Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 Film)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Theatrical posterDirected by Don SiegelProduced by Walter WangerScreenplay by Daniel MainwaringBased on The Body Snatchers

byJack Finney

Starring Kevin McCarthyDana WynterLarry GatesKing DonovanCarolyn Jones

Music by Carmen DragonCinematography Ellsworth FredericksEditing by Robert S. EisenDistributed by Allied Artists Pictures

CorporationRelease dates February 5, 1956Running time 80 minutesCountry United StatesLanguage EnglishBudget $416,911[1]Box oce $3,000,000

Invasion of the Body SnatchersFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaInvasion of the Body Snatchers is a1956 American black-and-white sciencection lm directed by Don Siegel,starring Kevin McCarthy and DanaWynter, that was released through AlliedArtists Picture Corporation. DanielMainwaring adapted the screenplay fromJack Finney's 1954 novel The BodySnatchers.[2]The story depicts an extraterrestrialinvasion of a small California town. Theinvaders replace human beings withduplicates that appear identical on thesurface but are devoid of emotion orindividuality. A local doctor uncoverswhat is happening and tries to stopthem.[2]In 1994 Invasion of the Body Snatcherswas selected for preservation in theUnited States National Film Registry bythe Library of Congress as being"culturally, historically, or aestheticallysignicant."

Contents1 Plot summary2 Cast3 Novel and screenplay4 Production

4.1 Budgeting and casting4.2 Principal photography4.3 Post-production4.4 Original intended ending4.5 Theatrical release

5 Themes6 Reaction

Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Wikipedia, the fr... http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Invasio...

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6.1 Critical reception6.2 Legacy

7 DVD releases8 Related works9 See also10 References11 External links

Plot summaryPsychiatrist Dr. Hill is called to the emergency ward of a hospital, where ascreaming man is held in custody. Dr. Hill agrees to listen to his story. The manidenties himself as Dr. Miles Bennell, and recounts, in ashback, the eventsleading to his arrest and arrival at the ward:In the town of Santa Mira, California, Miles Bennell, a local doctor, sees a numberof patients who believe their loved ones have been replaced by impostors.Another patient is his former girlfriend, recently divorced Becky Driscoll. Beckytells him that her cousin Wilma has the same fear about her Uncle Ira. Dr. DanKauman, a psychiatrist in the town, assures Bennell that these cases are merely"epidemic mass hysteria."That same evening Bennell's friend Jack Belicec nds a body with his facialfeatures, though it's not fully developed; the next body found is a copy of Becky inthe cellar of her home. When Bennell calls Kauman to the scene, the bodies havemysteriously disappeared and Kauman suspects Bennell of falling for the samehysteria. The following night, Bennell, Becky, Jack, and Jack's wife Teddy againnd duplicates of themselves, emerging from large seed pods; they conclude thatthe townspeople are being replaced while asleep by exact physical copies. Milestries to make a long distance call for help from federal authorities, but the phoneoperator claims that all long-distance lines are busy; Jack and Teddy drive o toseek help in the next town. Bennell and Becky discover that most inhabitants havebeen replaced and are devoid of any humanity; they ee to Bennell's oce to hidefor the night.The next morning, they see truckloads of the large pods heading to neighboringtowns, to be used to replace their populations. Kauman and Jack, both of whomhave become "pod people," arrive at Bennell's oce and reveal that anextraterrestrial life form is responsible for the invasion. After their takeover, theyexplain, life loses its frustrating complexity because all emotions and sense ofindividuality vanish. Bennell and Becky manage to escape and hide in a mineoutside of town. Bennell later comes upon a nearby farm and discovers morelarge seed pods growing by the hundreds. While he is gone, Becky falls asleepand is transformed into one of them; when he returns she calls to the pursuing


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"pod people." Bennell, now panicking, runs and eventually nds himself on acrowded highway, frantically screaming to passing motorists, "They're herealready! You're next! You're next!"The ashback ends as Bennell nishes this story. Dr. Hill and the on-duty doctordoubt his account until an injured truck driver, involved in a highway accident, isbrought into the emergency room; he was found in his wrecked truck buriedunder a load of giant seed pods. Both doctors realize that Bennell's story is true,and immediately call the Federal authorities.

CastKevin McCarthy as Miles BennellDana Wynter as Becky DriscollLarry Gates as Dan KaumanKing Donovan as Jack BelicecCarolyn Jones as Theodora "Teddy" BelicecVirginia Christine as Wilma LentzJean Willes as Sally WithersWhit Bissell (uncredited) as Dr. HillsRichard Deacon (uncredited) as ER doctor.

