The Body Stealers

source: Invasion of the Body Stealers

Moviecut—Invasion of the Body Stealers

The Body Stealers

The title of this review encapsulates my entire feelings towards this piece of crap. The worst part of this movie is the so-called leading man, played by Patrick Allen. Other reviewers have called him "lascivious" but i'll go a step further and call him nothing short of creepy and predatory. He's pretty pathetic as a leading man: He has a paunch, a stoop, and smokes like a chimney (smoking is absurdly abundant in this movie for some reason). The movie is extremely dated in the way that it treats both women & men; it's pretty embarrassing to be honest, e.g. the cringe-inducing line by the minister being worried about "Scottish nationalists repopulating the Highlands".

It is Patrick Allen, not George Sanders, who is the playboy. Actors on the way down (George Sanders, Maurice Evans), an actor who never really had much of a career (Neil Connery--Sean's brother), and working actors treading water (Patrick Allen, Robert Flemyng). The film is indeed a big snooze, with meager science-fiction trappings and a disinterested cast going through the motions. Aliens kidnap skydivers to repopulate their plague-stricken planet. Theater owners probably had to kidnap patrons! Originally on a double bill with THE BLOOD ROSE, a French production advertised as 'the first sex- horror film.' Shelagh Fraser ("Mrs. Thatcher") appears as Aunt Beru in STAR WARS.

Playboy aviator George Sanders is called into service by the British Government to solve the mystery of why some highly qualified British military is disappearing into thin air.About 90 minutes later there's about a minutes worth of some half-way decent special effects:that is,if you're still awake.

Made by Tigon who were much at the budget end of horror. Everything about this sci fi thriller is second rate. Acting is abysmal. Patrick Allen is wooden and George Sanders looks like he couldn't care less. The special effects make Ed Woods effects look state of the art. Allens character has a touch of the Bond and has dated badly.

Not a great movie low budget somewhat dated however have seen a lot worse e.g. The Avengers movie. Patrick Allen is business like in the lead. Passable if not particularly memorable film.

A film of contradictions, dull but not entirely inept, featuring a number of reputable actors who had appeared in far better films and attractively photographed mainly on location by John Coquillon, who also worked on far better films. I've never seen the credit "revised screenplay" (attributed to the director) anywhere else. But it suggests that director Gerry Levy just binned the original script - which seems to be the usual nonsense about aliens attempting to repopulate their own doomed world - shot what he could and then handed it over to his brother Howard Lanning to cut it into some sort of order.

This film is worth seeing just for the opening sequence alone. A surprise from the outset leading into a thunderous Sixties-style score, before the rot sets in. There is curiosity value for a performance from Patrick Allen (The Jaw, in what nearly amounts to a leading role) and a very rare appearance of Sean Connery's brother Neil in one of only two film roles that he made that I am aware off. Mid-way the love interest on a moonlit beach really sags and does not help the film much, while the ending is a let down and even stranger to see a prop stolen from the Doctor Who film Daleks: Invasion Earth. I almost expected Peter Cushing to materialise out of.....THIN AIR!!! Still, overall I found it...quite enjoyable!!