This classic black and white 50s B-movie is a real treat. Considering its low budget, $417,000, and minimum special effects it successfully achieves a tense and foreboding atmosphere. There is no monster or alien as such, just some giant seed pods in people’s basements, and no violence or gore. It effectively produces its horror through the use of subtle psychological stimuli and like most of the horror B-movies of the 50s it symbolizes the fears and paranoias of the era. We could interpret these fears as fear of nuclear war, after the first nuclear bomb was dropped on 6th August 1945 on Japanese city Hiroshima, fear of things from outer space as the imminent beginnings of space exploration were in the 1950s and fear of Communism taking over America due to the mass hysteria of McCarthyism in the 50s which can be linked directly to the film industry in the form of the Hollywood Blacklist. This blacklist meant screenwriters, actors, producers and directors with certain political beliefs were banned from working in Hollywood even if they were only suspected of Communist beliefs, the height of this was from 1952-1956.
Dr Miles J. Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) is a G.P in a small town, he returns to his practice to the news that several of his patients have been desperate for an appointment and are then suddenly fine. He also learns that a few people are claiming their loved ones are not the same; they look the same but are inexplicably not the same person. With his suspicions raised Miles visits his friend’s house one night to discover a strange ageless body which has appeared and soon transforms into an exact copy of his friend. Eventually Miles realises that alien doppelgangers are taking over the town and it is up to him to avoid becoming a mindless, emotionless duplicate and alert outside forces to what is happening, at the risk of sounding completely mad.
The fear of loss of human identity and individuality is affecting and the film captures the ideology and politics of the time perfectly. It is based on the 1955 novel The Body Snatchers, expanded from a three-part serial story written by Jack Finney for Colliers Magazine, and the screenplay was written by Daniel Mainwaring with rumoured help from Sam Peckinpah who has a small cameo role in the film. Director Don Siegel was forced by the studio to add a prologue and an epilogue to the film in order to make it less sinister so instead of the film ending with a desperate Miles seeing a lorry load of pods and screaming “they’re here already, you’re next, you’re next” it has a much more optimistic ending. I love the American iconography of the era such as the black and white Ford Sedan car and the basement, used as one of the locations for the ominous change to take place, which is embedded in popular culture as an American staple. At only 80 minutes long it really does fly by and I was deeply absorbed throughout. This is a beautifully crafted horror/sci-fi film that is a flawless example of psychological horror and the longstanding influence 50s B-movies have on films today.
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