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Year: 1956 Production: Allied Artists Director: Don Siegel Starring: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Carolyn Jones, King Donovan Screenwriter: Daniel Mainwaring, Sam Peckinpah Based on The Body Snatchers (1955) by Jack Finney 80 minutes; B/W
Paranoia was the dominant theme running through much sf cinema of the 1950s. Nowhere was it better realized than in this subtle and sophisticated movie, directed by B-film veteran Siegel, about vegetable pods from outer space that turn into emotionless replicas of human beings, in the process replacing the usually sleeping originals. Whether the film reflects right-wing paranoia about a secret takeover by communists or left-wing paranoia about the increasing power of the McCarthyists has been much argued; either way, the theme is loss of individual identity and of human feeling. The original downbeat ending, in which the pods are victorious, was diluted by the addition of a prologue and epilogue set in the hospital, the latter showing the authorities finally believing in the existence of the pods. These scenes are often cut in modern prints. The film has been very highly praised: it is possibly the most discussed B-movie in the history of US film, and was the first of many 1950s sf films to be remade. (See Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Body Snatchers [1994]) |
| The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |