INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)

Dana Wynter and Kevin McCarthy

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956). Director: Don Siegel. 

In the small town of Santa Mira, the recently divorced Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) rekindles a romance with the also recently divorced Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter). However, their relationship has to take a back seat when there seems to be an epidemic of people insisting that their loved ones are not their loved ones. Miles believes this may be a form of mass hysteria, until his friends Jack and Theodora Belicec (King Donovan and Carolyn Jones) call him after they discover what appears to be a weird corpse on their pool table, a corpse that resembles a not-fully-formed version of Jack. Then they discover huge seed pods inside which duplicates of the townspeople are growing ... 

Something frightful on the pool table

This classic horror science-fiction movie has gotten even better with age. It packs a lot into an economical 80 minutes, and is beautifully paced and directed. McCarthy gives an especially passionate performance as a desperate man trying to not only save the woman he has always loved but the town and indeed the world as well. Wynter also gives a fine performance, along with Donovan and many others; Jones is particularly notable. Indeed the film is packed with interesting fifties performers, including Jean Willes as Miles' nurse, Sally; Virginia Christine as Becky's cousin, Wilma; Dabbs Greer, Larry Gates and others. Whit Bissell and Richard Deacon feature in the film's framing sequences, which were omitted in re-release.

Paranoid? Kevin McCarthy

Credit must be given to Daniel Mainwaring's script, Carmen Dragon's evocative score, and especially Ellsworth Fredericks' superb cinematography in "Super Scope." Although he did turn in fine directorial jobs on other films, this remains the high-water mark in the career of Don Siegel. The greenhouse sequence when all the pods are discovered with its off-kilter angles is only one of several notable sequences. The film's one great flaw is the utter illogic of Becky's "conversion" and one wishes the filmmakers had handled it much differently, but by no means does it strip the film of impact and enjoyment. 

Verdict: This is a real creepy treat. This is as much a well-crafted suspense thriller as it is a classic horror sci-fi film. ***1/2.