Invasion of the Body Snatchers - A Science Fiction Classic

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the original version made in 1956, is a well-crafted deep dive into paranoia that becomes all too real.

Doctor Miles Bennell comes back to his hometown to find his former love Becky Driscoll is home as well, and newly divorced, as is he. They quickly rekindle their romance, even as the whole town around them seems to be caught in a delusion, thinking that their relatives somehow are not who they were anymore. 

Miles digs deeper and discovers that seed pods from outer space are turning his neighbors into replicas - replicas without true emotion or empathy. Once he knows, he and Becky must escape from the townspeople and warn the rest of the state about the danger.

Will they escape? You probably know. Most film buffs have seen this classic science fiction gem. It's beautifully filmed, well written, directed and acted. Kevin McCarthy makes a quirky but enjoyable hero and Dana Wynter is elegant and gorgeous. There are also lots of familiar faces in it like Larry Gates, Whit Bissell, Richard Deacon, Virginia Christine, Dabbs Greer, Ralph Dumke, Bobby Clark, Jean Willes, King Donovan and Carolyn Jones, in one of her early roles when she was still a blonde.

It's been said that stories like this are representative of the Cold War era when people were paranoid about invasions from the East. I think it translates well to any era where people feel mistrustful of others, for whatever reasons, and that mistrust festers like an untreated sore until it becomes a threat to community and sanity. 

Can we learn a lesson from all that? Nah. We never do. So, just enjoy this film for what it is - a true science fiction classic!