Novel and screenplayJack Finney's novel ends with the extraterrestrials nally leaving Earth after theynd that humans are oering strong resistance, despite having little reasonablechance against the alien invasion; the "pod people" have a life span of no morethan 5 years, so 5 years after taking over the last human being, the invaderswould then have to seek out a new world with new life forms as hosts, leavingbehind a depopulated Earth.[2]

ProductionBudgeting and castingInvasion of the Body Snatchers was originally scheduled for a 24-day shoot and abudget of USD $454,864. The studio later asked Wanger to cut the budgetsignicantly. The producer proposed a shooting schedule of 20 days and a budgetof $350,000.[3]Initially, Wanger considered Gig Young, Dick Powell, Joseph Cotten and severalothers for the role of Miles. For Becky he considered casting Anne Bancroft,Donna Reed, Kim Hunter, Vera Miles and others. With the lower budget, however,


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In this screenshot from thetrailer; the principal cast(topright going clockwise):Carolyn Jones as Teddy,Kevin McCarthy as Dr.Miles Bennell, KingDonovan as Jack Belicec,and Dana Wynter as BeckyDriscoll; discover the podsgrowing

he abandoned these choices and cast Richard Kiley,who had just starred in The Phenix City Story forAllied Artists.[3] Kiley turned the role down andWanger cast two relative newcomers in the leadroles: Kevin McCarthy, who had just starred inSiegel's An Annapolis Story, and Dana Wynter, whohad done several major dramatic roles ontelevision.[4]Sam Peckinpah had a small part as Charlie, a meterreader. Peckinpah was a dialogue coach on veSiegel lms in the mid-1950s, including this one.[5]

Principal photographyOriginally producer Wanger and Siegel wanted tolm Invasion of the Body Snatchers on location in thetown that Jack Finney described in his novel: MillValley, just north of San Francisco.[3] In the rst weekof January 1955, Siegel, Wanger and screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring visitedFinney to talk about the lm version and to look at Mill Valley. The location provedtoo expensive and Siegel with Allied Artist executives found locations resemblingMill Valley in Sierra Madre, Chatsworth, Glendale, the Los Feliz neighborhoodand in Bronson and Beachwood Canyons - all of which would make up the town of"Santa Mira" for the lm.[3] In addition to these outdoor locations, much of thelm was shot in the Allied Artists studio on the east side of Hollywood.[2]The lm was shot by cinematographer Ellsworth Fredericks in 23 days betweenMarch 23 and April 18, 1955. The cast and crew worked a six-day week withSundays o.[3] The production went over schedule by three days because of night-for-night shooting that Siegel wanted. Additional photography took place inSeptember 1955, lming a frame story the studio insisted on (see Originalintended ending). The nal budget was $382,190.[2]

Post-productionThe project was originally named The Body Snatchers after the Finney serial.[6]However, Wanger wanted to avoid confusion with the 1945 Val Lewton lm TheBody Snatcher. The producer was unable to come up with a title and accepted thestudio's choice, They Come from Another World and that was assigned in summer1955. Siegel objected to this title and suggested two alternatives, Better O Deadand Sleep No More, while Wanger oered Evil in the Night and World in Danger.None of these were chosen, and the studio settled on Invasion of the Body


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Snatchers in late 1955.[6] The lm was released at the time in France under themistranslated title "L'invasion des profanateurs de spultures" (literally: Invasionof the delers of tombs), which remains unchanged today.Wanger wanted to add a variety of speeches and prefaces.[7] He suggested avoice-over introduction for Miles.[8] While the lm was being shot, Wanger triedto get permission in England to use a Winston Churchill quotation as a preface tothe lm. The producer sought out Orson Welles to voice the preface and a trailerfor the lm. He wrote speeches for Welles' opening on June 15, 1955, and workedto persuade Welles to do it, but was unsuccessful. Wanger considered sciencection author Ray Bradbury instead, but this did not happen, either.[8]Mainwaring eventually wrote the voice-over narration himself.[6]The studio scheduled three lm previews on the last days of June and the rst dayof July 1955.[8] According to Wanger's memos at the time, the previews weresuccessful. Later reports by Mainwaring and Siegel, however, contradict this,claiming that audiences could not follow the lm and laughed in the wrong places.In response the studio removed much of the lm's humor, "humanity" and"quality," according to Wanger.[8] He scheduled another preview in mid-Augustthat also did not go well. In later interviews Siegel pointed out that it was studiopolicy not to mix humor with horror.[8]Wanger saw the nal cut in December 1955 and protested the use of theSuperscope aspect ratio.[6] Its use had been included in early plans for the lm,but the rst print was not made until December. Wanger felt that the lm lostsharpness and detail. Siegel originally shot Invasion of the Body Snatchers in the1.85:1 aspect ratio. Superscope was a post-production lab process designed tocreate an anamorphic print from non-anamorphic source material that would beprojected at an aspect ratio of 2.00:1.[6][9]

