Invasion of the Body Snatchers Overview:

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) was a Horror - Science Fiction Film directed by Don Siegel .

SYNOPSIS

This is the height of paranoid science-fiction terror made at the height of McCarthy-era paranoia. A small-town doctor (McCarthy) becomes the last man with a conscience when pods from outer space begin to reproduce inside their human hosts, draining all humanity from them. When he gleans the truth, a race begins to get the word out before it's too late. Long seen as a parable about individuality and the danger of conformity and group-think. Breathless, suspenseful, and the best of its kind. Remade successfully in 1978. The laser release includes a wide-screen version, commentary, including an interview with director Siegel, and trailers. Based on the serialized story in Collier's magazine by Jack Finney.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

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Invasion of the Body Snatchers was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1994.

BlogHub Articles:

Terror in the Garden – ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ (Don Siegel, 1956)

By Virginie Pronovost on Nov 8, 2025 From The Wonderful World of Cinema

When one thinks of 50s American cinema, a plethora of genres surface in our minds, but one took a particularly significant place during that decade and touched, directly and metaphorically, the socio-political context. I’m thinking of science fiction. If the genre evolved through the years pri... Read full article


Silver Screen Standards: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

By Jennifer Garlen on Jun 8, 2023 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Silver Screen Standards: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) Many remakes have followed in the wake of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), the iconic science fiction film adapted from a serialized novel by American sci-fi writer Jack Finney, but the first outing for this terrify... Read full article


Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, Don Siegel)

By Andrew Wickliffe on May 6, 2019 From The Stop Button

The longest continuous stretch of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is about fifteen minutes (the film runs eighty). Small California city doctor Kevin McCarthy and his long-lost lady friend Dana Wynter have just spent the night holed up in his office, hiding from their neighbors, who have all been rep... Read full article


Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, Don Siegel)

By Andrew Wickliffe on May 6, 2019 From The Stop Button

The longest continuous stretch of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is about fifteen minutes (the film runs eighty). Small California city doctor Kevin McCarthy and his long-lost lady friend Dana Wynter have just spent the night holed up in his office, hiding from their neighbors, who have all been rep... Read full article


Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, Don Siegel)

on May 6, 2019 From The Stop Button

The longest continuous stretch of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is about fifteen minutes (the film runs eighty). Small California city doctor Kevin McCarthy and his long-lost lady friend Dana Wynter have just spent the night holed up in his office, hiding from their neighbors, who have all been rep... Read full article


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Quotes from

Becky: I can't do it, I can't, can't, can't go on.
Dr. Miles J. Bennell: Yes you can.


Dr. Miles J. Bennell: In my practice, I've seen how people have allowed their humanity to drain away. Only it happened slowly instead of all at once. They didn't seem to mind... All of us - a little bit - we harden our hearts, grow callous. Only when we have to fight to stay human do we realize how precious it is to us, how dear.


Jack Belicec: Stop trying to rationalize everything, will ya? Let's face it, we have a mystery on our hands!
Dr. Dan 'Danny' Kauffman: Sure you have. A real one! Whose body was it, and where is it now? A completely normal mystery. Whatever it is, it's well within the bounds of human experience, and I don't think you ought to make any more of it.
Dr. Miles J. Bennell: Look, I wouldn't if I hadn't looked in Becky's cellar! How do you explain away the body I saw there?
Dr. Dan 'Danny' Kauffman: I don't think you saw one there.
Dr. Miles J. Bennell: You don't think I saw one here, either?
Dr. Dan 'Danny' Kauffman: I know you did because three others saw it too.
Dr. Miles J. Bennell: But I dreamed up the second one?
Dr. Dan 'Danny' Kauffman: Doctors can have hallucinations too.


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Facts about

Becky and Miles paraphrase Shakespeare twice. "I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows" is from A Midsummer Night's Dream. "That way madness lies" is from King Lear.
Only $15,000 of the budget was spent on special effects.
Ranked #9 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Sci-Fi" in June 2008.
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National Film Registry

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Released 1956
Inducted 1994
(Sound)




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Also released in 1956




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