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apocalyptic films - Invasion of the Body Snatchers/L'invasione degli ultracorpi by Don Siegel USA 1956

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a 1956 American science fiction horror film produced by Walter Wanger, directed by Don Siegel, that stars Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter. The black-and-white film, shot in Superscope, was partially done in a film noir style. Daniel Mainwaring adapted the screenplay from Jack Finney's 1954 science fiction novel The Body Snatchers. The film was released by Allied Artists Pictures as a double feature with the British science fiction film The Atomic Man (and in some areas with Indestructible Man.)
The film's storyline concerns an extraterrestrial invasion that begins in the fictional California town of Santa Mira. Alien plant spores have fallen from space and grown into large seed pods, each one capable of reproducing a duplicate replacement copy of each human. As each pod reaches full development, it assimilates the physical characteristics, memories, and personalities of each sleeping person placed near it; these duplicates, however, are devoid of all human emotion. Little by little, a local doctor uncovers this "quiet" invasion and attempts to stop it.
The slang expression "pod people" that arose in late 20th century American culture references the emotionless duplicates seen in the film.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers was selected in 1994 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Plot

Psychiatrist Dr. Hill is called to the emergency room of a California hospital, where a screaming man is being held in custody. Dr. Hill agrees to listen to his story. The man identifies himself as a doctor, and he recounts, in flashback, the events leading up to his arrest and arrival at the hospital:
In the nearby town of Santa Mira, Dr. Miles Bennell sees a number of patients apparently suffering from Capgras delusion – the belief that their relatives have somehow been replaced with identical-looking impostors. Returning from a trip, Miles meets his former girlfriend, Becky Driscoll, who has herself recently come back to town after a divorce. Becky's cousin Wilma has the same fear about her Uncle Ira, with whom she lives. Psychiatrist Dr. Dan Kauffman assures Bennell that these cases are merely an "epidemic of mass hysteria".
That same evening, Bennell's friend, Jack Belicec, finds a body with his exact physical features, though it appears not fully developed; later, another body is found in Becky's basement that is her exact duplicate. When Bennell calls Kauffman to the scene, the bodies have mysteriously disappeared, and Kauffman informs Bennell that he is falling for the same hysteria. The following night, Bennell, Becky, Jack, and Jack's wife Teddy again find duplicates of themselves, emerging from giant seed pods in Dr. Bennell's greenhouse. They conclude that the townspeople are being replaced while asleep with exact physical copies. Miles tries to make a long distance call to federal authorities for help, but the phone operator claims that all long-distance lines are busy; Jack and Teddy drive off to seek help in the next town. Bennell and Becky discover that by now all of the town's inhabitants have been replaced and are devoid of humanity; they flee to Bennell's office to hide for the night.
The next morning they see truckloads of the giant pods heading to neighboring towns to be planted and used to replace their populations. Kauffman and Jack, both of whom are "pod people" by now, arrive at Bennell's office and reveal that an extraterrestrial life form is responsible for the invasion. After their takeover, they explain, humanity will lose all emotions and sense of individuality, creating a simplistic, stressless world. Bennell and Becky escape, but are soon pursued by a crowd of "pod people". Exhausted, they manage to hide in an abandoned mine outside town. Bennell leaves a little later, coming upon a large greenhouse farm, where he discovers giant seed pods being grown by the hundreds. When Bennell kisses Becky after his return, he realizes, to his horror, that Becky fell asleep and is now one of them. As Bennell runs away, she sounds the alarm. He flees, eventually finding himself on a crowded state highway. After seeing a transport truck bound for San Francisco and Los Angeles filled with the pods, he frantically screams at the passing motorists, "They're here already! You're next! You're next!"
Dr. Hill and the on-duty doctor dismiss Bennell's account until a truck driver is wheeled into the emergency room after being badly injured in an accident. He was found in his wrecked truck buried under a load of giant seed pods. Finally believing Bennell's story, Dr. Hill calls for all roads in and out of Santa Mira to be barricaded, and alerts the FBI.

Cast

Starring:

• Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Miles Bennell
• Dana Wynter as Becky Driscoll
• King Donovan as Jack Belicec
• Carolyn Jones as Theodora "Teddy" Belicec

Featuring:

• Larry Gates as Dr. Dan Kauffman
• Virginia Christine as Wilma Lentz
• Ralph Dumke as Police Chief Nick Grivett
• Kenneth Patterson as Stanley Driscoll
• Guy Way as Officer Sam Janzek
• Jean Willes as Nurse Sally Withers
• Eileen Stevens as Anne Grimaldi
• Beatrice Maude as Grandma Grimaldi
• Whit Bissell (uncredited) as Dr. Hill
• Richard Deacon (uncredited) as Dr. Bassett

With:

• Tom Fadden as Uncle Ira Lentz
• Everett Glass as Dr. Ed Pursey
• Dabbs Greer as Mac Lomax
• Sam Peckinpah as Charlie, the gas meter reader

Production

Novel and screenplay

Jack Finney's novel ends with the extraterrestrials, who have a life span of no more than five years, leaving Earth after they realize that humans are offering strong resistance, despite having little reasonable chance against the alien invasion.

Budgeting and casting

Invasion of the Body Snatchers was originally scheduled for a 24-day shoot and a budget of US$454,864. The studio later asked Wanger to cut the budget significantly. The producer proposed a shooting schedule of 20 days and a budget of $350,000.
Initially, Wanger considered Gig Young, Dick Powell, Joseph Cotten, and several others for the role of Miles. For Becky, he considered casting Anne Bancroft, Donna Reed, Kim Hunter, Vera Miles and others. With the lower budget, however, he abandoned these choices and cast Richard Kiley, who had just starred in The Phenix City Story for Allied Artists. Kiley turned the role down and Wanger cast two relative newcomers in the lead roles: Kevin McCarthy, who had just starred in Siegel's An Annapolis Story, and Dana Wynter, who had done several major dramatic roles on television.
Future director Sam Peckinpah had a small part as Charlie, a meter reader. Peckinpah was a dialogue coach on five Siegel films in the mid-1950s, including this one.

Principal photography

Originally, producer Wanger and Siegel wanted to film Invasion of the Body Snatchers on location in Mill Valley, California, the town just north of San Francisco, that Jack Finney described in his novel. In the first week of January 1955, Siegel, Wanger and screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring visited Finney to talk about the film version and to look at Mill Valley. The location proved too expensive and Siegel with Allied Artist executives found locations resembling Mill Valley in the Los Angeles area, including Sierra Madre, Chatsworth, Glendale, Los Feliz, Bronson and Beachwood Canyons, all of which would make up the town of "Santa Mira" for the film. In addition to these outdoor locations, much of the film was shot in the Allied Artists studio on the east side of Hollywood.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers was shot by cinematographer Ellsworth Fredericks in 23 days between March 23 and April 27, 1955. The cast and crew worked a six-day week with Sundays off. The production went over schedule by three days because of night-for-night shooting that Siegel wanted. Additional photography took place in September 1955, filming a frame story on which the studio had insisted . The final budget was $382,190.