Original intended endingBoth Siegel and Mainwaring were satised with the lm as shot. It was originallymeant to end with Miles screaming as truckloads of pods pass him by.[7] Thestudio, wary of a pessimistic conclusion, insisted on adding a prologue andepilogue to the movie suggesting a more optimistic outcome to the story, which isthus told mainly in ashback. In this version the movie begins with a rantingBennell in custody in a hospital emergency ward. He then tells an arriving doctor(Whit Bissell) his story. In the closing scene pods are found at a highway accident,conrming his warning. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is notied, though itremained ambiguous whether they intervene in time to save the Earth.[2]


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Mainwaring scripted this framing story and Siegel shot it on September 16, 1955,at the Allied Artists studio.[6] In a later interview Siegel complained, "The lm wasnearly ruined by those in charge at Allied Artists who added a preface and endingthat I don't like."[10] In his autobiography Siegel added that "Wanger was verymuch against this, as was I. However, he begged me to shoot it to protect the lm,and I reluctantly consented []".[11]While the Internet Movie Database states that the lm's original ending had beenreinstated for a re-release in 1979,[12] Steve Biodrowski of Cinefantastiquemagazine claims that the lm is still released with the additional footage,including a 2005 screening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,honoring director Don Siegel.[13]Though disapproved of by most reviewers, George Turner (in AmericanCinematographer)[14] and Danny Peary (in Cult Movies)[15] endorsed thesubsequently added frame story. Nonetheless, Peary emphasized that the addedscenes changed signicantly what he saw as the lm's original intention (seeThemes).Theatrical releaseWhen the lm was released domestically in February 1956, many theatersdisplayed several pods (made of papermache) in theater lobbies and entrances,along with large lifelike black and white cutouts of McCarthy and Wynter runningaway from a crowd. The lm made more than $1 million in the rst month, and in1956 alone made more than $2.5 million in the U.S.[2] When the British release(with cuts imposed by the British censors[16]) took place in late 1956, the lmearned more than a half million dollars in ticket sales.[6]

ThemesSome reviewers saw in the story a commentary on the dangers facing America forturning a blind eye to McCarthyism,[17] or of bland conformity in postwarEisenhower-era America. Others viewed it as an allegory for the loss of personalautonomy in the Soviet Union or communist systems in general.[18] For the BBC,David Wood summarized the circulating popular interpretations of the lm asfollows: "The sense of post-war, anti-communist paranoia is acute, as is thetemptation to view the lm as a metaphor for the tyranny of the McCarthyera."[19] Danny Peary in Cult Movies pointed out that the addition of the framingstory had changed the lm's stance from anti-McCarthyite to anti-communist.[15]


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In W. S. Poole's Monsters in America the lm is argued to be an indictment of thedamage to the human personality caused by reductionist modern ideologies bothof the Right and the Left.[20] In An Illustrated History of the Horror Film, CarlosClarens saw a trend manifesting itself in Science Fiction lms, dealing withdehumanization and fear of the loss of individual identity, being historicallyconnected to the end of "the Korean War and the well publicized reports ofbrainwashing techniques".[21] Comparing Invasion of the Body Snatchers withRobert Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, Brian Nevefound a sense of disillusionment rather than straightforward messages, with allthree lms being "less radical in any positive sense than reective of the declineof [the screenwriters'] great liberal hopes".[22]Despite a general agreement among lm critics regarding these politicalconnotations of the lm, actor Kevin McCarthy said in an interview included onthe 1998 DVD release that he felt no political allegory was intended. Theinterviewer stated that he had spoken with the author of the novel, Jack Finney,who professed no specic political allegory in the work.[23]In his autobiography, I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History, WalterMirisch writes: "People began to read meanings into pictures that were neverintended. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an example of that. I rememberreading a magazine article arguing that the picture was intended as an allegoryabout the communist inltration of America. From personal knowledge, neitherWalter Wanger nor Don Siegel, who directed it, nor Dan Mainwaring, who wrotethe script nor original author Jack Finney, nor myself saw it as anything otherthan a thriller, pure and simple."[24]Don Siegel spoke more openly of an existing allegorical subtext, but denied astrictly political point of view: "[] I felt that this was a very important story. Ithink that the world is populated by pods and I wanted to show them. I think somany people have no feeling about cultural things, no feeling of pain, of sorrow.[] The political reference to Senator McCarthy and totalitarianism wasinescapable but I tried not to emphasize it because I feel that motion pictures areprimarily to entertain and I did not want to preach."[25]

