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:

The original nightmare that threatened the world

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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:

$1,861

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

Included among the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the 400 movies nominated for the Top 100 Greatest American Movies.

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Goofs

When the three trucks pull up to the town square, a man directs people to "Truck 1" and "truck 2" and "the third truck," but there's no markings to indicate which truck is which.

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Quotes

Becky Driscoll: Is this an example of your bedside manner, doctor?
Dr. Miles J. Bennell: No, ma'am. That comes later.

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Crazy Credits

THE END comes up on the final shot of the film of Miles looking relieved that Dr Hill has believed his story, and is calling the FBI about the alien invasion of Santa Mira.

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Alternate Versions

When standard academy (1.33:1) prints were prepared, the opening credits were re-shot with the "superscope" logo deleted. This print was also used for the original television syndication prints and the early home video releases.

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Connections

Referenced in Shivers (1975)

User Reviews

The better one

This was the first part of a double bill with Phil Kaufman's remake as the follow-up. I'll say that Siegel is ten times the action director that Kaufman could ever dream of being, that the original Body Snatchers has a cool, thoughtful tone that makes the shock scenes even better. The remake, even though in color and with a bigger budget, is so nervous, so lacking in pace and mood, that your impulse is often to laugh instead of sinking deeper into your seat.

Take just one scene: Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter are barricaded in his office, trying to stay awake. Morning comes, and the weirdness begins; people shuffle towards the square to pick up their packages, the leaders calling out the districts. Now in daylight the suspense is made more potent, the threat to humans seems greater. Kaufman does this scene at night, losing the mundane horror that Siegel evokes so well. The studio imposed the flashback structure, having McCarthy brought in to talk to a therapist at the beginning and end of the picture. That's the only weakness in the story.