NFR Project: 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' (1956)

NFR Project: “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”

Dir: Don Siegel

Scr: Daniel Mainwaring

Pho: Ellsworth Fredericks

Ed: Robert S. Eisen

Premiere: Feb. 5, 1956

80 min.

First, read the definitive essay on this film, by the great Robert Sklar, at the National Film Registry.

To it I can only add:

Here is a portrait of an alien invasion, insidious and silent. The many vectors of interpretation of the political or social ramifications underlying the movie simply prove the universal terror of being taken over by The Other, any other, of being reduced to something less (or even more) than human. It resonates with all manner of people, in all sorts of ways.

A small-town doctor notices a bunch of appointments being made at his clinic and then cancelled. Citizens stumble in, claiming that their relatives and loved ones are not themselves anymore. The doctor (Kevin McCarthy) tries to rationalize his way through the problem – until he encounters large seed pods that spawn identical copies of their intended human hosts.

From that point on, it’s a race for survival that is, again, nightmare fodder. Imagine a whole town turned against you, seeking to change you into one of them. Their reasonableness. Their persistence. Mainwaring and Siegel evoke the fight-or-flight impulse straight to the reptile brain. Our hero is prey for an alien race. And there is no mercy for Miles.

The source material is impeccable. The original novel The Body Snatchers was written by Jack Finney, a noted science-fiction writer. Daniel Mainwaring, who wrote the screenplay, had crafted such excellent scripts as his noirs Out of the Past, The Big Steal, and The Phenix City Story. Here he captures Cold War paranoia in a crisply-moving succession of uncanny setups in a nondescript rural town in California.

The protagonist, Miles Bennell, is played by the iconic Kevin McCarthy, whose reputation rests largely on his accomplishments here. He plays the hero as a reasonable man driven to madness as he warns an oblivious world of a conspiracy against its very human soul. The original ending of the movie has him ranting in the midst of traffic. “You’re next! You’re next!” he roars, and we drive past him, sheepishly. What does he know that we don’t?

Considering the lack of A-list resources at their creation, the results achieved with light, analog special effects, and subtly pitched performances make this a believable and haunting classic, a common nightmare brought to life. Ellsworth Frederick's cinematography is beautiful and well thought out. The score by Carmen Dragon is surprisingly top-notch.

The studio intervened and had them construct a framing story, a la The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Miles is brought into the nuthouse as he’s been found wandering in traffic. After the film originally ends, a scene informs us that Miles’ worst fears have root in reality.

The authorities react appropriately. Miles is left gasping as they sweep into action. He is disoriented, grieving (despite gobbling speed, his lover Dan Wynter falls asleep and instantly transforms into the Other). He lost everyone he cared about. The End. A bitter note seeps into the finale despite the studio’s rewrite. Body Snatchers resonates because it’s about first being swept away by the majority – and then hunted by it.

The NFR Project is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Modesta.

NFR Project: 'High Society' (1956)

NFR Project: “High Society”

Dir: Charles Walters

Scr: John Patrick

Pho: Paul C Vogel

Ed: Ralph E. Winters

Premiere: July 17, 1956

111 min.

The premise was golden. Remake the classic screwball comedy The Philadelphia Story (1940) as a musical. Get Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, the two greatest singers of their respective generations, to act and sing together. Have Cole Porter write the songs. Throw in Louis Armstrong. Throw in Grace Kelly in her last starring role.

Fortunately, it works. An excellent screen adaptation by John Patrick draws on both the Oscar-winning original screenplay and the original 1939 Broadway play, written expressly for Katharine Hepburn by Philip Barry.

The story is this: young socialite Tracy Lord (Kelly) in fashionable Newport, Rhode Island is on the eve of her wedding to an earnest dullard (John Lund). Her ex-husband, songwriter and incidentally crooner C.K. Dexter Haven (Crosby), decides to woo her back. Added to this is an intrusive reporter, Mike Connor (Sinatra), who also falls for Tracy. Complications ensue. Safe to say all is sorted out by film’s end, which culminates in the remarriage of Dexter and Tracy.

Now, the plot is shoehorned into the frame of a musical fable narrated by none other than the immortal Louis Armstrong. With his sidemen, he introduces the story, comments on it, and wraps it up at the end. It’s always a pleasure to watch him play and sing, and the movie captures his performance with Bing of “Now You Has Jazz.”

Now it’s a little creepy as Bing was 53 when he made this film, and Grace Kelly was 26. He’s old enough to be her father. (Evidently the two did have an affair.) Still, the Old Groaner aka Der Bingle floats easily through the film, exuding quips and serenely taking Tracy back. Sinatra is fine as Mike – and who wouldn’t want to have a record of Crosby and Sinatra singing together? Celeste Holm and Louis Calhern have fun with their respective characters as well.

The biggest surprise is that Grace Kelly can do comedy. It’s not something she was called on a lot to do in her brief career (she married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in April), but she handles the gags with charm, and reacts splendidly throughout. The songs are good, of course, especially “True Love” and “Well, Did You Evah!” Director Charles Walters seems to have trouble with the broad VistaVision format. He divides the screen into thirds, and places something in each third. The scenes are static. The performers stand in their places and crack wise and sing soulfully.

So the movie rests on the charisma of the three primary players. Crosby, Sinatra, and Kelly manage to put the thing over.

The NFR Project is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

NFR Project: 'Giant' (1956)

 

NFR Project: “Giant”

Dir: George Stevens

Scr: Fred Guiol, Ivan Moffat

Pho: William C. Mellor

Ed: William Hornbeck, Philip W. Anderson, Fred Bohanan

Premiere: Nov. 24, 1956

201 min.

It’s a big, giant film. Unfortunately, it’s boring as hell.

It’s a three-and-a-half-hour epic that covers decades in the lives of rancher Bick (Rock Hudson), his wife Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor), and rival Jett Rink (James Dean in his last role). The setting is the bare plains of Texas, where Bick runs cattle on more than half a million acres. Bick initially dismisses his wife’s attempt to take part in male conversation; she leaves him for a while, but they get back together.

Then Jett strikes oil on a small plot bequeathed to him by Bick’s sister. He becomes unbelievably, obnoxiously rich and soon becomes an annoying drunk as well. Bick tries to get his children interested in running the ranch, but they all want to lead their own lives. Bick drills for oil too.

Later, Bick’s son Jordan is incensed by Jett’s orders that no Hispanic people be served at his big new hotel; Jordan’s wife is Mexican-American. The two fight, and Jordan is hauled out of the banquet hall where they confront each other. Bick realizes that this prejudice is unacceptable. On their way home, the family stops at a diner where the owner refuses to serve Bick’s daughter-in-law and son. Bick fights him and loses. Leslie declares how proud she is that he stood up for Hispanics. The end.

It’s all delivered in a long, slow, casual, soap-opera style. Hudson can’t act; Dean mumbles. We are supposed to watch the characters age, but they never really evolve. Director Stevens is at his best when he is composing images of great depth and beauty – an elaborate mansion sitting by itself on the empty plains, a seething, churning roundup, a soldier’s coffin returned home. Unfortunately, the movie is not worth the effort.

The NFR Project is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: High Society.