ReactionCritical receptionLargely ignored by critics on its initial run,[14] Invasion of the Body Snatchersreceived wide critical acclaim in retrospect and is considered one of the best lmsof 1956.[26][27][28] The lm holds a 98% "Fresh" rating on the review aggregate


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website Rotten Tomatoes.[29] In recent years critics have hailed the lm as a"genuine Sci-Fi classic" (Dan Druker, Chicago Reader),[30] "inuential, and stillvery scary" (Leonard Maltin)[31] and one of the "most resonant" and "one of thesimplest" of the genre (Time Out).[32]

LegacyInvasion of the Body Snatchers was selected in 1993 for preservation in theUnited States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being"culturally, historically, or aesthetically signicant".[33] In June 2008 the AmericanFilm Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten"the best ten lms in ten "classic"American lm genresafter polling over 1,500 people from the creativecommunity. Invasion of the Body Snatchers was acknowledged as the ninth bestlm in the science ction genre.[34] The lm was also placed on AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills, a list of America's most heart-pounding lms.[35] The lm wasincluded on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.[36] Similarly, the Chicago FilmCritics Association named it the 29th scariest lm ever made.[37] Time magazineincluded Invasion of the Body Snatchers on their list of 100 all-time best lms,[38]the top 10 1950s Sci-Fi Movies,[39] and Top 25 Horror Films.[40]

DVD releasesThe lm was released on DVD in 1998 by U. S.-label Republic (an identicalre-release by Artisan followed in 2002); it includes the Superscope version plus anAcademy ratio version. The latter is not the original full frame edition but a panand scan-reworking of the Superscope edition that loses visual detail.DVD editions exist on the British market (including a computer colorized version),German market (as Die Dmonischen) and Spanish market (as La Invasin de losLadrones de Cuerpos).Olive Films released a Blu-ray Superscope version of the lm in 2012.

Related worksListed are only works directly connected to Jack Finney's novel or Don Siegel'slm, not thematically related works like Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Mastersand its dramatizations, Val Guest's Quatermass 2 or Gene Fowler's I Married aMonster from Outer Space.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 remake starring Donald Sutherland)


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Body Snatchers (1993 remake by Abel Ferrara)The Invasion (2007 remake starring Nicole Kidman)

See alsoInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 lm)Body Snatchers (1993 lm)The Invasion (lm)

References^ Matthew Bernstein, Walter Wagner: Hollywood Independent, Minnesota Press,2000 p446

1.

^ a b c d e f g Warren, Bill. Keep Watching The Skies Vol I: 1950 - 1957, McFarland &Co., 1982. ISBN 0-89950-032-3.

2.

^ a b c d e LaValley, Al (1989). "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Rutgers UniversityPress. p. 25.

3.^ LaValley 1989, pp. 25-26.4.^ Weddle, David (1994). If They Move...Kill 'Em!. Grove Press. pp. 116119.ISBN 0-8021-3776-8.

5.

^ a b c d e f g LaValley 1989, p. 26.6.^ a b LaValley 1989, p. 125.7.^ a b c d e LaValley 1989, p. 126.8.^ Detailed description of the Superscope format on Widescreenmuseum.com(http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/wingss1.htm).

9.^ Alan Lovell: Don Siegel. American Cinema, London 1975.10.^ Don Siegel: A Siegel Film. An Autobiography, Faber and Faber, London/Boston1993.

11.^ Info on Invasion of the Body Snatchers alternate versions (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049366/alternateversions) on IMDB.com

12.^ Review (http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2007/08/lm-review-invasion-of-the-body-snatchers/) by Steve Biodrowski on Cinefantastiqueonline.com

13.

^ a b George Turner: A Case for Insomnia, in American Cinematographer, March1997, American Society of Cinematographers, Hollywood 1997.

14.

^ a b Danny Peary: Cult Movies, Dell Publishing, New York 1981.15.^ Invasion of the Body Snatchers (http://www.bbfc.co.uk/AFF019679/) on the BBFCwebsite.