Post-production

The project was originally named The Body Snatchers after the Finney serial. However, Wanger wanted to avoid confusion with the 1945 Val Lewton film The Body Snatcher. The producer was unable to come up with a title and accepted the studio's choice, They Come from Another World and that was assigned in summer 1955. Siegel objected to this title and suggested two alternatives, Better Off Dead and Sleep No More, while Wanger offered Evil in the Night and World in Danger. None of these were chosen, and the studio settled on Invasion of the Body Snatchers in late 1955. The film was released at the time in France under the mistranslated title "L'invasion des profanateurs de sépultures" (literally: Invasion of the defilers of tombs), which remains unchanged today.
Wanger wanted to add a variety of speeches and prefaces. He suggested a voice-over introduction for Miles. While the film was being shot, Wanger tried to get permission in England to use a Winston Churchill quotation as a preface to the film. The producer sought out Orson Welles to voice the preface and a trailer for the film. He wrote speeches for Welles' opening on June 15, 1955, and worked to persuade Welles to do it, but was unsuccessful. Wanger considered science fiction author Ray Bradbury instead, but this did not happen, either. Mainwaring eventually wrote the voice-over narration himself.
The studio scheduled three film previews on the last days of June and the first day of July 1955. According to Wanger's memos at the time, the previews were successful. Later reports by Mainwaring and Siegel, however, contradict this, claiming that audiences could not follow the film and laughed in the wrong places. In response the studio removed much of the film's humor, "humanity" and "quality," according to Wanger. He scheduled another preview in mid-August that also did not go well. In later interviews Siegel pointed out that it was studio policy not to mix humor with horror.
Wanger saw the final cut in December 1955 and protested the use of the Superscope aspect ratio. Its use had been included in early plans for the film, but the first print was not made until December. Wanger felt that the film lost sharpness and detail. Siegel originally shot Invasion of the Body Snatchers in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Superscope was a post-production laboratory process designed to create an anamorphic print from non-anamorphic source material that would be projected at an aspect ratio of 2.00:1.

Original intended ending

Both Siegel and Mainwaring were satisfied with the film as shot. It was originally meant to end with Miles screaming as truckloads of pods pass him by. The studio, wary of a pessimistic conclusion, insisted on adding a prologue and epilogue suggesting a more optimistic outcome to the story, which is thus told mainly in flashback. In this version the film begins with a ranting Bennell in custody in a hospital emergency ward. He then tells a consulting psychiatrist (Whit Bissell) his story. In the closing scene pods are found at a highway accident, confirming his warning. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is notified.
Mainwaring scripted this framing story and Siegel shot it on September 16, 1955, at the Allied Artists studio. In a later interview Siegel complained, "The film was nearly ruined by those in charge at Allied Artists who added a preface and ending that I don't like". In his autobiography Siegel added that "Wanger was very much against this, as was I. However, he begged me to shoot it to protect the film, and I reluctantly consented […]".
While the Internet Movie Database states that the film had been revised to its original ending for a re-release in 1979, Steve Biodrowski of Cinefantastique magazine notes that the film was still being shown with the complete footage, including a 2005 screening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, honoring director Don Siegel.
Though disapproved of by most reviewers, George Turner (in American Cinematographer) and Danny Peary (in Cult Movies) endorsed the subsequently added frame story. Nonetheless, Peary emphasized that the added scenes changed significantly what he saw as the film's original intention.^{[citation needed]}

Theatrical release

When the film was released domestically in February 1956, many theaters displayed several pods made of papier-mâché in theater lobbies and entrances, along with large lifelike black and white cutouts of McCarthy and Wynter running away from a crowd. The film made more than $1 million in the first month, and in 1956 alone made more than $2.5 million in the U.S. When the British release (with cuts imposed by the British censors) took place in late 1956, the film earned more than a half million dollars in ticket sales.

Themes

Some reviewers saw in the story a commentary on the dangers facing America for turning a blind eye to McCarthyism, "Leonard Maltin speaks of a McCarthy-era subtext." or of bland conformity in postwar Eisenhower-era America. Others viewed it as an allegory for the loss of personal autonomy in the Soviet Union or communist systems in general.
For the BBC, David Wood summarized the circulating popular interpretations of the film as follows: "The sense of post-war, anti-communist paranoia is acute, as is the temptation to view the film as a metaphor for the tyranny of the McCarthy era." Danny Peary in Cult Movies pointed out that the addition of the framing story had changed the film's stance from anti-McCarthyite to anti-communist. Michael Dodd of The Missing Slate has called the movie "one of the most multifaceted horror films ever made", arguing that by "simultaneously exploiting the contemporary fear of infiltration by undesirable elements as well as a burgeoning concern over homeland totalitarianism in the wake of Senator Joseph McCarthy's notorious communist witch hunt, it may be the clearest window into the American psyche that horror cinema has ever provided".
In An Illustrated History of the Horror Film, Carlos Clarens saw a trend manifesting itself in science fiction films, dealing with dehumanization and fear of the loss of individual identity, being historically connected to the end of "the Korean War and the well publicized reports of brainwashing techniques". Comparing Invasion of the Body Snatchers with Robert Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, Brian Neve found a sense of disillusionment rather than straightforward messages, with all three films being "less radical in any positive sense than reflective of the decline of [the screenwriters'] great liberal hopes".
Despite a general agreement among film critics regarding these political connotations of the film, actor Kevin McCarthy said in an interview included on the 1998 DVD release that he felt no political allegory was intended. The interviewer stated that he had spoken with the author of the novel, Jack Finney, who professed no specific political allegory in the work. DVD commentary track, quoted in Feo Amante's homepage.
In his autobiography, I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History, Walter Mirisch writes: "People began to read meanings into pictures that were never intended. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an example of that. I remember reading a magazine article arguing that the picture was intended as an allegory about the communist infiltration of America. From personal knowledge, neither Walter Wanger nor Don Siegel, who directed it, nor Dan Mainwaring, who wrote the script nor original author Jack Finney, nor myself saw it as anything other than a thriller, pure and simple."
Don Siegel spoke more openly of an existing allegorical subtext, but denied a strictly political point of view: "[…] I felt that this was a very important story. I think that the world is populated by pods and I wanted to show them. I think so many people have no feeling about cultural things, no feeling of pain, of sorrow. […] The political reference to Senator McCarthy and totalitarianism was inescapable but I tried not to emphasize it because I feel that motion pictures are primarily to entertain and I did not want to preach." Film scholar J.P. Telotte wrote that Siegel intended for pods to be seductive; their spokesperson, a psychiatrist, was chosen to provide an authoritative voice that would appeal to the desire to "abdicate from human responsibility in an increasingly complex and confusing modern world."

Reception

Critical reception

Though Invasion of the Body Snatchers was largely ignored by critics on its initial run, Filmsite.org ranked it as one of the best films of 1956. The film holds a 98% approval rating and 9/10 rating at the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The site's consensus reads: "One of the best political allegories of the 1950s, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an efficient, chilling blend of sci-fi and horror."
In recent years critics such as Dan Druker of the Chicago Reader have called the film a "genuine Sci-Fi classic". Leonard Maltin described Invasion of the Body Snatchers as "influential, and still very scary". Time Out called the film one of the "most resonant" and "one of the simplest" of the genre.

Legacy

Invasion of the Body Snatchers was selected in 1994 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten" — the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres — after polling more than 1,500 people from the creative community. Invasion of the Body Snatchers was acknowledged as the ninth best film in the science fiction genre. The film was also placed on AFI's AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Thrills, a list of America's most heart-pounding films. The film was included on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments. Similarly, the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 29th scariest film ever made. Time magazine included Invasion of the Body Snatchers on their list of 100 all-time best films, the top 10 1950s Sci-Fi Movies, and Top 25 Horror Films.

Home media

The film was released on DVD in 1998 by U.S.-label Republic (an identical re-release by Artisan followed in 2002); it includes the Superscope version plus a 1.375:1 Academy ratio version. The latter is not the original full frame edition, but a pan and scan reworking of the Superscope edition that loses visual detail.^{[citation needed]}
DVD editions exist on the British market (including a computer colorized version), German market (as Die Dämonischen) and Spanish market (as La Invasión de los Ladrones de Cuerpos).^{[citation needed]}
Olive Films released a Blu-ray Disc Superscope version of the film in 2012.

Remakes

The film was remade several times as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Body Snatchers (1993) and The Invasion (2007).
An untitled fourth remake from Warner Bros is in development. David Leslie Johnson was signed to be the screenwriter.

