body Snatchers (1993), and The Invasion (2007).
“They’re taking you over cell for cell, atom for atom. There’s no pain. Suddenly, while you’re asleep, they’ll absorb your minds, your memories, and you’re reborn into an untroubled world.” – Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
by Neil Healy