16.^ Leonard Maltin speaks of a "McCarthy-era subtext" Leonard Maltin's 2008 MovieGuide, Signet/New American Library, New York, 2007.

17.^ "[] it is the quintessential Fifties image of socialism." Noel Carroll, Soho News,Dec. 21, 1978.

18.^ Wood, David (May 1, 2001). " Invasion of the Body Snatchers"(http://www.bbc.co.uk/lms/2001/05

19.


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/01/invasion_of_the_body_snatchers_1956_review.shtml). BBC. Retrieved 2008-09-12.^ Poole, W. Scott. Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideousand the Haunting. Waco, Texas: Baylor, 2011. ISBN 978-1-60258-314-6.

20.^ Carlos Clarens: An Illustrated History of the Horror Film, Capricorn Books, 1968.21.^ Brian Neve: Film and Politics in America. A social tradition, Routledge, Oxon, 1992.22.^ DVD commentary track, quoted in: Invasion of the Body Snatchers - review(http://www.feoamante.com/Movies/GHI/invasion_bsnatch_56.html). Feo Amante'sHorror Home Page.

23.

^ Mirisch, Walter (2008). I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History. Madison,WI: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 3940. ISBN 0-299-22640-9.

24.^ Interview with Don Siegel in Alan Lovell: Don Siegel. American Cinema, London1975.

25.^ "The Greatest Films of 1956" (http://www.lmsite.org/1956.html). AMCFilmsite.org. Retrieved June 19, 2010.

26.^ "The Best Movies of 1956 by Rank" (http://www.lms101.com/y1956r.htm).Films101.com. Retrieved June 19, 2010.

27.^ "Most Popular Feature Films Released in 1956" (http://www.imdb.com/year/1956).IMDb.com. Retrieved June 19, 2010.

28.^ "Invasion of the Body Snatchers Movie Reviews, Pictures"(http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1010678-invasion_of_the_body_snatchers/). RottenTomatoes. Retrieved June 19, 2010.

29.

^ Druker, Dan. " Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/invasion-of-the-body-snatchers/Film?oid=2188855). Chicago Reader.Retrieved 2008-09-12.

30.

^ Leonard Maltin's 2008 Movie Guide, Signet/New American Library, New York,2007.

31.^ " Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (http://www.timeout.com/lm/reviews/76141/invasion_of_the_body_snatchers.html). Time Out (magazine). Retrieved 2008-09-12.

32.^ "Invasion of the Body Snatchers: Award Wins and Nominations"(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049366/awards). IMDb.com. Retrieved June 19, 2010.

33.^ "AFI's 10 Top 10" (http://www.a.com/10top10/sci.html). AFI.com. Retrieved May21, 2010.

34.^ "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills" (http://connect.a.com/site/DocServer/thrills100.pdf?docID=250). AFI.com. Retrieved May 21, 2010.

35.^ "Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments" (http://web.archive.org/web/20071030070540/http://www.bravotv.com/The_100_Scariest_Movie_Moments/index.shtml). web.archive.org. Archived from the original (http://www.bravotv.com/The_100_Scariest_Movie_Moments/index.shtml) on October 30, 2007. Retrieved June20, 2010.

36.

^ "Chicago Critics Scariest Films" (http://www.altfg.com/blog/hollywood/chicago-critics-scariest-lms/). AltFilmGuide.com. Retrieved May 21, 2010.

37.^ Schickel, Richard (February 12, 2005). "All-Time 100 Movies" (http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1953094_1953144_1953652,00.html). Time.Retrieved 2009-01-29.

38.

^ Corliss, Richard (December 12, 2008). "1950s Sci-Fi Movies" (http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1866039_1866042_1865918,00.html). Time.Retrieved 2009-04-13.

39.


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^ "Top 25 Horror Films" (http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1676793_1676808_1676843,00.html). Time. October 29, 2007. RetrievedApril 13, 2009.

40.

External linksInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049366/) at the Internet Movie DatabaseInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) (http://www.allmovie.com/movie/v25288) at AllMovieInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1010678-invasion_of_the_body_snatchers/) at Rotten Tomatoes"Invasion of the Body Snatchers: A Tale for Our Times,"(http://www.gadyonline.com/11-26-01/lm-snatchers.html) by John W.Whitehead, Gady Online, November 26, 2001; discusses the politicalthemes of the original lmMcCarthyism and the Movies (http://www.jacknilan.com/senatorjoe)Comparison of novel to all 3 lm adaptations (http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/8781/versions_invasion_of_the_body_snatchers.html)

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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 Film)

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