Related works

Robert A. Heinlein had previously developed this subject in his 1951 novel The Puppet Masters, written in 1950. The Puppet Masters was later plagiarized as the 1958 film The Brain Eaters, and adapted under contract in the 1994 film The Puppet Masters.
There are several thematically related works that followed Finney's 1955 novel The Body Snatchers, including Val Guest's Quatermass 2 and Gene Fowler's I Married a Monster from Outer Space.
A Looney Tunes parody of the film was released, entitled Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers (1992). The adaptation was directed by Greg Ford and places Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, and Porky Pig in the various roles of the story.
The May 1981 issue of National Lampoon featured a parody titled "Invasion of the Money Snatchers"; the gentile population of Whiteville is taken over by pastrami sandwiches from outer space and turned into Jews.

Further reading

• Grant, Barry Keith. 2010. Invasion of the body snatchers. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

At first glance, everything looked the same. It wasn't. Something evil had taken possession of the town.

trailer screenshot (Walter Wanger Prod.) - Invasion of the Body Snatchers trailer

Dana Wynter & Kevin McCarthy in Invasion of the Body Snatchers - trailer (cropped screenshot)

L'invasione degli ultracorpi (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) è un film del 1956 diretto da Don Siegel, il cui soggetto è tratto dall'omonimo romanzo di fantascienza di Jack Finney del 1955.
Film girato a basso costo e in bianco e nero, è in seguito divenuto un film culto ed è ricordato come uno dei più celebri film di fantascienza degli anni cinquanta e citato come uno dei capolavori del cinema fantascientifico. Ha avuto tre remake, Terrore dallo spazio profondo (1978), Ultracorpi - L'invasione continua (1993) e Invasion (2007).
Nel 1994 il film è stato scelto per essere conservato nel National Film Registry della Biblioteca del Congresso degli Stati Uniti.

Trama

Il dottor Miles J. Bennell racconta al collega dottor Hill una storia allucinante. La cittadina di Santa Mira è stata invasa da extraterrestri che copiano perfettamente gli abitanti ai quali si sostituiscono durante il sonno. Queste creature si replicano all'interno di enormi baccelli che crescono finché creano copie senza sentimenti ed eliminano gli originali.
Bennell prova a dare l'allarme, ma nessuno gli crede: la cittadina è diventata centro di smistamento dei baccelli e tutti gli abitanti sono ormai doppiati. Tenta la fuga insieme alla fidanzata ma durante il viaggio la donna non riesce a rimanere sveglia e si addormenta, diventando a sua volta replicante.
Sconvolto, raggiunge un'autostrada dove prova a mettere in guardia gli uomini del pericolo, ma viene arrestato e portato all'ospedale presso il dottor Hill, che ascoltata la storia lo giudica pazzo; ma proprio al termine del racconto di Bennell, giunge in ospedale un ferito coinvolto in un incidente stradale, era alla guida di un autocarro pieno di strani baccelli proveniente da Santa Mira. Il dottor Hill si rende conto che Bennell ha detto la verità e telefona per dare l'allarme generale. I soldati militari che avevano scortato Bennel sentendo la notizia comprendono il pericolo e avvertono sùbito l'esercito.

Produzione

Prodotto in un periodo in cui Hollywood lanciava film kolossal come I dieci comandamenti o Guerra e pace, L'invasione degli Ultracorpi fu girato in bianco e nero con costi ridottissimi. La sceneggiatura porta la firma di Daniel Mainwaring, ma il testo fu revisionato da Sam Peckinpah e dallo stesso produttore Walter Wanger (non citati nei crediti tecnici).
Il film è caratterizzato dalla pressoché totale mancanza di effetti speciali (eccettuati i baccelloni), dovuta al budget irrisorio di cui disponeva la piccola casa di produzione, la Allied Artists. Il climax ascendente di tensione e di suspense è costruito solo attraverso le atmosfere sinistre e angosciose.
L'epilogo pensato da Siegel originariamente non prevedeva alcuna prospettiva fiduciosa per il genere umano: egli avrebbe voluto infatti terminare il film con i replicanti che prendono il posto di tutti i cittadini di Santa Mira e il protagonista Kevin McCarthy che, puntando il dito verso il pubblico, esclama: «You're next!», ma la produzione impose al regista una conclusione più ottimistica e un "cappello" introduttivo (McCarthy che racconta in ospedale la storia).

Accoglienza

All'uscita nelle sale, il film dovette accontentarsi di modesti incassi, ma nel tempo si è guadagnato la qualifica di film culto ed è ricordato come uno dei più celebri film di fantascienza degli anni cinquanta.

Critica

«Capolavoro della fantascienza, L'invasione degli ultracorpi venne prodotto in economia in un periodo in cui Hollywood sfornava Kolossal [...]. Il film di Siegel non suggeriva possibilità di salvezza per il genere umano, ma la produzione impose al regista una conclusione più ottimistica [...]. Gli anni erano quelli immediatamente successivi alla "caccia alle streghe" scatenata da MacCarthy contro i comunisti e i presunti comunisti nel mondo dell'arte e dello spettacolo e, nel film, quel clima parossistico è facilmente avvertibile.»

(Fantafilm)

Al film furono date, senza riscontro con l'opinione dell'autore, diverse letture politiche: fu interpretato sia come una parabola anticomunista sia antimaccartista.. Siegel, molti anni dopo, affermò: «Né lo sceneggiatore, né io pensavamo a un qualunque simbolismo politico. Nostra intenzione era attaccare un'abulica concezione della vita». Al massimo alla pellicola può riconoscersi un blando spunto di riflessione critica sulla modernità (o di ironica critica ai critici della modernità, atteso che, tra le ipotesi iniziali per spiegare il fenomeno dell'invasione, viene evocata anche l'evoluzione tecnologica e la radioattività).
Un altro spunto di interesse è la riflessione morale, in un dialogo tra Miles e Becky, dove si osserva che l'uomo non si ribella quando perde pian piano la sua umanità perché vittima del cinismo, e si ribella solo a fronte di un'invasione aliena.
La storia di una cittadina riposseduta dagli alieni era già presente in due racconti di Philip K. Dick: La Cosa-Padre (1954) e L'impiccato (1953).

Rifacimenti

Nel 1978 Philip Kaufman ha realizzato un rifacimento del film a colori, questa volta carico di effetti speciali, dal titolo Terrore dallo spazio profondo, con Donald Sutherland come protagonista e Don Siegel e Kevin McCarthy come guest star.
Nel 1993 Abel Ferrara ha realizzato un secondo remake, Ultracorpi - L'invasione continua (Body Snatchers).
Del 2007 diretta dal regista tedesco Oliver Hirschbiegel un'ulteriore versione cinematografica del romanzo, Invasion (The Invasion), con protagonista Nicole Kidman nel ruolo di una psichiatra di Washington che viene a conoscenza di un'epidemia causata da una razza aliena.

