|
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1956
Running Times: 80m
Length:
Format: 35mm; SuperScope
Colour Format: black and white
Aspect Ratio: 2.00:1
Sound: mono
DIRECTION
Director: Don Siegel
CREW
PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Allied Artists Pictures Corporation/Walter Wanger
Productions Inc.
Producer: Walter Wanger
Production Manager: Allen K. Wood
SCRIPT
Screenplay: Daniel Mainwaring, Sam Peckinpah (uncredited), Richard Collins
(uncredited)
Novel: The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
DIRECTION
Director: Don Siegel
Assistant Directors: William Beaudine Jr, Richard Maybery
Script Supervisor: Irva Mae Ross
PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Ellsworth Fredericks
EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Robert S. Eisen
MUSIC
Music/Conductor: Carmen Dragon
Music Editor: Jerry Irvin
SOUND
Sound: Ralph Butler
Sound Editor: Del Harris
MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Emile LaVigne
Hair: Mary Westmoreland
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Milt Rice
DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Ted Haworth
Set Decorator: Joseph Kish
LOCATIONS
Locations: Hollywood, California, USA, Sierra Madre, California, USA,
Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California, USA, Bronson
Canyon Drive, Los Angeles County, USA, Beachwood, Hollywood, California,
USA
CAST
Kevin McCarthy (Dr Miles J. Binnell)
Dana Wynter (Becky Driscoll)
Larry Gates (Dr Dan Kauffman)
King Donovan (Jack Belicec)
Carolyn Jones (Theodora 'Teddy' Belicec)
Jean Willes (Nurse Sally Withers)
Ralph Dumke (Officer Nick Miller)
Virginia Christine (Wilma Lentz)
Tom Fadden (Uncle Ira Lentz)
Kenneth Patterson (Stanley Driscoll)
Guy Way (Officer Sam Janzek)
Eileen Stevens (Anne Grimaldi)
Beatrice Maude (Grandma Driscoll)
Jean Andren (Eleda Lentz)
Bobby Clark (Jimmy Grimaldi)
Everett Glass (Dr Ed Pursey)
Dabbs Greer (Mac Lomax)
Pat O'Malley (baggage man)
Guy Rennie (restaurant owner)
Marie Selland (Martha Lomax)
Sam Peckinpah (meter reader)
Harry J. Vejar (pod carrier in Miles' office)
UNCREDITED CAST
Whit Bissell (Doctor Hill)
Richard Deacon (Dr Harvey Bassett)
Frank Hagney
Robert Osterloh (ambulance driver)
When Dr Miles Bennel returns home to the small town
he grew up in, he's alarmed to find that many of his new patients seem
to be displaying signs of paranoid delusions, believing that friends
and family have been replaced by imposters. At first, he's sceptical,
but soon comes to believe that there is indeed something strange happening
in the town - but who, or what, is behind it all?
CAPSULE REVIEW
The classic 50s paranoia fantasy, Invasion
of the Body Snatchers retains its power even now and, the excellent
1978 remake aside, simply hasn't been beaten. Take it any way you want
- straightforward SF thriller, anti-Communist tract, metaphor for McCarthyism
- and it works incredibly well, despite the interference of the studios
who imposed an upbeat ending on director Segal.
AVAILABILITY
USA
Theatrical Distributor: Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
Video Distributor: Nostalgia Merchant
DVD Distributor: Republic (42018)
Laserdisc Distributor: Republic (LV 22018), Criterion (CC 1174L)
CENSORSHIP HISTORY
Australia
Rating: PG
Finland
Rating: K-16
Sweden
Rating: 15
UK
Rating: PG
USA
Rating: unrated
AWARDS
1994
National Film Preservation Board, USA
Included in the National Film Registry
TIMELINE
1956
February
5: USA - theatrical release
May
27: Sweden - theatrical release
1998
June
26: USA - DVD release (Republic (42018))
28: UK - shown at the National Film Theatre, London
2000
April
8: Argentina - shown at the Buenos Aires Film Festival
POSTER TAGS
...there was nothing to hold onto - except each other.
They come from another world!
"Something is happening! Send your men of science
quick!" The panic stricken cry went over the phone to Washington
D. C. until the lines went dead!...
Incredible! Invisible! Insatiable!
Walter Wanger Creates the Ultimate in Science-Fiction!
Collier's Magazine called it "The Nightmare That
Threatens The World"
The original nightmare that threatened the world.
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Dämonischen, Die - German title
Invasione degli ultracorpi, L' - Italian title
Sleep No More
They Came from Another World - working title
LINKS
REMAKES
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Body Snatchers (1993)
SEE ALSO
Airplane (1980)
Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965)
The Arrival (1996)
The Body Stealers (1969)
Bowfinger (1999)
The Brain Eaters (1958)
Disturbing Behavior (1998)
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988)
Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
The Faculty (1998)
The Incredible Body Snatchers (1972)
Invasion Earth: The Aliens Are Here (1987)
The Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers (1992)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The Puppet Masters (1994)
Remote Control (1987)
Space Jam (1996)
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
There's Nothing Out There (1991)
Troll (1986)
Troll 2 (1992)
L'ultimo uomo della terra (1964)
Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992)
FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
The Fifties (1997)
Gremlins (1984)
Invasion Earth: The Aliens Are Here (1987)
REFERENCES
PERIODICALS
American Cinematographer v.78 no.3 (March
1997) pp.77-81
illustrated article (A Case for Insomnia by George Turner),
credits
Filmfax no.77 (February/March 2000) pp.50-59
illustrated interview with Kevin McCarthy (The Man Who Ran For Miles:
Inside the Mind of Kevin McCarthy by Dwayne Epstein)
Film Review Special 25: Sci-Fi (1998) pp.40-41
illustrated article (Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
Music From the Movies n.25 (Winter 1999)
pp.51-54
illustrated article (Carmen Dragon's Invasion of the Body Snatchers
by Kirk Henderson)
Positif n.459 (May 1999) pp.100 - 103
illustrated article (Les enfants du remake: sur deux versions des
"Body Snatchers" by Michel Chion)
Sight and Sound vol.4 no.5 (May 1994) pp.28
- 31
illustrated article (Paranoia and the Pods by J. Hoberman)
Starlog no.270 (January 2000) pp.84-88
interview with Dana Wynter (The Lady Elegant by Tom Weaver)
BOOKS
"They're Here..." Invasion of the Body
Snatchers: A Tribute - ed. Kevin McCarthy (New York: Berkley
Boulevard Books (1999) ISBN 0425165272 / ISBN 0425165272)
OTHER SOURCES
BFI National Film Theatre programme June 1998 p.49 (UK)
illustrated listing
KEYWORDS
aliens, alien invasion, human duplication, paranoia,
psychiatrists, pod people
Last Updated:
14 March, 2010
|
