Silver Screen Standards: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Silver Image Standards: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Numerous remakes followed the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), the iconic sci-fi film adapted from a serial by American sci-fi author Jack Finney, but the first release of this terrifying tale of soulless pod people remains the most multifaceted, even with writer Finney and director Don Siegel offering differing interpretations the picture message. The later films draw on the sci-fi and horror elements of the story with varying degrees of fidelity to the source material, but the original adaptation is compelling in part because of its extensive use of tropes and classic film noir style. Although I’m not the first to notice the importance of the noir style Invasion of the Body SnatchersI think it’s worth discussing in depth because the classic noir themes enrich this film so much and help keep it relevant and thought-provoking for viewers today, almost 70 years after its theatrical release.

The film’s plot follows the dramatic experience of Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy), a doctor in the small town of Santa Mira, California, who returns from a conference and finds strange problems affecting his patients and friends. At first, Miles dismisses the ailments as psychological, but soon realizes that the townspeople are actually transforming into a perfect state, if not quite human Copies of themselves. Along with his friends Jack and Teddy (King Donovan and Carolyn Jones) and his lover Becky (Dana Wynter), Miles tries to escape the clutches of the transformed capsule people and alert the outside world to the danger facing humanity exposed, but time is of the essence as the changelings take control once their victims fall asleep.

As the film progresses, noir’s cinematic and narrative conventions heighten the tension felt by the audience. Miles is a doctor, not a detective, but he acts as a protagonist who searches for clues and fights to uncover a murderous, sinister conspiracy before it’s too late. His efforts also make him a man on the run from the law, as the aliens have already replaced the local police force. The following chase scenes use the same camera angles and visual vocabulary as many classic noir films; We watch as Miles and Becky drive, run and hide with increasing desperation as the changelings close in on them. Their exhaustion and panic are palpable, their faces are framed by lights and shadows that highlight their feelings.

On my last viewing, these elements were reminiscent of noir classics like The third man (1949), night and city (1950) and even the influential Proto-Noir, M (1931). The wraparound scenes, added later and against Siegel’s wishes, may offer audiences more hope than the original ending, which saw Miles vainly scream on the freeway, but they also add to the noir sensibility of the whole thing. Miles doesn’t start the film dead or dying as we see in Twilight Boulevard (1950) and DOA (1950), but as he tells his story to the authorities, we are increasingly unsure of how the final scene will play out. Like Larry Ballentine (Robert Young) in You won’t believe me (1947), Miles has no reason to believe his account will convince others, but there is a very good chance that the pod people have already replaced the doctors and police officers in the room. The ending is less somber than Siegel originally intended, but it’s still a tense place to exit a story given the world is in imminent danger and there’s no guarantee audiences won’t go home and their loved ones oddly different found than before.

Finney, Seigel, McCarthy, and others have debated the film’s message in the years following its release. Some argued that he represented the dangers of McCarthyism, others interpreted it as an anti-communist metaphor, and Seigel insisted that it represented a more general metaphor of loss of humanity. The film’s noir elements lend credence to each of these claims, but also allow for a modern reading of the narrative of how our increasingly diverse American society is being violently repressed in favor of enforced conformity and homogeneity. Postwar noir challenged the glossy surface and bourgeois values ​​of American culture, which left no room for drifters, losers, outcasts, dreamers, or anyone else who didn’t conform politically, culturally, racially, or sexually. It took us into the dark corners of a corrupt, capitalist culture where fat cats ruled and little guys were always doomed, no matter how hard they fought against the system’s machinery. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
argues that forced conformity to a rigid social structure robs the individual of everything that is important to them; They lose their emotions and ability to empathize with what some would call their soul. As the citizens succumb to the insidious forces that turn them into Pod-humans, they turn against their neighbors, their friends, and even their once-loved family members. Outwardly, they seem to be the same people, but less so human as previously. It’s a terrifying prospect, whether we’re observing it in Santa Mira in the 1950s or in our own hometowns today.

The 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers was notably remade in 1978 with a cast that includes Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum and Leonard Nimoy (Kevin McCarthy has a great cameo and Don Siegel also has a cameo). body predator (1993), The invasion (2007) and Assimilate (2019) all owe their origins to Finney’s source material and the influence of the original film, as does the hilarious 2013 Edgar Wright comedy. The end of the world. Other science fiction films dealing with forced conformity are: THX 1138 (1971), The women of Stepford (1975) and you live (1988). If you’re interested in the prolific blending of sci-fi and film noir, check it out kiss me deadly (1955), Alphaville (1965), Soylent Green (1973), blade runner (1982), dark city (1998) and minority report (2002).

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— Jennifer Garlen for Classic Movie Hub

Jennifer Garlen is a contributor to our monthly Silver Screen Standards column. You can read all of Jennifer’s Silver Screen Standards articles here.

Jennifer is a former college professor with a PhD in English Literature and a lifelong passion for films. She writes about classic films on her blog, Virtual Virago, and presents classic film programs for lifelong learning groups and retirement communities. She is the author of Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies to Watch and its continuation Beyond Casablanca II: 101 must-see classic filmsShe is also co-editor of two books on the works of Jim Henson.