Dr. Miles Bennell

• [voiceover] It started — for me, it started — last Thursday, in response to an urgent message from my nurse, I hurried home from a medical convention I'd been attending. At first glance, everything looked the same. It wasn't. Something evil had taken possession of the town.
• [discovering that Becky is also divorced] Well, I guess that makes us lodge brothers now...except that I'm paying dues while you collect them.
• [voiceover] Sick people who couldn't wait to see me, then suddenly were perfectly all right. A boy who said his mother wasn't his mother. A woman who said her uncle wasn't her uncle.
• [voiceover] Driving home, I had a lot of questions and no answers. How could Jimmy and Wilma seem so normal now. Surely I had done nothing to cure them. Maybe they wanted me to feel secure but why?
• Maybe they're the result of atomic radiation on plant life or animal life. Some weird alien organism — a mutation of some kind...Whatever it is, whatever intelligence or instinct it is that govern the forming of human flesh and blood out of thin air, is fantastically powerful...All that body in your cellar needed was a mind...
• In my practice, I've seen how people have allowed their humanity to drain away. Only it happened slowly instead of all at once. They didn't seem to mind... All of us — a little bit — we harden our hearts, grow callous. Only when we have to fight to stay human do we realize how precious it is to us, how dear.
• Drugs dull the mind... maybe that's the reason.
• Keep your eyes a little wide and blank. Show no interest or excitement.
• I never knew fear until I kissed Becky. A moment's sleep, and the girl I loved was an inhuman enemy bent on my destruction. That moment's sleep was death to Becky's soul, just as it had been for Jack and Teddy and Dan Kauffman and all the rest. Their bodies were now hosts harboring an alien form of life; a cosmic form, which to survive must take over every human man! So I ran! I ran! I ran as little Jimmy Grimaldi had run the other day. My only hope was to get away from Santa Mira, to get to the highway, to warn the others of what was happening!
• Help! Wait! Stop! Stop and listen to me!... These people who're coming after me are not human!
• Look, you fools, you're in danger! Can't you see?! They're after you! They're after all of us! Our wives, our children, everyone! THEY'RE HERE, ALREADY! YOU'RE NEXT!
• Don't just sit there measuring me for a straightjacket, do something! Call for help! Oh, what's the use?!
• Doctor, will you tell these fools? I'm not crazy. Make them listen to me before it's too late.

Becky Driscoll

• You know her uncle, Uncle Ira?...Well Miles, she's got herself thinking he isn't her uncle. She thinks he's an imposter or something.
• They're like huge seed pods!
• I want to love and be loved. I want your children. I don't want a world without love or grief or beauty. I'd rather die.
• He's in here. He's in here. Get him. Get him.

Jack Belicec

• [describing a body he found] It's like the first impression that's stamped on a coin. It isn't finished.
• We can't let you go. You're dangerous to us. Don't fight it, Miles, it's no use. Sooner or later, you'll have to go to sleep.

Dialogue

Dr. Bassett: Oh, Doctor Hill.

Dr. Hill: Dr. Basset. Well, where's the patient?

Dr. Bassett: I hated to drag you out of bed at this time of night. You'll soon see why I did.

---

Miles: What's the matter with them?

Sally: They wouldn't say. You know, usually people can't talk enough about what's ailing them.

---

Dr. Kauffman: A strange neurosis, evidently contagious, an epidemic mass hysteria. In two weeks, it spread all over town.

Miles: What causes it?

Dr. Kauffman: Worry about what's going on in the world probably.

---

Miles: This is the oddest thing I've ever heard of. Let's hope we don't catch it. I'd hate to wake up some morning and find out that you weren't you.

Becky: [laughs] I'm not the high school kid you use to romance, so how can you tell?

Miles: You really want to know?

Becky: Mmm-hmm.

Miles: [after kissing her] Mmmm, you're Becky Driscoll, all right!

Becky: Is this an example of your bedside manner, doctor?

Miles: No, ma'am. That comes later.

---

Jack: Stop trying to rationalize everything, will ya? Let's face it, we have a mystery on our hands!

Dr. Kauffman: Sure you have. A real one! Whose body was it and where is it now? A completely normal mystery. Whatever it is, it's well within the bounds of human experience and I don't think you ought to make any more of it.

Miles: Look, I wouldn't if I hadn't looked in Becky's cellar! How do you explain away the body I saw there?

Dr. Kauffman: I don't think you saw one there.

Miles: You don't think I saw one here either?

Dr. Kauffman: I know you did because three others saw it too.

Miles: But I dreamed up the second one?

Dr. Kauffman: Doctors can have hallucinations too.

---

Dr. Kauffman: Less than a month ago, Santa Mira was like any other town. People with nothing but problems. Then, out of the sky came a solution. Seeds drifting through space for years took root in a farmer's field. From the seeds came pods which had the power to reproduce themselves in the exact likeness of any form of life.

Miles: So that's how it began...out of the sky.

Dr. Kauffman: Your new bodies are growing in there. They're taking you over cell for cell, atom for atom. There is no pain. Suddenly, while you're asleep, they'll absorb your minds, your memories and you're reborn into an untroubled world.

Miles: Where everyone's the same?

Dr. Kauffman: Exactly.

Miles: What a world. We're not the last humans left. They'll destroy you!

Dr. Kauffman: Tomorrow you won't want them to. Tomorrow you'll be one of us.

Miles: I love Becky. Tomorrow will I feel the same?

Dr. Kauffman: [shakes his head] There's no need for love.

Miles: No emotion? Then you have no feelings, only the instinct to survive. You can't love or be loved! Am I right?

Dr. Kauffman: You say it as if it were terrible. Believe me, it isn't. You've been in love before. It didn't last. It never does. Love. Desire. Ambition. Faith. Without them, life is so simple, believe me.

Miles: I don't want any part of it.

Dr. Kauffman: You're forgetting something, Miles.

Miles: What's that?

Dr. Kauffman: You have no choice.

---

Becky (after waking up): I went to sleep, Miles, and it happened.

Miles: Oh, Becky.

Becky: They were right.

Miles: I should have never left you.

Becky: Stop acting like a fool, Miles, and accept us!

Miles: No. Never! (runs away)

Becky: He's in here, he's in here. Get him! Get him!

---

Ambulance Driver: We had to dig him out from under the most peculiar things I ever saw.

Dr. Hill: What things?

Ambulance Driver: Well, I don't know what they are, I never saw them before. They looked like great big seed pods.

Dr. Hill: Where was the truck coming from?

Ambulance Driver: Santa Mira.

Dr. Hill: Get on your radios and sound an all points alarm. Block all highways, stop all traffic, and call every law enforcement agency in the state! [on phone] Operator, get me the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Yes, it's an emergency!

Taglines

• They come from another world!
• YOU'RE NEXT!
• There was nothing to hold onto — except each other.
• Incredible! Invisible! Insatiable!

Incipit

[Il dottor Hill viene scortato all'ospedale]
Dr. Hill: Oh, dottore.
Dr. Bassett: Dottore.
Dr. Hill: Dov'è il paziente?
Dr. Bassett: Mi scusi se l'ho fatta buttare giù dal letto.
Dr. Hill: Ma le pare...
Miles [urlando ai poliziotti che lo trattengono in una stanza]: Lasciatemi finché siamo in tempo!
Dr. Bassett: Non fa altro che urlare.
[Appena il dottor Bassett apre la porta Miles gli salta addosso nonostante i poliziotti cerchino di trattenerlo]
Miles: Dica a questi idioti che non sono matto! Datemi retta prima che sia troppo tardi!
Dr. Hill: Dica tutto a me. Lasciatelo.
Miles: Lei chi è?
Dr. Hill: Il dottor Hill, del manicomio provinciale.
Miles: No, non sono pazzo! [appena Miles si agita i poliziotti lo trattengono]
Dr. Hill: Lasciatelo!
Miles: Senta, dottore! Almeno lei mi ascolti! Mi dia retta, la prego! Sono un medico anch'io! Lei mi deve credere! Non sono matto! Io...
Dr. Hill: Sì, sì... Capisco... Adesso ci mettiamo a sedere, dottor Bennell, e lei mi racconterà tutto, mh?
Miles: Dunque, è cominciato giovedì della scorsa settimana. Ero a Boston per un congresso quando ricevetti un telegramma. Era Sally, la mia infermiera, che mi pregava di tornare subito a Santa Mira. Quello che feci. Scendendo dal treno, a prima vista, tutto mi sembrò normale... ma non lo era. [inizio dell'analessi]

Frasi

Citazioni in ordine temporale.

