Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

  This was the Movie Club pick for last week.  I didn't hate it but I'd probably never rush to see it again.

Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) is a small town doctor who notices something strange.  People keep coming to him and complaining that their loved ones have been replaced by people they don't know.  They look the same, have the same memories, but the emotions are gone.  Dr. Bennell is even called out in the middle of the night to the Belicec house, where Jack (King Donovan) and his wife, Teddy (Carolyn Jones), have a weird body on their pool table.  It appears dead but taking on life, specifically Jack's.  Miles and his old college flame, Becky (Dana Wynter), soon find themselves on the run from the pod people who have taken over the town.  They must find help before this invasion can spread.

I don't like this version as much as the 1978 version, which I've written about previously.  McCarthy comes off as super smug to me, which is off-putting.  The writing is atrocious, absolutely a product of its time with all the casual misogyny you'd imagine.  Dana Wynter is given nothing to do but stand there and be beautiful (which she does admirably) and Carolyn Jones (RIP) is just an exposition machine.  

It does have a more hopeful ending (apparently a last-minute studio addition, as well as the framing narrative) which may or may not appeal.  Depends on how you like your horror. 

It's streaming on Tubi.