Dr Miles Bennell returns his small town practice to find several of his patients suffering the paranoid delusion that their friends or relatives are impostors. He is initially skeptical, especially when the alleged dopplegängers are able to answer detailed questions about their victim’s lives, but he is eventually persuaded that something odd has happened and determines to find out what is causing this phenomenon. This film can be seen as a paranoid 1950s warning against those Damn Commies or, conversely, as a metaphor for the tyranny of McCarthyism (or the totalitarian system of Your Choice) and has a pro- and epilogue that was forced upon Siegel by the studio to lighten the tone. —IMDb
Donald Siegel (October 26, 1912 – April 20, 1991) was an influential American film director and producer. His name appeared in the credits of his films as both Don Siegel and Donald Siegel.
Born in Chicago, he graduated from Jesus College, Cambridge in England, and found work in Warner Bros. film library, rising to become head of the Montage Department, where he directed thousands of montages, including the opening montage for Casablanca. In 1945 two shorts he directed, Hitler Lives? and A Star in the Night, won Academy Awards, which launched his career as a feature director.
He directed whatever material came his way, often transcending the limitations of budget and script to produce interesting and adept works. He directed two episodes of The Twilight Zone, “The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross” and “Uncle Simon”. He worked with Elvis Presley and Dolores del Río in Flaming Star (1960), and with Steve McQueen in Hell… read more
Overrated. The first body looked normal except for the dialogue saying it isn't, while the last shocking "turning" didn't make any sense at all. The social undertones were interesting but throwaway (explained by dialogue again), the ridiculous shadows were off-putting and the terrible sound was insufferable (whispering / SHOUTING / BOOMING MUSIC). Looks like a film John Carpenter would do better.
I have watched a lot of Sci-Fi in my days, and I must say, this one takes the cake. The noir feel, the unique plot twists, the great acting, all of it just melts into one incredible and paranoid view of the human condition. This films is so full of enough quotable lines and great shots to make a pod BURST also. TRUELY an american classic and nothing less than grade A science-fiction. A must watch.
Siegel's film begins like an idealistic portrait of an American small town and is then turned on its head in a grinding shift in intensity. Stepehn King pointed out if he HAD to pick a favorite horror film this would be it, and its easy to see why even you don't buy into the cold war subtext, its unquestionably a film about what fear does to people illustrated with the simplest cinematic techniques. A must see.
Even as the wires and the waves buzz with anticipation for Quentin Tarantino's next project, Django Unchained, which, as the Guardian's Ben
(Sorry about the ad at the end here, but the picture quality on this one beats all the other versions I could find.)"Kevin McCarthy
Thom Andersen's 34-minute Get Out of the Car, slated for screenings at the Toronto and New York Film Festivals, is the filmmaker's response
This is a film about the complete destruction of the American dream buried in Cold War paranoia and 50’s Americana that is typically seen as referring to the Red Scare. Did I mention it’s a low budget… read review