• Malati che improvvisamente guarivano, un bambino che diceva che sua madre non era sua madre, una donna che giurava che suo zio non era suo zio... Qualcosa di strano c'era, ma vagliando con animo sereno tutto ciò... cosa restava? Ben poco. Era evidente che la madre di Jimmy era veramente la madre di Jimmy e che lo zio Ira era realmente lo zio Ira. (Miles) [voce fuori campo]

• Me ne guardavo bene dal farlo capire a Becky, ma adesso per la prima volta avevo paura. L'isterismo collettivo, quello che secondo Dan Kauffman era la causa di tutto, non poteva spiegare la presenza di quel corpo in casa di Jack. (Miles) [voce fuori campo]

• Rientrando a casa in macchina non pensai ad altro che a Wilma e Jimmy. Com'era possibile che fossero tornati normali così in quattro e quattr'otto? E senza che io avessi fatto niente per guarirli. (Miles) [voce fuori campo]

• Prima la nostra città e poi quelle nei dintorni... Presto tutto il pianeta ne sarà invaso! (Miles)

• Aiuto! Aiuto! Ferma! Ascoltatemi! Ascoltatemi! Ascoltatemi! Ferma! Ferma! Ferma! Ferma! Aspetta! Quelli che mi stanno inseguendo non sono esseri umani! Ascoltatemi! Siamo tutti in pericolo! Fermatevi! Fermatevi, vi scongiuro! Vi prego, ascoltatemi! Fermo! Fermo! Aiuto! Fermatevi! Mi ascolti lei, la prego, accosti! Ho bisogno del suo aiuto! È successa una cosa terribile! Fermatevi! Dove correte, incoscienti?! Ascoltate! Siamo in pericolo! Siamo tutti in pericolo! Il mondo intero è in pericolo! Ascoltatemi o sarà troppo tardi! Fermatevi! Fermatevi! Fermatevi! Fermatevi! (Miles) [in mezzo alla strada, rivolto agli automobilisti]

Dialoghi

Citazioni in ordine temporale.

• Miles: Ho poi scoperto che la moglie d'un medico deve avere l'intelligenza d'un Einstein e la pazienza d'un santo.
  Becky: E l'amore?
  Miles: Non posso saperlo. Sono solo un medico generico. L'amore lo trattano gli specialisti.

• Wilma: Sentiamo, gli hai parlato? Che ne pensi?
  Miles: È lui. È proprio tuo zio.
  Wilma: Non è lui!
  Miles: Ma come fai a dirlo?
  Wilma: Non è che sia tanto diverso. Anzi, esteriormente sembra identico. Ha la voce, i gesti, l'aspetto, proprio tutto dello zio Ira.
  Miles: Ma allora è davvero lo zio Ira. Da' retta a me, mettiti il cuore in pace.
  Wilma: Ma non è lui. È da bambina che lo conosco, è stato come un padre per me. Quando mi guardava, nei suoi occhi ho sempre visto come una luce accendersi dentro. Adesso non la vedo più.
  Miles: E dimmi un po', Wilma, ci devono essere delle cose che solo tu e lui potete sapere.
  Wilma: Oh, sì, certo. Gli ho fatto mille domande. Rammenta tutto con una precisione sbalorditiva, come se fosse veramente lo zio Ira. Ma, Miles... in lui non c'è emozione. Niente. Finge di provare qualcosa. Le parole, i gesti, il tono della voce: tutto è identico. Ma non il sentimento. No, ne sono certa: non è mio zio Ira.

• Wilma: Miles, sto diventando pazza? Dimmi la verità.
  Miles: No, no... Anche oggigiorno non credere sia così facile diventare pazzi.

• Miles: Domani avrò bisogno di te, Danny. Ho un bambino e una donna con un po' di confusione nel cervello.
  Danny: Il bimbo dice che suo padre non è suo padre e la donna che sua sorella non è sua sorella.
  Miles: Ci sei andato vicino. Sapevo che t'eri dato all'ipnotismo, ma ora leggi anche il pensiero?
  Ed: Non è un mago, gli avrò mandato una dozzina di casi del genere!
  Miles: Una dozzina? Ma di che si tratta?
  Danny: Non lo so. È una strana forma di nevrosi di natura isterica, un'epidemia vera e propria. Ce ne sono già più di cento casi.
  Miles: Qual è la causa?
  Danny: Preoccupazioni... nervi scossi, probabilmente.

• [Esaminando un Ultracorpo]
  Becky: La faccia sembra di cera...
  Jack: La mia prima impressione è stata la stessa. Non è vera...
  Miles: Giusto, manca di espressione. Nessun segno caratteristico, nessuna ruga...
  Jack: Questo non è un morto.
  Becky: Ce l'avete un cuscinetto per timbri?
  Jack: Ce ne dovrebbe essere uno. Perché?
  Miles: Voglio prendere le impronte digitali.
  Becky: Se non è un cadavere cos'altro potrebbe essere?
  Miles: Non lo so. Può sembrare pazzesco, ma ho l'impressione che se dovessi fare un'autopsia troverei tutti gli organi in perfetto stato. Come risulta il corpo all'esame esterno: assolutamente in ordine e pronto a funzionare.
  [Le impronte digitali risultano anomale, prive dei segni tipici]
  Jack: Nessun segno. Non è un cadavere, è un essere completo ma non finito.
  Teddy: Quando sarà finito che faccia avrà? [...] Rispondimi, che faccia avrà?
  Miles: Non ne ho la più pallida idea, cara.
  Teddy: Quanto... quanto credi che sia alto?
  Miles: Oh, uno e settantacinque, più o meno.
  Teddy: Quanto peserà?
  Miles: Una settantina di chili. È abbastanza magro.
  Teddy: Jack è uno e settantacinque e pesa settanta chili!

• Miles: Di qualsiasi provenienza, di qualsiasi origine essi siano, una cosa è certa: chi li governa, istinto o intelletto che sia deve avere una potenza incredibile! Ah, fantastica, superiore ad ogni limite umano! L'unica cosa che mancava a quel corpo in cantina era una mente! E stava...
  Becky: Stava assorbendo la mia mentre dormivo, Miles!

• Miles: Non dobbiamo chiudere occhio tutta la notte.
  Becky: O ci sveglieremo trasformati in qualcosa di inumano.
  Miles: Molte persone perdono a poco a poco la loro umanità senza accorgersene. Non così, tutto a un tratto, dalla sera alla mattina... Ma la differenza è poca.
  Becky: Non tutti sono così, Miles.
  Miles: Tu lo credi? Invece è vero. Ci si indurisce il cuore giorno per giorno... Solo quando dobbiamo lottare per difendere la nostra umanità ci accorgiamo quanto valga, quanto ci sia cara.

• Danny (Ultracorpo): Miles, tu come me sei un uomo di scienza e come me sei in grado di apprezzare l'intima bellezza di questo fenomeno. Appena un mese fa Santa Mira era ancora una città come tutte le altre, piena di gente con mille problemi... Quand'ecco avverarsi il fatto incredibile: semi che avevano vagato per anni nello spazio finiscono in un campo qui vicino. Questi semi danno dei baccelli che danno il potere di riprodurre con assoluta fedeltà qualsiasi forma di vita animale.
  Miles: La loro provenienza... è il cielo...
  Danny (Ultracorpo): I vostri nuovi corpi stanno ora crescendo lì dentro: vi stanno riproducendo cellula per cellula, organo per organo. Non sentirete male, mentre sarete immersi nel sonno essi assorbiranno al vostra mente per farvi rinascere in un mondo tranquillo, senza problemi.
  Miles: Ma dove tutti sono uguali.
  Danny (Ultracorpo): Proprio così.
  Miles: Povera umanità. Becky e io non siamo gli ultimi rimasti. Gli altri vi distruggeranno.
  Danny (Ultracorpo): Domani non lo vorrai più. Domani sarai uguale a noi altri.
  Miles: Io amo Becky. L'amerò domani come l'amo oggi?
  Danny (Ultracorpo): Non è necessario, l'amore.
  Miles: Niente amore, nessun sentimento, solo l'istinto di conservazione: non potete amare né essere amati, vero?
  Danny (Ultracorpo): Lo dici come se fosse una mostruosità, ma non lo è affatto. Sei stato innamorato altre volte. Ma non è durato. Non dura mai. Amore, desiderio, ambizione, fede: senza tutto questo la vita è molto più semplice.
  Miles: Non mi interessa la vita così.
  Danny (Ultracorpo): Dimentichi una cosa, Miles.
  Miles: Che cosa?
  Danny (Ultracorpo): Non hai altra scelta.

