Invasion Of The Body Snatchers | 1956
- Locations |
- Los Angeles, California
- DIRECTOR |
- Don Siegel
Don Siegel's sci-fi noir remains a classic of paranoia, open to seemingly endless interpretations.
The wonderfully shocking original ending "You're next!" was too much for the studio so the "reassuring" bookend scenes in the hospital was added at the last minute.
In fact, the old Allied Artists Studios, where interior sets were filmed, was used as the entrance to 'Santa Mira Hospital'. This became KCET TV Studios but is now HQ of the Scientology Network (I'm making no comment here), 4401 Sunset Boulevard east of Vermont / Sunset Metro station.
The fictional town of 'Santa Mira' was based on Mill Valley, which is where the director had wanted to film, on Highway-1 over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.
But, wouldn't you know it, Allied Artists discovered that the area around their East Hollywood studio and Silverlake looked just like Mill Valley.
'Santa Mira' railway station seen at the opening was the old Chatsworth Station, which stood at 10046 Old Depot Plaza Road, demolished in 1962 to make way for the current Chatsworth Transportation Center.
Not surprisingly, from 1956, that seems to be the fate of several of the film's locations. One survivor is the home of Wilma, relatively unchanged at 1635 Rancho Avenue, south of Burbank toward Griffith Park.
'Santa Mira' town square itself is Sierra Madre, a little community east of Pasadena. It's been much revamped, but you can still recognise the square at the junction of Sierra Madre Boulevard and Baldwin Avenue. The same square is also featured in Halloween II.
By the way, Sierra Madre's Pioneer Cemetery is featured in both John Carpenter's original Halloween and in Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot.
The flight of steps up which Miles (Kevin McCarthy) and Becky (Dana Wynter) flee from the pod people can be seen between 2744 and 2748 Westshire Drive, at the corner of Beachwood Drive and Woodshire Drive in Beachwood Canyon.
At the top of the steps they hide out in the famous Bronson Canyon Caves, to the north in Griffith Park.
What should have been the ending, with Miles being ignored by the traffic as he screams his dire warning, was filmed on the Mulholland Drive Viaduct, crossing I-101 (Hollywood Freeway) from Lakeridge Place to Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills.