Set in small-town America and
concerning intergalactic organisms
taking over humankind via emotionless
replicates who ‘get you when you
sleep’, Jack Finney’s 1954 short
story The Body Snatchers was published
during the height of McCarthyism.
However, its rather inconspicuous author
largely dispelled notions that it was an
allegory on communism or the importance of
individuality. Nevertheless, considering the
times, it wasn’t exactly irrational to propose
such an analysis. Even if it was unconscious
on the author’s behalf, the story’s proposed
political undertones have subsequently
allowed generations of fi lmmakers to creatively
reinterpret it to refl ect their individual eras.
Finney had tapped into the paranoia of an era
and a very primal fear concerning the loss of
human identity.
This is the crux of Don Siegel’s still
chilling small-town set 1956 original
adaptation Invasion Of The Body Snatchers,
(not to be confused with the Val Lewton
produced 1945 grave robbing horror fl ick The
Body Snatcher). It features Kevin McCarthy as
Miles Bennell; a local doctor who fi nds himself
inundated with patients claiming impostors
have replaced their loved ones. A psychiatrist
swiftly shrugs off these cases as an epidemic
of mass hysteria caused by “worry with what’s
going on in the world...” Later, the same
patients claim everything is now okay, but
when a featureless body turns up bearing the
exact measurements of a male friend, Miles
begins to take the original reports of human
reproductions more seriously.
It isn’t long before giant seedpods emerge
hatching human clones, police authorities act
strangely and characters once relatable and
trustworthy become emotionless drones. As
the disturbingly duplicated townspeople mass
together, Miles and love interest Becky (Dana
Wynter) realise they are the only true humans
left in the town of Santa Mira... as long as they
can resist the urge to fall asleep...
The noirish quality of the black-and-white
cinematography certainly helps to enhance
the probing eeriness of Siegel’s fi lm, providing
the narrative with a helpless, chilling visual
undertone of closing-in-on-you dread and
terror. Yet studio Allied Artists was reluctant
to take this pervading doom to its natural
narrative conclusion.
Originally, the fi lm was to end with a pull-
away shot of McCarthy’s infamous: “You’re
in danger! They’re here already! You’re
next! You’re next!” forewarnings to camera
as pod-carrying trucks pass him by on the
freeway. However, the studio thought this was
too downbeat a dénouement for audiences
and thus a framing story was hastily ordered,
reluctantly shot by Siegel and added to the fi lm.
It featured the now in place prologue where
a ranting McCarthy, held up in a hospital
following the incident, relays the extraterrestrialWORDS OLIVER PFEIFFERTHE COMPLETE GUIDE TO
INVASION OF THE
BODY SNATCHERS
THE CONCEPT OF HUMANS BEING REPLACED BY DUPLICATES HAS BEEN
DEPICTED THROUGH SEVERAL CINEMATIC INCARNATIONS OF JACK
FINNEY’S NOVEL THE BODY SNATCHERS. WE EXPLORE THE SERIES...W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K |^097
events in fl ashback. It also concludes with a
reassuring epilogue, with the aforementioned
pods located and the FBI notifi ed about the
impending threat.
The studio also considerably reduced
the fi lm’s original humour, as they were
uncomfortable with how it played against the
horror and didn’t think the two elements worked
together in a movie. Despite the nervous post
production tinkering, the haunting legacy of
Siegel’s fi lm remains largely intact.
Siegel’s fi lm also served as an appropriate
bridging point for Philip Kaufman’s edgy,
equally titled 1978 sequel-of-sorts ‘remake’,
which saw the small-town paranoia spread
to the big city; specifi cally Seventies San
Francisco where, thanks to the repercussions
of Watergate and exposure of corruption
in the government, the population is largely
disillusioned already.
Providing the key continuity was a scene-
stealing cameo by Kevin McCarthy, who
abruptly thumps on the windshield of new
protagonist Donald Sutherland’s car and voices
those exact warnings as before. Kaufman
purposely set the scene up so it could be
interpreted as a clever continuation.
“Let’s suppose he had left the last movie
where he wanted to leave it... running out of
the small town saying, ‘they’re here!’ and [...]
that he ran for 20 years trying to spread the
word...’the pods are coming!’” the director
says (in the documentary Re-Visitors FromSet in small-town America and
concerning intergalactic organisms
taking over humankind via emotionless
replicates who ‘get you when you
sleep’, Jack Finney’s 1954 short
story The Body SnatchersThe Body SnatchersThe Body Snatchers was published was published
during the height of McCarthyism.
