Film Review — Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
★★★★☆ Don Siegel’s lean invasion thriller remains potent almost seventy years on
A doctor uncovers an extra-terrestrial conspiracy where the inhabitants of his small hometown are slowly being replaced with emotionless duplicates.
The first of six¹ big-screen adaptations of Jack Finney’s classic serial, Don Siegel’s initially underappreciated version replaces the source material’s eco and colonial concerns with a more era-effective anti-communist subtext. The “commies” are no longer an issue, but the creeping paranoia of lost humanity remains remarkably potent nearly seven decades later.
Kevin McCarthy charms as the film’s central character, a smooth-talking doctor popular with the townspeople (and the ladies, by the looks of things). It’s a convincing performance, a twisted pleasure watching as his initial concerns grow, eventually giving way to paranoia and existential panic. Dana Wynter shines as his co-star, a radiant beauty that’s a little more than just a damsel in distress.
A slick production despite its relatively modest budget, this low-tech Invasion gets the basics right and breezes by thanks to an uncluttered screenplay. The flashback framing and altered ending — the film was supposed to close with McCarthy screaming as trucks of pods passed him by — are small bugbears, but this remains one of the better “pod people” flicks.
¹There are four direct adaptations. This, Philip Kaufman’s 1978 version, Abel Ferrara’s 1993 version and Oliver Hirschbiegel’s 2007 version. The story was also used unofficially as the basis of Robert Rodriguez’s The Faculty, as well as 2019’s Assimilate.
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