I saw the remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” at its premiere in 1978 and it is a good sci-fi/horror film. However, I had avoided the original because it was in black-and-white and I’m not a big fan of black-and-white flicks or TV shows. Today, after seeing the original “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” I have to say that was a mistake and I should have watched it first. “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is excellent not just being from its time (no gruesome gore; vile language or all that stuff), but also because filmmakers put together a tension-wrapped thriller with an underlying message.
‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’
(1956; 80 minutes; rated Approved; directed by Don Siegel and starring Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter and Larry Gates)
CONFORMITY IS WHAT ALIENS SEEK!
I am totally impressed by the quality of the original sci-fi flick “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” which came out in 1956. It builds tension and menace properly; it has a scare component, but doesn’t rely on gruesome, vile special effects to shock the audience; and it has a storyline that makes you think and is incorporated into the movie rather than being an adjunct to it.
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Over time, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” has become what’s called a “cult favorite” and is considered a classic in the sci-fi genre. While it didn’t do wonderfully at its release year, it is so creative and became so popular that it was remade (and remade will) in 1978.
So, let’s take a closer look at “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” …
At the intro scene (after the opening credits), you see Kevin McCarthy as “Dr. Miles J. Bennell” and he’s in a rage at a hospital. A psychiatrist has been called in to deal with him and the rest of the movie (save the denouement) is his flashback in telling how he came to be raving at the hospital.
McCarthy, a physician who has seen several patients acting strangely, and a date (Dana Wynter as “Becky Driscoll”) arrive at the home of friends only to find that there’s a body on a table (don’t worry, there’s context about how it came to rest there) and it appears that it is forming into a humanoid that appears to be the husband of the couple (King Donvan as “Jack Belicec” and Carolyn Jones as “Theodora ‘Teddy’ Belicec”). The two couples basically have a cow and begin to piece together what’s going on in their town in California.
Ultimately, McCarthy and Wynter discover that space seeds have landed in the town and are growing pods that produce an exact likeness of people in the town. The reformed pod person is an emotionless being and the original person has disappeared. They find pods growing in the friends’ greenhouse; McCarthy dispatches one with a pitchfork; and they realize that if they fall asleep, they will be taken over and become a pod person.
The pod people manage to seek them out; follow them; and then chase them as they try to flee. The “action” is minimal and is basically two people running from a mob. However, overall, the film easily conveys the horror of “aliens” coming for you.
Now, let’s take a look at a slice of the cast …
- An Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner (sadly, not for this one), McCarthy is solid through the film and handles it with the touch of the headliner he should have been in more films. He conveys every emotion of the character … and then some. McCarthy never overplays “Dr. Bennell” despite that character having a manic attitude through much of the film and, at the end, you remember the character more than the actor. My first exposure to McCarthy was when he played bad guy “Victor Eugene Scrimshaw” in 1987’s sci-fi effort “Innerspace” with Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan (click here to read my review). He was won his Globe and was nominated for and Oscar for 1951’s “Death of a Salesman” and was also in the remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” as well as doing an episode of “The Love Boat” (click here for my look at the TV series). He died of pneumonia in 2010 at the age of 96.
- A Golden Globe winner (not for this one), Wynter manages to elevate her character beyond the stereotypical role found by women in cinema in the 1950s. She has solid lines, delivers them well and, while somewhat retiring compared to McCarthy, is a strong woman. Her best scene is one of her shortest where she tells McCarthy she fell asleep and became a “pod” person and that it was OK and he’d like it. Wynter won her Globe the year IB came out, but as “Best Newcomer” (female) for “The View from Pompey’s Head.” I only recall seeing her on two episodes of TV’s kitschy “The Love Boat” (click here for my look at it); I don’t recall having seen her in “Airport;” and “Airport’s” the only other film with her that I remember. She was also in “Sink the Bismarck!” as well as doing episodes on most popular TV shows of the 1960s and early 1970s. Wynter, whose birth name was Dagmar Wynter, was a native of Germany and died at 79 in 1981 of congestive heart failure.
