I’ve been a fan of cheap, crappy movies for quite some time now, but I watched 2 the other night that they forced me to swear off them for a while. I decided instead, to go back through the many old (well, maybe not all old) classics; especially sci fi & horror (my two big loves). So last night I paid my annual re-visit to the original 1956 classic Invasion Of The Body Snatchers.
I won’t go into too many details in case there are some who haven’t seen it and may want to. the story starts with a doctor having been called in to an emergency department to see a wide-eyed and dishevelled patient raving about “people being taken over”. The patient reveals that he too is a doctor and that he’s not mad, so the first doctor asks him to tell him what happened. Doctor Miles Bennell (played by Kevin McCarthy) then relates how he returned to the small California town of Santa Mira at the request of several patients. He very soon discovers a strange malaise appears to have taken over some of the town’s residents, whereby they believe their family members are NOT their family members anymore. They look the same; talk the same; but they’re NOT the same! He brushes it off at first, but further events gnaw away at his confidence. Before long he realises there IS something going on, and that his life; and that of his old flame Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter) are in jeopardy. Encounters with the “new” people reveal them to be emotionless copies of the real people; and cuckoo products of an alien life-form. Things happen at a lightning pace and they realise they have no choice but to escape Santa Mira and warn people about the danger. Can they escape?
This original version has been seen variously as an allegorical look at either Communism or McCartyism and I guess either could be possible; though no-one involved with the movie (nor the writer of the original story) much agrees with this. Director Don Siegel was unhappy with the final release as the studio made him ‘top & tail’ his original production with the into and ending for a more upbeat finale.
If you’ve not seen it, I highly recommend it. The story moves at a brisk pace, building tension and subtle horror all the way. My one slight niggle is that when Becky says she can’t stay awake any longer (trying not to give anything away here!) I don’t think she’s actually been awake all that long; but it IS a minor niggle.
It’s been re-made; with some differences; 3 time so far, in 1978, 1993 and 2007; but for my money, none of them hold a candle to the original.
