Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.

Director:

Don Siegel

Writers:

Daniel Mainwaring (screenplay), Jack Finney (Collier's magazine serial)

Stars:

Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kevin McCarthy	...	Dr. Miles J. Bennell
Dana Wynter	...	Becky Driscoll
Larry Gates	...	Dr. Dan 'Danny' Kauffman
King Donovan	...	Jack Belicec
Carolyn Jones	...	Theodora 'Teddy' Belicec
Jean Willes	...	Nurse Sally Withers
Ralph Dumke	...	Police Chief Nick Grivett
Virginia Christine	...	Wilma Lentz
Tom Fadden	...	Uncle Ira Lentz
Kenneth Patterson	...	Stanley Driscoll
Guy Way	...	Officer Sam Janzek
Eileen Stevens	...	Anne Grimaldi
Beatrice Maude	...	Grandma Grimaldi
Jean Andren	...	Eleda Lentz
Bobby Clark	...	Jimmy Grimaldi

Storyline

Dr. Miles Bennell returns to 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 doppelgangers 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.

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Plot Keywords:

alien infiltration | alien invasion | surprise ending | small town | psychiatrist | 

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Taglines:

"Something is happening! Send your men of science quick!" The panic stricken cry went over the phone to Washington D. C. until the lines went dead!......

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 February 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Walter Wanger's Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Filming Locations:

Sunset Studios, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$417,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$3,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walter Wanger Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Perspecta Sound encoding) (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Since the movie was filmed at the height of the "Red Scare" in the US, and there were rather blatant attacks on mindless "conformity", it was considered by some to be an attack on Communism, but was considered by others to be an attack on knee-jerk anti-Communism.

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Goofs

When Miles takes Becky home after visiting the Belicecs, she turns on the lights as they enter the house. When Miles turns off the lights, they go out just before his hand reaches the switch.

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Quotes

Dr. Miles J. Bennell: What'll you have? We're pushing appendectomies this week.
[Becky laughs]
Dr. Miles J. Bennell: I don't know, maybe I clown around too much, pretty soon my patients won't trust me to prescribe aspirin for them. Seriously, what's the trouble?
Becky Driscoll: It's my cousin.
Dr. Miles J. Bennell: Wilma? What's the matter?
Becky Driscoll: She has a, well I guess you call it a delusion, you know her uncle, Uncle Ira?
Dr. Miles J. Bennell: Sure, I'm his doctor.
Becky Driscoll: Well Miles, she's got herself thinking he isn't her uncle.
Dr. Miles J. Bennell: How do you mean? That they're not really related?
Becky Driscoll: No, she thinks he's an ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Clouds form a backdrop for the opening credits.

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Alternate Versions

Five cuts were made by the British censors on its initial release, mainly references to Burke and Hare, the original bodysnatchers. This cut print has been the only one available in the UK until 1998, when a complete widescreen version appeared on the budget video label 4-Front.

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Connections

Referenced in Infini (2015)

User Reviews

The simplicity of the horror is what "makes" this film so brilliant...

What must be considered one of the most original of all the science fiction films emanating from the '50s is INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, a low-budget sci-fi film about a sleepy Southern California town infested with a bunch of pods that are replicating the town's humans in physical form hatched from alien pods and taking over mind and body.

It doesn't waste any time in getting to the core of the horror element, with McCarthy as a doctor invited to a friend's house where he sees the first evidence of a sleeping pod form taking on the shape and identity of another. He and his sweetheart (the beautiful DANA WYNTER) are soon aware of the situation enveloping the small town residents and make an effort to alert the authorities, but find that no one can be trusted to be whom they claim to be--and are soon on the run themselves.

It easily remains one of the most gripping of these films with an excellent score by Carmen Dragon. KEVIN McCARTHY, DANA WYNTER, VIRGINIA CHRISTINE, WHIT BISSELL, KING DONOVAN and CAROLYN JONES all deliver fine performances and director Don Siegel keeps the suspense taut until the final scene.

Summing up: Alien invaders have always been a big part of sci-fi stories but never quite as creepily as depicted here. Terrific suspense.