Explicit

Miles [dopo aver raccontato la storia]: Lei non crede una parola! Sì, è fantastico, ma è la verità! Non state li a guardarmi come se fossi una bestia rara! Fate qualcosa, vi supplico! [i dottori lo guardano perplessi] Oh, è inutile...
[I dottori si appartano]
Dr. Bassett: Allora, che ne pensa, dottor Hill?
Dr. Hill: Secondo me si tratta di un incubo.
Dr. Bassett: Altro non può essere. Semi che provengono da altri mondi e che generano esseri umani! Mh, roba da pazzi!
[Due infermieri portano in barella un paziente appena arrivato]
Dr. Hill: Cosa gli è capitato?
Infermiere: Era al volante di un camion. Un autobus l'ha preso in pieno di fianco e l'ha rovesciato.
Dr. Bassett: Portatelo al pronto soccorso. [a Hill] Se ne occupa lei di Bennell, per favore?
Dr. Hill: Certo.
Dr. Bassett [all'infermiere]: Ha ferite gravi?
Infermiere: Una brutta frattura a tutt'e due le gambe. Lo abbiamo tirato fuori da sotto un mucchio di strani cosi che non avevo mai visto.
Dr. Hill: Che cosi?
Infermiere: Non glielo saprei dire con precisione, dottore. Sembravano... degli enormi baccelli.
[Miles e il dottor Hill si scambiano uno sguardo d'intesa]
Dr. Hill: Da dove proveniva il camion?
Infermiere: Santa Mira.
Dr. Hill: [ai poliziotti] Correte alla radio e fate dare l'allarme generale! Le autostrade devono essere bloccate, il traffico fermato, tutti i posti di polizia mobilitati! [al telefono] Centralino! Mi dia l'FBI^[1] di Los Angeles! Sì, è un caso d'emergenza!

Citazioni su L'invasione degli ultracorpi

Frasi promozionali

• Forse domani potrebbe essere realtà?

• Sono già qui... e tu sei il prossimo!

They are here already... You're next!

• Walter Wanger ha creato il film di fantascienza definitivo!

Walter Wanger creates the ultimate science-fiction!

Invasion of the body Snatchers (1956) - Zapp Internet

www.zappinternet.com/video/CoKmFezCin/Invasion+of+the+body+Snatchers+(1956)

▶ 1:20:13

Nov 28, 2007

Director:Don Siegel Writers: Jack Finney, Daniel Mainwaring Genre:Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller Synopsis:Dr Miles ...

L'invasione degli ultracorpi (primo tempo) - Video Dailymotion

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10v1v5

- Translate this page

▶ 30:24

Jun 13, 2013 - Uploaded by Crypto61

L'invasione degli ultracorpi Un film di Don Siegel. Con Kevin McCarthy, King ... Invasion of the Body ...

L'invasione degli ultracorpi (secondo tempo) - Video Dailymotion

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10v4he

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▶ 49:47

Jun 13, 2013 - Uploaded by Crypto61

L'invasione degli ultracorpi Un film di Don Siegel. Con Kevin McCarthy, King ... Invasion of the Body ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Directed by	Don Siegel
Produced by	Walter Wanger
Screenplay by	Daniel Mainwaring
Based on	The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
Starring	Kevin McCarthy Dana Wynter Larry Gates King Donovan Carolyn Jones
Music by	Carmen Dragon
Cinematography	Ellsworth Fredericks
Edited by	Robert S. Eisen
Production company	Walter Wanger Productions
Distributed by	Allied Artists Pictures
Release date	February 5, 1956 (United States)
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$416,911
Box office	$3 million

 

ALEX ROSS - Torch #3 

Cover 

Paint - Watercolor

 

The Nice 1967/1970 progressive rock band

The Nice

I Nice furono un gruppo britannico di fine anni sessanta, il cui genere musicale può essere identificato nell'art rock. La loro musica era una miscela di rock, folk, beat e musica classica.  

Storia

Il gruppo si formò nel 1967 per accompagnare la cantante statunitense P. P. Arnold, in tournée in Inghilterra. I componenti erano il tastierista Keith Emerson, il chitarrista David O'List, il bassista Keith "Lee" Jackson ed il batterista Ian Hague, poi sostituito da Brian Davison.
Già nei concerti con la Arnold, i quattro musicisti avevano un momento a sé nel quale si esibivano da soli, il che permise loro di sviluppare un proprio repertorio: quando, dopo sei mesi di attività, la cantante tornò in patria, il gruppo decise di proseguire per proprio conto.
Il primo album uscì nel 1967 col titolo The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack, una crasi fra i cognomi dei componenti del gruppo. Alcuni mesi dopo l'incisione, O'List abbandonò il gruppo ed i rimasti decisero di proseguire come trio.
Nell'anno seguente uscì il secondo album Ars Longa Vita Brevis, che contiene un arrangiamento dell'Intermezzo della Karelia Suite di Sibelius ed una lunga suite di loro composizione, il cui nucleo è la trasposizione del primo movimento del Terzo Concerto Brandeburghese di Bach. La mancanza della chitarra spostò tutta l'attenzione sulle tastiere di Emerson il quale si guadagnò fama di virtuoso tastierista.
Il terzo album, intitolato semplicemente Nice, venne registrato per metà dal vivo e per metà in studio e chiuse il loro periodo più creativo.
Seguirà un album registrato dal vivo nel novembre del 1969, con un'orchestra sinfonica ed una sezione di fiati, ma pubblicato nel giugno del 1970, intitolato Five Bridges. Nonostante gli apprezzamenti della critica, ma insoddisfatti per non essere riusciti a raggiungere il più ampio successo, i Nice si sciolsero di fatto poco prima della pubblicazione dell'album.
Emerson nel frattempo si era unito a Greg Lake e Carl Palmer per dar vita al celebre trio che esordí a luglio al Festival dell'Isola di Wight.
Jackson e Davison, dopo aver cercato, con scarsa fortuna, di approfittare della relativa notorietà acquisita con i Nice, fondando rispettivamente i Jackson Heights e gli Every Which Way, nel 1974 diedero vita ai Refugee con alle tastiere lo svizzero Patrick Moraz, che poco tempo dopo avrebbe sostituito, per un paio di anni, Rick Wakeman negli Yes, suonando anche nel loro album Relayer.
Nel 1971, postumo, uscì Elegy che contiene una versione di America di Leonard Bernstein, tratta da West Side Story.
Nel 1972 viene pubblicata una raccolta con un inedito, intitolata Autumn '67-Spring '68.
Nel 2002 l'etichetta Castle Music pubblica BBC Sessions, una raccolta di registrazioni effettuate per la BBC tra il 1967 ed il 1970 e contenente diversi inediti e rarità.
Sempre nel 2002 Emerson, Jackson e Davison si sono riuniti per una serie di concerti dal vivo in Gran Bretagna. Da questo tour è stato prodotto l'album live Vivacitas pubblicato nel 2003.
In seguito alla pubblicazione di questo album si è molto parlato di una possibile ricostituzione dei Nice nella storica formazione a trio, ma la scomparsa del batterista Brian Davison, avvenuta il 15 aprile 2008, ha posto la parola fine su questo capitolo.

