Dr Miles Bennell returns his small town practice to find several of his patients suffering the paranoid delusion that their friends or relatives are impostors. He is initially skeptical, especially when the alleged dopplegängers are able to answer detailed questions about their victim's lives, but he is eventually persuaded that something odd has happened and determines to find out what is causing this phenomenon. This film can be seen as a paranoid 1950s warning against those Damn Commies or, conversely, as a metaphor for the tyranny of McCarthyism (or the totalitarian system of Your Choice) and has a pro- and epilogue that was forced upon Siegel by the studio to lighten the tone.
Written by Mark Thompson <mrt@oasis.icl.co.uk>
The tunnel scene where the hero hides briefly from the townspeople was filmed at Bronson Cave in Griffith Park, famous with locals as the Bat Cave.
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Goofs
Continuity:
When Miles is carrying the sleeping Becky from her house to his car, her right arm is hanging limp on the way down the stairs and her left arm is holding Miles. But in the next shot at the front door her body position is changed, with her right arm around Miles shoulder and left arm hanging limp.
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Quotes
[first lines]
Dr. Harvey Bassett:
Oh, Doctor Hill. Dr. Hill:
Dr. Basset. Well, where's the patient? Dr. Harvey Bassett:
I hated to drag you out of bed at this time of night. You'll soon see why I did. See more »