Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Retrieved from Netflix.com

Star Rating- 3
Length of Film- 80 minutes
Director- Don Siegel
Cast- Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan, Carolyn Jones, Jean Willies, Ralph Dumke,  Virginia Christine, Tom Fadden, Kenneth Patterson, Guy Way, Eileen Stevens, Beatrice Maude, Jean Andren, & Bobby Clark







Before you sit down and watch this movie, you have to know a little background of what was going on in the 1950's, and THEN you'd understand why this movie is on this list.

        "A number of cutural commentators have remarked on the  "paranoid style" of most
         American sci-fi movies of the 1950's when the "Red Scare" intensified the Cold War  
         atmosphere between the United States and the Soviet Union...The movie was
         produced during an era when many Americans were seriously discussing the
           possibility of building back yard bomb shelters to "protect" themselves from an
         expected nuclear attack by the Soviet Union." -Understanding Movies by Louis
         Giannetti

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is set in a small, quaint town where everything is perfect and in place. Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) was called to come home from a medical convention because he had patience lining up at his door, frantic to see the doctor. As soon as he got home, no one was desperate to see him; they were all normal. A couple of individuals complained, very emotionally that their loved one wasn't them. They looked, and acted like them, but weren't them.

Blah, blah, blah... pods were found, and they put the puzzle pieces together that the transformation is complete when they fall asleep.

The picture up above is a photo of the pod, and yes...they did use dish soap to make the bubbles. It was the 50's...meh. Dr. Bennell and his egirlfriend, Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter) took medication to keep them awake, and all the zombie in the town went after them. The last part of the movie, our lead characters were running...running to get away and to survive.

The ending is not relaxing nor does it resolve anything. They left the movie completely open so the audience had the fear that it could happen, and that it could spread to where they live. And THAT is why this movie is on the list and THAT's why it's a classic. It fed into the fear of what was going on that decade. Quite brillant.