Stile musicale

I Nice si collocano nella scena musicale inglese di fine anni sessanta del XX secolo, e si trovarono stilisticamente a fianco di altri gruppi britannici con cui si incrociarono e che sarebbero esplosi di lì a poco arrivando a livelli molto alti di popolarità; fra di essi Genesis, King Crimson, e Yes. Attraverso la scelta ardita di un trio in cui la chitarra veniva sostituita dalle tastiere, e favoriti dalla formazione musicale e dal virtuosismo del tastierista Keith Emerson e dalle sue esperienze giovanili in club jazz e blues di Londra, seppero creare con originalità una fusione fra rock e musica classica. Questo nuovo tessuto sonoro in cui confluivano venature jazz e blues sarebbe stato definito in seguito “Progressive Rock”, e oltre a fornire la base per reinterpretazioni in chiave rock di brani classici spaziando da Johann Sebastian Bach a Jean Sibelius, da Leonard Bernstein a Antonín Leopold Dvořák, vide anche incursioni in territorio jazz e blues psichedelico, con le interpolazioni del Blue Rondo à La Turk di Dave Brubeck, fino a cover di Bob Dylan.

Formazione

• Keith Emerson - tastiera, organo Hammond, pianoforte, voce (1944-2016)
• Lee Jackson - basso, chitarra, voce (1943)
• Brian Davison - batteria, percussioni (1942-2008)
• David O'List - chitarra, voce (1948)

Discografia

Album in studio

• 1968 - The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack
• 1968 - Ars Longa Vita Brevis
• 1969 - Nice
• 1971 - Elegy

Live

• 1970 - Five Bridges
• 2003 - Vivacitas'

Altro

• 1972 - Autumn '67 - Spring '68 (antologia)
• 2001 - The Swedish Radio Sessions (registrazioni live presso la radio svedese nel 1967, Bob Dylan in "She belongs to me")
• 2002 - BBC Sessions (dal vivo con inediti e rarità)

 The Nice, Concert at Ernst-Merck-Halle in Hamburg, Easter 1970

Dr. Ronald Kunze - Opera propria

The Nice were an English progressive rock band active in the late 1960s. They blended rock, jazz and classical music and were keyboardist Keith Emerson's first commercially successful band.
The group was formed in 1967 by Emerson, Lee Jackson, David O'List and Ian Hague to back soul singer P. P. Arnold. After replacing Hague with Brian Davison, the group set out on their own, quickly developing a strong live following. The group's stage performances featured Emerson's Hammond organ showmanship and abuse of the instrument, and their compositions included radical rearrangements of classical music themes and Bob Dylan songs.
The band achieved commercial success with an instrumental rearrangement of Leonard Bernstein's "America", following which O'List left the group. The remaining members carried on as a trio, releasing several albums, before Emerson decided to split the band in early 1970 in order to form Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The group briefly reformed in 2002 for a series of concerts.

History

Early career

The Nice evolved from Gary Farr and the T-Bones, which keyboardist Keith Emerson and bassist Keith "Lee" Jackson were both members of before the band dissolved in early 1967 Emerson then briefly played with the VIPs, who toured the Star-Club in Hamburg, and his playing style became influenced by the organist Don Shinn, including standing up to play the instrument and rocking it on stage. Meanwhile, P. P. Arnold, a performer who reached a higher level of popularity in the UK than her native U.S., was unhappy with her backing band, The Blue Jays, and wanted a replacement. Her driver suggested Emerson would be able to put together such a group. Emerson agreed, but only on the condition the band could perform on their own as a warm-up act. Since it effectively meant getting two bands for the price of one, manager Andrew Loog Oldham readily agreed. Emerson recruited Jackson, drummer Ian Hague and ex-the Attack guitarist David O'List, the latter by recommendation from journalist Chris Welch. The name came from Arnold saying, "Here comes the Naz",^[a] which the group misheard as "the Nice".
The band played its first gig in May 1967, and had its first major break at the 7th National Jazz and Blues Festival in Windsor on 13 August. Oldham had managed to secure a separate set for the group in a side tent away from also accompanying Arnold on the main stage, where they gained attention. The next week, Welch wrote in the Melody Maker that "it was the first time I had seen a group actually in the act of winning its first following in quite dramatic circumstances". When Arnold went back to her family in the US shortly afterwards, Oldham offered the group a contract of their own. Hague was not interested in the "progressive" direction the group wanted to go in, so he was replaced by former Mark Leeman Five and Habits drummer Brian Davison.
Now a band in their own right, the Nice expanded their gear, recruiting roadies Bazz Ward and Lemmy, the latter of whom provided Emerson with a Hitler Youth ceremonial dagger to stick into the keys on his Hammond organ. They spent the end of 1967 on a package tour with Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, the Move and Amen Corner. Pink Floyd's then leader, Syd Barrett, missed several gigs and O'List had to stand in for him. The group's first album was recorded throughout the autumn of 1967, and in October of that year they recorded their first session for John Peel's radio show Top Gear. The album included classical and jazz influences including extracts from Leoš Janáček's Sinfonietta and a rearrangement of Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo a la Turk" renamed as "Rondo", changing the time signature from the original 9/8 to 4/4 in the process. The group clashed with producer Oldham in the studio over the length of the track, but eventually won the argument; the full eight-minute piece was included on the album. After the album was released, the group realised that Oldham had a conflict of interest as manager and record company owner, so they recruited sports journalist Tony Stratton-Smith to take over management duties.
For their second single, the Nice created an arrangement of Leonard Bernstein's "America" which Emerson described as the first ever instrumental protest song. The track used the main theme of the Bernstein piece (from West Side Story) but also included fragments of Dvořák's New World Symphony. The single concludes with Arnold's three-year-old son speaking the lines "America is pregnant with promise and anticipation, but is murdered by the hand of the inevitable." The new arrangement was released under the title "America (Second Amendment)" as a pointed reference to the US Bill of Rights provision for the right to bear arms. In July 1968, Immediate Records publicised the single with a controversial poster picturing the group members with small boys on their knees, with superimposed images of the faces of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. on the children's heads. A spokesman for the band said "Several record stores have refused to stock our current single .... the Nice feel if the posters are issued in United States they will do considerable harm". During the tour that followed the release of their second album in July, the group spawned controversy when Emerson burned an American flag onstage during a performance of "America" at a charity event, Come Back Africa in London's Royal Albert Hall. The group were subsequently banned from ever playing the venue again.
By summer 1968, the group had become concerned about O'List's reliability and matters came to a head following a gig in Croydon's Fairfield Hall in September. According to Ward, O'List had an altercation with him in mid-performance. Emerson subsequently called a band meeting with Jackson and Davison and stated flatly that O'List should be sacked. They agreed, and immediately after their performance at The Ritz, Bournemouth in October, he was fired by Stratton-Smith with the rest of the band present. O'List, however, claims that he left the band voluntarily because he was upset at Stratton-Smith's decision to make Emerson the front man, saying "I left the band and waited for Keith to get in contact... I should have gone straight to Keith, but I didn't."