However, its rather inconspicuous author
largely dispelled notions that it was an
allegory on communism or the importance of
individuality. Nevertheless, considering the
times, it wasn’t exactly irrational to propose
such an analysis. Even if it was unconscious
on the author’s behalf, the story’s proposed
political undertones have subsequently
allowed generations of fi lmmakers to creatively
reinterpret it to refl ect their individual eras.
Finney had tapped into the paranoia of an era
and a very primal fear concerning the loss of
human identity.
This is the crux of Don Siegel’s still
chilling small-town set 1956 original
adaptation Invasion Of The Body Snatchers,
(not to be confused with the Val Lewton
produced 1945 grave robbing horror fl ick The
Body SnatcherBody SnatcherBody Snatcher). It features Kevin McCarthy as ). It features Kevin McCarthy as
Miles Bennell; a local doctor who fi nds himself
inundated with patients claiming impostors
have replaced their loved ones. A psychiatrist
swiftly shrugs off these cases as an epidemic
of mass hysteria caused by “worry with what’s
going on in the world...” Later, the same
patients claim everything is now okay, but
when a featureless body turns up bearing the
exact measurements of a male friend, Miles
begins to take the original reports of human
reproductions more seriously.
It isn’t long before giant seedpods emerge
hatching human clones, police authorities act
strangely and characters once relatable and
trustworthy become emotionless drones. As
the disturbingly duplicated townspeople mass
together, Miles and love interest Becky (Dana
Wynter) realise they are the only true humans
left in the town of Santa Mira... as long as they
can resist the urge to fall asleep...
The noirish quality of the black-and-white
cinematography certainly helps to enhance
the probing eeriness of Siegel’s fi lm, providing
the narrative with a helpless, chilling visual
undertone of closing-in-on-you dread and
terror. Yet studio Allied Artists was reluctant
to take this pervading doom to its natural
narrative conclusion.
Originally, the fi lm was to end with a pull-
away shot of McCarthy’s infamous: “You’re
in danger! They’re here already! You’re
next! You’re next!” forewarnings to camera
as pod-carrying trucks pass him by on the
freeway. However, the studio thought this was
too downbeat a dénouement for audiences
and thus a framing story was hastily ordered,
reluctantly shot by Siegel and added to the fi lm.
It featured the now in place prologue where
a ranting McCarthy, held up in a hospital
following the incident, relays the extraterrestrialWORDS OLIVER PFEIFFERTHE COMPLETE GUIDE TO
INVASION OF THE
BODY SNATCHERS
THE CONCEPT OF HUMANS BEING REPLACED BY DUPLICATES HAS BEEN
DEPICTED THROUGH SEVERAL CINEMATIC INCARNATIONS OF JACK
FINNEY’S NOVEL THE BODY SNATCHERS. WE EXPLORE THE SERIES...W W W.SCI FI N OW.CO.U K |^097
events in fl ashback. It also concludes with a
reassuring epilogue, with the aforementioned
pods located and the FBI notifi ed about the
impending threat.
The studio also considerably reduced
the fi lm’s original humour, as they were
uncomfortable with how it played against the
horror and didn’t think the two elements worked
together in a movie. Despite the nervous post
production tinkering, the haunting legacy of
Siegel’s fi lm remains largely intact.
Siegel’s fi lm also served as an appropriate
bridging point for Philip Kaufman’s edgy,
equally titled 1978 sequel-of-sorts ‘remake’,
which saw the small-town paranoia spread
to the big city; specifi cally Seventies San
Francisco where, thanks to the repercussions
of Watergate and exposure of corruption
in the government, the population is largely
disillusioned already.
Providing the key continuity was a scene-
stealing cameo by Kevin McCarthy, who
abruptly thumps on the windshield of new
protagonist Donald Sutherland’s car and voices
those exact warnings as before. Kaufman
purposely set the scene up so it could be
interpreted as a clever continuation.
“Let’s suppose he had left the last movie
where he wanted to leave it... running out of
the small town saying, ‘they’re here!’ and [...]
that he ran for 20 years trying to spread the
word...’the pods are coming!’” the director
says (in the documentary Re-Visitors From