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The Body Stealers
The Body Stealers
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gerry Levy
Written by	Michael St. Clair; Gerry Levy
Produced by	Tony Tenser
Starring	George Sanders; Maurice Evans; Lorna Wilde
Cinematography	John Coquillon
Edited by	Howard Lanning
Music by	Reg Tilsley
Production; company	Tigon British Film Productions
Release date	1969;
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United Kingdom

The Body Stealers, also known as Invasion of the Body Stealers and Thin Air, is a 1969 British science fiction film directed by Gerry Levy, and starring George Sanders and Maurice Evans.^[1] Two investigators uncover an alien plot to steal bodies of earthlings by snatching them out of the air.

Plot

When British paratroopers disappear in mid-air during routine jumps, former air force investigator Bob Megan is brought in to solve the mystery. While making inquiries at a military research laboratory headed by Dr Matthews, he has several encounters with a woman called Lorna who vanishes after each meeting.

One of the troopers is found barely alive and dies on arrival at the laboratory. An autopsy performed by Dr Julie Slade reveals that the man's biochemistry had been altered. Megan learns that all of the missing troopers had received spaceflight training, leading Matthews to theorise that they are being adapted to survive in a non-Earth environment.

Travelling to Matthews' cottage, Slade discovers that the human Matthews has been killed and his form assumed by an alien called Marthus. When Megan arrives, Marthus explains that the troopers were abducted as part of a plan to re-populate his home planet, Mygon, which has been devastated by plague. Marthus attempts to kill Megan and Slade but is incapacitated by Lorna, who is revealed to be his alien companion. Lorna shows Megan the surviving troopers, who are being held in suspended animation, as well as her and Marthus' spacecraft. Megan asks Lorna to return the troopers in exchange for his promise to find a group of volunteers to assist her with the re-population. Lorna agrees and vanishes once again, taking Marthus and the spacecraft with her.

Cast

George Sanders as General Armstrong
Maurice Evans as Dr Matthews and Marthus
Patrick Allen as Bob Megan
Neil Connery as Jim Radford
Hilary Dwyer as Dr Julie Slade
Robert Flemyng as Wing Commander Baldwin
Lorna Wilde as Lorna
Allan Cuthbertson as Hindesmith
Michael Culver as Lieutenant Bailes
Sally Faulkner as Joanna
Shelagh Fraser as Mrs Thatcher
Carl Rigg as Briggs
Carol Hawkins as Paula
Dixon Adams as David
Derek Pollitt as Davies
Johnnie Wade as Orderly
Clifford Earl as Sergeant in laboratory

Effects

The alien spacecraft is the Dalek flying saucer from the film Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966).^[2]

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin said "As body-stealers, these aliens invite no comparison with Invasion of the Body Snatchers [1956]. The initial idea is promising, 'but it is soon buried under a mountain of sub-plots and unexplained mysterious happenings; and the feeble, talkative script gives the cast little chance to make much impression.^[3]

Alan Jones of Radio Times gave the film one star out of five, calling it a "talky, laughably low-budget and hopelessly inept clone of Invasion of the Body Snatchers".^[4]

Time Out described it as a "threadbare Anglo-American enterprise with too much vapid chat and too little action" that "[ends] very feebly (in a British sort of way)".^[5]