Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1956.
Directed by Don Siegel.
Starring Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan, Carolyn Jones, Jean Willes, Ralph Dumke.
SYNOPSIS:
Philip Kaufman’s excellent 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers gets tons of attention, and deservedly so, but the 1956 original should get some love too. Kino Lorber has rectified that situation with a new edition that features a 4K scan of the film, two new commentary tracks, and a nice batch of archival extras.
Hey, let’s jump in the Wayback Machine and enjoy a classic science-fiction movie from 1956! That was a quaint time, right? Just a fun flick on a Saturday afternoon, right?
What’s that? The 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers was really a parable about McCarthyism? And a lot of the issues it explores are still relevant today, since humans never really seem to learn from history?
Okay, fine. While the world goes to hell in a hand basket, maybe (maybe!) we can learn some lessons from this movie, out now on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD from Kino Lorber. Directed by Don Siegel, Invasion of the Body Snatchers features Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter as a couple who find themselves dealing with an alien infestation in the fictional sleepy little town of Santa Mira, California.
McCarthy plays Dr. Miles Bennell, who has been summoned back to his medical practice from a conference because there’s been an increase in the number of people who want appointments with him right away. Many of them end up canceling their appointments, however, leaving him puzzled.
Meanwhile, a boy he knows insists his mother has been replaced by an impostor, while his on-and-off-again girlfriend, Becky (Wynter), says that her cousin has the same complaint about her father. Miles investigates both situations and can only conclude that some kind of mass delusion is taking place.
However, when his friend Jack Belicec (King Donovan) summons Miles to his home to examine what looks like a human cadaver that doesn’t have identifying features, the doctor realizes that something bad is happening in their midst. As more and more of the residents turn into emotionless pod people, Miles and Becky try to escape and find help before they’re subsumed too.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers remains a classic, with a taut 80-minute running time and a story that hurls the two main protagonists through a gauntlet of obstacles, leaving the viewer worn out (in a good way) by the end. If I had to point out any weaknesses in the story, it’s the ease with which Miles assumes that a seemingly dead body must be something bad.
I realize Miles has to somehow understand there’s a threat that masks itself as ordinary people, so he doesn’t succumb to it too, but it’s odd that a doctor would be so quick to jump to such a conclusion. There are certainly reasons why a dead body might look a certain way, and I think he’d know that, since he’s a self-proclaimed man of science.
That’s a minor issue, though, and if doesn’t bother you at all, great. It was just something that holds the film back from being great, in my opinion. But it’s still a good movie, one that’s worth revisiting.
Kino Lorber commissioned a new 4K scan of the film for this edition. While the original camera negative wasn’t available for the restoration, this movie still looks excellent. I was sent a Blu-ray for this review, so I imagine the 4K Ultra HD version looks even better. You have the option of watching it in either 2.00:1 Superscope or 1.85:1 aspect ratio; the movie looks the same either way.
Kino Lorber also commissioned a pair of new commentary tracks to go along with the two archival ones that have been included. Movie critics Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson are on one of the new tracks while film scholar Jason A. Ney is on the other. The former focuses mostly on the movie while the latter devotes a lot of time comparing it to the source material, Jack Finney’s 1954 novel, The Body Snatchers.
I’m not sure this movie needed another “film class on a disc” style of commentary, like Mitchell and Thompson offer, when one of the archival commentaries included here features film historian Richard Harlan going down pretty much the same road. Still, if you really love this movie, you’ll likely discover some good material between the two tracks.
The final commentary is a fun one that has director Joe Dante moderating a discussion with McCarthy and Wynter, who have plenty of great stories to tell from the making of the movie.
The rest of the extras, all of which have been ported over from previous discs, are:
• The Fear is Real (12:27): Joe Dante shows up again to discuss the film with fellow director Larry Cohen. Unsurprisingly, the movie’s influence on subsequent generations of filmmakers is a major part of the conversation.
• The Stranger in Your Lover’s Eyes (11:55): This is a visual essay featuring Kristoffer Tabori, Don Siegel’s son, reading the part of his father’s autobiography that concerns the film.
• I No Longer Belong: The Rise and Fall of Walter Wanger (21:09): Film scholar Matthew Bernstein discusses the life and career of Invasion of the Body Snatchers producer Walter Wanger, who spent time in prison in 1952 for shooting and wounding his wife’s agent because he thought the two of them were having an affair. Amazingly, his wife, Joan Bennett, forgave him and they remained married until 1965. So, you know, how’s your day going?
Trailers for the movie, as well as Philip Kaufman’s 1978 remake, round out the platter.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