Larry Gates plays “Dr. Dan ‘Danny’ Kauffman” and he’s at the top of the supporting cast just behind Wynter, whom you might consider co-headliner. Gates, who was nominated for two Daytime Emmys for the TV soap “Guiding Light,” does a good job, especially in his scene with McCarthy and Wynter when he explains it’s good to become a “pod” person. However, Gates doesn’t stand out, but he doesn’t detract, either. Gates was in many episodes of top-rated TV shows from the 1960s and was also in the original “in The Heat of the Night” and did work on projects such as “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” He died at 81 of leukemia in 1996.- McCarthy’s friends, played by Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner and nominee (not for this one) Jones and Donvan, have the meatiest roles in the rest of the cast. However, neither manages to elevate their character. Jones is best remembered as “Morticia Addams” on TV’s “The Addams Family” and she was nominated for an Oscar for “The Bachelor Party” and won her Globe as “Most Promising Newcomer” (female) in 1958 for “Marjorie Morningstar” and was nominated for TV’s “Burke’s Law.” Jones was another actor who did an episode of “The Love Boat.” She died young(ish) at 53 in 1983 of colon cancer. Donvan was in episodes on dozens of TV shows in the 1960s, including “Bonanza,” and he died at 69 in 1987 of cancer.
The end of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” shows the post-raving episode at the hospital for McCarthy. He’s believed by authorities after telling how the pods were being shipped out and someone coming into the hospital mentions the pods and it appears that the law enforcement will take care of rounding up the aliens and stopping shipment of the pods. In the remake, the film closed with the nation having been transformed into pod people and not with the sigh of relief from McCarthy shown in the original.
I’ve enjoyed many of the films from director Don Siegel, with the best being “Dirty Harry” with Clint Eastwood (click here to read my review). He hated studio executives who stifled creativity – they removed humorous lines from “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” that the screenwriter, actors and Siegel wanted in the flick and test audiences enjoyed – and Siegel would always later refer to executives as “pod” people.
Siegel was never nominated for a major award, but he directed Hollywood legend John Wayne in “The Duke’s” final film “The Shootist” (click here to read my review) and also directed Eastwood in “Escape from Alcatraz” and “Coogan’s Bluff.” I enjoyed his work in “Telefon” with Charles Bronson (click here to read my review) as well as “Rough Cut” with Burt Reynolds (click here to read my review). He died at 79 of cancer in 1991 after directing 50 films with the first in 1945.
OK, here’s my boilerplate explanation about the “approved” rating for movies of the “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” era: It comes from Hollywood’s rating system known as the “Hays Code” from the name of its chief censor, according to Wiki. From 1938 through 1968 films were evaluated and either deemed approved or disapproved (“moral” or “immoral”). Although officially abandoned in 1968 in favor of the start of the initial version of the rating system you see today, the “Hays Code” had pretty much disappeared in the 1960s due to the influence of television, edgy directors and U.S. Supreme Court rulings, according to Wiki.
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” was outside of the Top 10 box office hits in the U.S. in 1956. One internet source (Wiki) reports that “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” earned $3 million and that would have placed it about 14th, but The Numbers website does not show “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” listed in the Top 15. The No. 1 film of 1956 was “The Ten Commandments” starring Charlton Heston with $85.4 million; while at No. 2 was “Around the World in 80 Days” starring David Niven with $42 million; and at No. 3 was “Giant” starring Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson with $30 million, according to The Numbers. “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is the first movie from 1956 that I’ve reviewed for my blog.
Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):
- “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” was filmed in 19 days, with both cast and crew only having two days off.
- Members of the cast and production had their own opinions about the meaning of the film.
- Directly from IMDb.com: “During test screenings, much of the film’s original humor and humanity was cut when the audience found it difficult to follow and laughed at all the wrong moments. The studio insisted on edits because it wasn’t policy to mix humor with horror.” My note: I’m sure the ignorant studio brass wouldn’t be amused by “Shaun of the Dead!” (click here to read my review)
- The cave scene was shot in the so-called “Bat Cave” of Griffith Park in Los Angeles (its official name: Bronson Cave).
- Directly from IMDb.com: “Sam Peckinpah, who has a small role in the film as a meter reader, also worked on the movie as a dialogue coach. He performed the same job on Don Siegel‘s other films of the 1950s.”
- The total spent on special effects in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers:” $15,000 of the reported budget of $416,000.
- Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “During its original release, papier-mâché pods were on display in theater lobbies, as well as black-and-white cutouts of Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter running frantically away from a crowd of pod people.”
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