Invasion of the Body Snatchers is set in the small Californian town of Santa Mira where local doc Dr. Miles J. Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) returns home after a medical convention. Once back he begins to hear strange stories of people not being themselves & being replaced by cold emotionless imposter's. At first the doc laughs it off as some sort of mass delusion but evidence soon begins to mount that there may be more to the stories than he first thought & after seeing strange large seed pod type 'things' turning into people he know before his very eyes the doc is convinced that these alien seed pods intend to take over the entire Earth as they seek to clone very living person turning them into emotionless shells...
Originally having the working title They Came from Another World this Don Siegel directed classic slice of modest low budget black and white 50's Sci-Fi alien invasion flick is a terrific film & is far removed from most stereotypical cheap 50's potboilers with a real tense atmosphere & a pretty creepy & intelligent story. Clocking in at under 80 minutes with the studio tacked on start & ending with the original version running a mere 75 minutes this moves along like a rocket, the story is tight, taught, makes sense, people & character's behave in a fairly believable way & the central plot is both gripping, intriguing & certainly draws you in. The plot relies on generating paranoia just like another classic 50's Sci-Fi film The Thing from Another World (1951) & it's no coincidence that the two are two of the finest genre films of the 50's. There's good tension & it is sustained & increased as the alien plot unfolds, the basic concept of who one can trust is a very primeval instinct & that's maybe why these films are so effective. It's not perfect though, it's never explained what happens to a persons body after they are cloned & the alien version comes to life & the climax at the cave doesn't quite work either with Becky going to sleep but then seemingly reawaken taken over. Why was she not cloned? Why was her mind taken over & not anybody else's? If she was cloned how did the alien version get inside the cave? Watch it, think about it & the story & it just doesn't quite work which is a shame since otherwise it's a terrific film that still manages to be very effective even today in the ultra cynical world of 2008.
While most 50's Sci-Fi at the time featured actor's in badly fitting rubber alien suits & car hubcaps hung on string to portray a flying saucer Invasion of the Body Snatchers relies on atmosphere & tension, in fact apart from the large alien seed pods there's no special effects at all. Proved iconic enough to spawn three direct remakes starting with Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) which is my own personal favourite version & moves the action to San Francisco, Body Snatchers (1993) which shifts the action to a US military base & the more recent The Invasion (2007) with Nicole Kidman & Daniel Craig while the highly entertaining teen horror flick The Faculty (1998) has basically the same plot.
According to the IMDb this had a budget of about $417,000 which really is no money even back then, crisply shot in black and white (although a computer colourised version has been released) the film has a modest but nice look to it. The acting is pretty good but this is one of those films where the story really carries it.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a classic piece of 50's Sci-Fi that stands head & shoulders above it's peers from the time, a great film that still remains very effective even when viewed today. Often cited as a classic I find it hard to argue against that.
Originally having the working title They Came from Another World this Don Siegel directed classic slice of modest low budget black and white 50's Sci-Fi alien invasion flick is a terrific film & is far removed from most stereotypical cheap 50's potboilers with a real tense atmosphere & a pretty creepy & intelligent story. Clocking in at under 80 minutes with the studio tacked on start & ending with the original version running a mere 75 minutes this moves along like a rocket, the story is tight, taught, makes sense, people & character's behave in a fairly believable way & the central plot is both gripping, intriguing & certainly draws you in. The plot relies on generating paranoia just like another classic 50's Sci-Fi film The Thing from Another World (1951) & it's no coincidence that the two are two of the finest genre films of the 50's. There's good tension & it is sustained & increased as the alien plot unfolds, the basic concept of who one can trust is a very primeval instinct & that's maybe why these films are so effective. It's not perfect though, it's never explained what happens to a persons body after they are cloned & the alien version comes to life & the climax at the cave doesn't quite work either with Becky going to sleep but then seemingly reawaken taken over. Why was she not cloned? Why was her mind taken over & not anybody else's? If she was cloned how did the alien version get inside the cave? Watch it, think about it & the story & it just doesn't quite work which is a shame since otherwise it's a terrific film that still manages to be very effective even today in the ultra cynical world of 2008.
While most 50's Sci-Fi at the time featured actor's in badly fitting rubber alien suits & car hubcaps hung on string to portray a flying saucer Invasion of the Body Snatchers relies on atmosphere & tension, in fact apart from the large alien seed pods there's no special effects at all. Proved iconic enough to spawn three direct remakes starting with Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) which is my own personal favourite version & moves the action to San Francisco, Body Snatchers (1993) which shifts the action to a US military base & the more recent The Invasion (2007) with Nicole Kidman & Daniel Craig while the highly entertaining teen horror flick The Faculty (1998) has basically the same plot.
According to the IMDb this had a budget of about $417,000 which really is no money even back then, crisply shot in black and white (although a computer colourised version has been released) the film has a modest but nice look to it. The acting is pretty good but this is one of those films where the story really carries it.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a classic piece of 50's Sci-Fi that stands head & shoulders above it's peers from the time, a great film that still remains very effective even when viewed today. Often cited as a classic I find it hard to argue against that.