The Body Snatchers, Part One (Details)
citation: Collier's, November 26, 1954, 134(11):26-27, 90-94, 96-99
alias: None
teaser: I was terrified, and yet there was nothing I could do. One by one, I saw the people in my home town becoming obsessed with a weird, sinister idea
summary: Alone in his office at the end of a long day, Dr. Miles Bennell receives an unexpected visit from his high school sweetheart, Becky Driscoll. Noting they are both now divorced, Miles jokes, Guess we're lodge brothers now.
Becky confides her cousin Wilma has a delusion her uncle Ira is not her uncle Ira, and asks Miles to talk to Ira; to see if he's changed.
After speaking briefly with Ira, Miles concludes Hell, it was Uncle Ira,
but Wilma does not agree. Wilma admits Ira has all the physical traits, mannerisms and memories of her uncle, but Miles still cannot convinced her Ira is in fact, her uncle.
By his next medical meeting, Miles has sent seven patients to Dr. Kaufman, including a nine-year-old boy [who] came in with his grandmother, with whom he was now living, because he became hysterical at the sight of his mother — who, he said, wasn't his mother at all.
At his medical meeting, Miles discusses these unusual cases of contagious neurosis with psychiatrists Mannie Kaufman and Charley Carmichael, and fellow physician Ed Pursey.
Miles picks up Becky for a date at the movies. They feel at ease with oneanother; like coming home from a world of strangers.
Miles and Becky's date is interrupted by Jack Belicec who wants Miles to come to his house, but provides no explanation. Jack invites Becky to accompany them, promising it will be a lot more interesting than any movie.
Just before arriving at his house, Jack asks if Miles could not report something that ordinarily required reporting. Miles doubts he could not report something he should.
Arriving at his house, Jack's wife Theodora meets them because she couldn't stay up there alone.
Ushering Miles, Becky and Theodora into his basement, Jack asks Miles to remove a sheet covering a body on his billiard table. To Miles' annoyance, Jack asks him to take a good look at that thing.
Miles notes something funny about the body; that it looks unused and vague. Jack asks if Miles ever saw medals being made. He likens the body's face to stamping a fine medallion, and desribes how he found it. Miles suggests the body never died because it's never been alive.
Over drinks, Jack wants to do something more than call the police.
While thinking what to do next, Miles realizes the body is about the same height and weight as Jack. He uses an ink pad and stationery to take Jack's fingerprints, then prepares to do the same with the body downstairs. They discover the body has no fingerprints. Miles proposes he give Jack a sedative to make him sleep while Theodora watches the body for changes.
When Miles drives Becky home, she confides my father isn't my father at all!
Miles consoles her, enjoying the warm, alive feel of Becky pressed close.
Miles invites Becky to stay at his house. She declines and they part — Becky to her home and father, Miles to his home alone. Two hours after retiring, the telephone wakes Miles, but the caller hangs up.
The Belicecs appear at Miles' front door, Theodora so hysterical, Miles sedates her. Jack explains she woke him from his drugged sleep, demanding they leave immediately. Miles calls Dr. Manfred Kaufman, asking he come to Miles' house. Suddenly, Miles thinks of something and runs terror-stricken through the streets.
At Becky's house, Miles breaks a basement window and enters, searching for something. He finds nothing until he opens a set of tall cupboards, where he discovers another body, this one duplicating Becky. Miles rushes upstairs to Becky's room, tries to wake her, then carries her to his house. There, Miles tells Mannie he found another body like the one at Jack's. Mannie wants to see one of the bodies.
As dawn nears, Miles, Jack and Manny drive to Jack's house where they discover the body has disappeared.
words: 10,129
genre: Horror, Science Fiction
similar: The Body Snatchers, Part Two, The Body Snatchers, Conclusion
people: Miles Boise Bennell, Becky Driscoll, Wilma Lentz, Ira Lentz, Aleda Lentz, Manfred Kaufman, Charley Carmichael, Ed Pursey, Ed, Jack Belicec, Theodora Belicec
places: Santa Mira (CA): Dewey Avenue, Elman's Restaurant, Main Street, Washington Boulevard; Valley Springs (CA); Stanford University (CA); Los Angeles (CA); Chicago (IL)
notes: Part One corresponds to the first six chapters of the 1955 book version (pages 7 through 60 of the Dell paperback edition), and shots 21 through 32, and 50 through 142 of the 1956 film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (DVD Chapters 5, and 7 through 10).
The first five minutes of the film added a post-production “framing story” about Miles being admitted as a psychiatric patient (DVD Chapter 2, I'm not crazy), expanded the single sentence about a nine-year-old boy who was living with his grandmother because his mother wasn't his mother (DVD Chapter 4, Jimmy is almost hit), and developed the nurse mentioned only in passing into the character of Sally, who meets Miles at the train station (DVD Chapter 3, Dr. Bennell arrive in town).
While the 1956 film was based on the 1954 serial, the film was also influenced by the 1955 book version. For example, the serial's opening line begins It was around six o'clock on Thursday evening …
. The corresponding line in the 1955 book is For me it began around six o'clock, a Thursday evening, …
very similar to the 1956 film's Well, it started — for me, it started last Thursday …
(DVD Chapter 2).