Movie Review: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1955)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1955) directed by Don Siegel

Doctor Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) is called home from a conference to the small California town of Santa Mira. His nurse is overwhelmed with patients needing help. The most intriguing cases are the people who claim their relatives are not really their relatives--they've been replaced by emotionless copies. Bennell sees one or two and refers them to his psychiatrist friend. He's a bit uneasy about the situation since the problem is wide-spread in Santa Mira. His unease turns to paranoia when an author friend discovers a body in his closet that appears generic but is slowly looking more and more like the author. Later, Bennell discovers giant seed pods in his greenhouse. The pods spawn bodies of the doctor and his girlfriend (Dana Wynter). To avoid being turned into soulless and emotionless copies of themselves, the two go on the run from the townfolk.

The movie is a science fiction classic. Pod People has become an idiom for emotionless or soulless individuals. The penultimate scene of Bennell running through a highway trying to warn all the drivers that they are about to be assimilated ("You're next! You're next!'), even shouted into the camera, is famous as well. The movie was based on a novel and had three remakes (1978, 1993, and 2007). The story plays as a great parable against conformity and indifference. It's also a harrowing adventure for the main character.

Weirdly enough, the film has been interpreted as condemning the dehumanizing effects of McCarthyism and the dehumanizing effects of communism. The film makers did not intend a political interpretation. Perhaps it is best to look at it with some perspective and acknowledge that it condemns dehumanization in contemporary society regardless of political persuasion. The "better life" offered by the pod people is one without love or joy or pain or sorrow. Such a life may be less chaotic but it is also less rewarding and less adventurous. The pod people offer an unreal world that everyone should reject.

Highly recommended.