THE BODY STEALERS

 

THE BODY STEALERS is British science-fiction film made by Tigon Pictures and released in 1969. It concerns the disappearance of a number of skydivers over England, and the investigation that follows. 

The overall cast of THE BODY STEALERS had plenty of genre credentials. The movie features George Sanders, Maurice Evans (PLANET OF THE APES), Patrick Allen (CAPTAIN CLEGG), Hilary Dwyer (WITCHFINDER GENERAL), Neil Connery (Sean's brother), Robert Flemyng (THE BLOOD BEAST TERROR), and Shelagh Fraser (Aunt Beru in STAR WARS). 

With all those notable acting names you'd think it would lead to something halfway interesting, but THE BODY STEALERS is a low-budget, talky, slow-moving story that could have easily been told in about a half an hour. 

Patrick Allen plays Bob Megan, a devil-may-care type who is called in by his friend Jim (Neil Connery) to help find out why the various skydivers have supposedly disappeared. George Sanders plays a General on the military base where the investigation is being held, and Maurice Evans and Hilary Dwyer are scientists involved in the efforts. 

If you are expecting the usual sci-fi FX, don't....because there aren't any (the best special effect is Neil Connery's toupee, although the spaceship from DALEKS: INVASION EARTH 2150 A.D. does make a cameo appearance). Most of the running time doesn't even deal with the plot--it focuses more on Bob Megan's attempts to hit it off with nearly every female in the cast. His main priority is a mysterious blonde (Lorna Wilde), who--you guessed it--has a major connection with the strange goings-on. 

Being that this is a Tigon production, there is plenty of eye candy made available, including of course Hilary Dwyer. (Including a number of attractive women in the cast was a specialty of producer Tony Tenser.) It doesn't do much, however, to help get the story going. Most of the plot takes place on the military base, and despite cinematographer John Coquillon's attempts at injecting some atmosphere into the proceedings, THE BODY STEALERS looks more like an episode of a mediocre TV show instead of a feature film. 

The direction of Gerry Levy (who was also one of the film's writers) is rather leaden, and the annoying music score by Reg Tilsley doesn't help matters. The climax will be very predictable to those who have watched plenty of 1950s and 60s sci-fi (such as myself). 

I've read just about everything I could get my hands on about British horror and science-fiction films made in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, and I've seen most of those films as well. For some reason THE BODY STEALERS always eluded me. I wondered, with the cast that it had, why there was almost nothing written about it. After having watched it for the very first time, I now know why....there isn't much you can really say about it. 

It is worth seeing at least once for the cast (and if you want to see what Hilary Dwyer looked like in a movie while wearing contemporary clothes). If you do want to check it out, there's a very good print of it on the Tubi streaming channel.