Reduction to a three piece

The Nice briefly considered looking for a replacement, with Steve Howe trying out at an audition. Howe got on well with the rest of the band, but a week later had second thoughts and decided not to join. Emerson tried to learn guitar so he could cover some of O'List's old parts, but gave up after one gig.
The band's second LP Ars Longa Vita Brevis featured an arrangement of the Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite by Jean Sibelius, which the band's friend Roy Harper had recommended they covered, and the album's second side was a suite which included an arrangement of a movement from J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. The group used an orchestra for the first time on some parts of the suite. The band were on the bill at the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival and briefly toured Ireland with Yes and Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band which, by all accounts, was fraught with logistical problems.
The third album, titled Nice in the UK and Everything As Nice As Mother Makes It in the US, featured one side recorded live on their American tour and one side of studio material. As with previous albums, it included arrangements of classical material, in this case the Third Movement of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony (Pathetique), and rearrangements of Bob Dylan's "She Belongs to Me" and Tim Hardin's "Hang on to a Dream".
In 1969, the band found time to contribute to other projects. Emerson performed as a session player for Rod Stewart and the Faces, while the whole group provided instrumental backing for the track "Hell's Angels" on Harper's 1970 album Flat Baroque and Berserk. Mid-year, tour promoter Michael Emmerson asked the Nice to write some music for the Newcastle upon Tyne Arts Festival. The result was the Five Bridges suite. The group premièred the piece on 10 October 1969 at Newcastle City Hall. A complete version with an orchestra was performed at the Fairfield Hall, Croydon on 17 October, which was recorded for the album of the same name. The title refers to the city's five bridges spanning the River Tyne, and Jackson's lyrics refer to his Newcastle childhood and the St James' Park football ground.
By late 1969, Emerson thought the Nice had progressed as far as it could musically, and was particularly dissatisfied with Jackson's limited vocal style. He asked Jack Bruce and Yes' Chris Squire about forming a new band, but both turned Emerson down. While on tour in the US with King Crimson, Emerson held a meeting with Stratton-Smith and declared "the Nice had outlived its usefulness". By the end of the year, Emerson and Crimson's Greg Lake had decided to form a band together. The group carried on touring into 1970, but sometime early in the year, Emerson told Jackson that he would be leaving the band. Matters were not helped by Immediate Records filing for bankruptcy; the band later said they received no royalties from the label while an active group.
In February 1970, the group collaborated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra led by Zubin Mehta. This was broadcast in the following month as part of the "Switched-On Symphony" program. Following standard television procedure of the day, the Nice's contribution (a version of "America") was recorded ahead of time and the band mimed for the cameras.
By March, the group had confirmed they would split, and a report on the band's decision was printed in Melody Maker. The group played their last British concert on 22 March at the Fairfield Hall, Croydon, and after a short German tour the band broke up, playing their last gig on 30 March at the Berlin Sportpalast.

Post-Nice and reunion

Emerson and Lake recruited Carl Palmer from Atomic Rooster and formed Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP). In 1971, the posthumous Nice album Elegy was released. It included different versions of previously released tracks, two being studio versions and two live from the 1969 US tour. Emerson had no involvement with compiling the album, which was done by Jackson, Davison and Charisma Records. The album reached No. 5 in the UK.
Jackson formed Jackson Heights which released five albums between 1970 and 1973. Emerson supported the band and became a fan. Davison formed "Every Which Way" which released an album in 1970. Both Jackson and Davison formed Refugee with keyboardist Patrick Moraz in 1974, but Moraz left the group after one album to replace Rick Wakeman in Yes.
After over three decades of inactivity, the Nice reformed in 2002 for a series of concerts. A three-CD set Vivacitas was released, with the third CD being an interview with Emerson, Jackson and Davison. Dave Kilminster guested on guitar at the concerts. Davison died on 15 April 2008 aged 65 in Horns Cross, Devon, from a brain tumour. Emerson died on 11 March 2016 in Santa Monica, California, of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Musical style

The Nice were primarily a live band. Their stage performances were bold and violent, with Emerson incorporating feedback and distortion. He manhandled his Hammond L-100 organ, wrestling it and attacking it with daggers (which he used to hold down keys and sustain notes during these escapades). Emerson's playing was inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Billy Ritchie of Clouds, and Don Shinn as well as earlier figures such as pianist Jerry Lee Lewis.
The group's early sound was geared more towards psychedelic rock with only occasional classical influences. Following O'List's departure, Emerson's control over the band's direction became greater, resulting in more complex music. The absence of a guitar in the band and Emerson's redefining of the role of keyboard instruments in rock set the Nice apart from many of its contemporaries. He used a combination of Marshall Amplification and Leslie speakers in order to project a full sound to compensate for the lack of a guitarist.
Jackson never considered himself a great singer, partly because the group chose poor keys for his vocal range, but his bass playing, with heavy use of a plectrum, was a distinctive part of the band's overall sound. He was influenced by Bob Dylan, whose songs were often covered at the time; the Nice interpreted several of them, typically reducing them to three or four verses and featuring a long improvised middle section, such as "She Belongs to Me".

Legacy

"The Nice will be here when all the others are in Pantomime in Wolverhampton."

John Peel

The Nice were one of the pioneering progressive rock bands and their fusion of styles strongly influenced the movement into the 1970s. Their commercial success on Charisma Records was key to establishing the label, which went on to include several other progressive acts, including Genesis and Van der Graaf Generator. Genesis were fans of the Nice and "The Knife" from their album Trespass was directly inspired by the band. Though the Nice were not the first to combine a rock band and orchestra, they did inspire similar attempts by other groups, such as Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother.
The group have often been compared to ELP, but there were important differences between them. Emerson's showmanship was more important in the Nice, and he mostly used just Hammond organ live as opposed to a wider range of keyboards, including the Moog synthesizer, in ELP. John Peel, an early champion of the Nice, called ELP "a waste of talent and electricity".

Members

• Keith Emerson (born 2 November 1944, Todmorden, Yorkshire – died 11 March 2016) – organ, piano, vocals (1967–1970, 2002)
• Keith "Lee" Jackson (born 8 January 1943, Newcastle upon Tyne) – bass, guitar, vocals (1967–1970, 2002)
• David "Davy" O'List (born 13 December 1948, Chiswick, London) – guitar, vocals (1967–1968)
• Ian Hague – drums, percussion (1967)
• Brian "Blinky" Davison (born 25 May 1942, Leicester, Leicestershire – died 15 April 2008) – drums, percussion (1967–1970, 2002)

Discography

Studio albums

• The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack (Immediate, 1967)
• Ars Longa Vita Brevis (Immediate, 1968)
• Nice (aka Everything As Nice As Mother Makes It) (Immediate, 1969) - [UK #3]
• Five Bridges (Charisma, 1970) - [UK #2 US #197]

Live albums

• Elegy (Charisma, 1971) - [UK #5]
• America – The BBC Sessions (Receiver, 1996)
• The Swedish Radio Sessions (late 1967) (Sanctuary, 2001)
• BBC Sessions (Sanctuary, 2002)
• Vivacitas (Sanctuary, 2003)
• Live at the Fillmore East December 1969 (Virgin, 2009)

Compilation albums

• Autumn '67 – Spring '68 (Charisma, 1972, UK), released as Autumn to Spring (Charisma, 1973, USA)
• Keith Emerson with The Nice (Mercury/Polygram 1970), material from Five Bridges and Elegy
• Nice Hits Nice Bits (BMG Fabricated, 1999)

Singles

• "The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack" / "Azrial (Angel of Death)" (Immediate IM 059, November 1967)
• "America" / "The Diamond Hard Blue Apples of the Moon" (Immediate IM 068, 21 June 1968) - [UK #21]
• "Brandenburger" / "Happy Freuds" (Immediate IM 072, 8 November 1968) - [UK / Europe]
• "Hang on to a Dream" / "Diary of an Empty Day" (Immediate, 1969) - [Europe]
• "Country Pie" / "One of Those People" (Charisma, 1969)

 

 

The Nice - Rondo - 1967 - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqQWntzevy4

 

 

The Nice - war and peace - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okId4QBVbUQ

THE NICE ''The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack- Azrael'' on French TV ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwZupfYP-qg

▶ 6:35

Sep 18, 2016 - Uploaded by Vas Lek

THE NICE ''Play'' Both Sides of Their First Single On French TV Studio.

 

 

The Nice - Karelia Suite - 1969 - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvuoWhTJbPA

47:53

Ars Longa Vita
Brevis Full Album -
The Nice [1968]
Remastered

LilHaseProductions

YouTube - Jan 29, 2016

 

 

The Nice - America (Live on British TV "How It Is" 1968) - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg9jHTYZ-6U

 

Lyrics

Well, c'mon darlin', the stars are burning bright
C'mon now darlin', our lick is good tonight
'Cause we're the all time winners in the all time loser's game
Yeah, we're the all time winners and here we go again
The king and queen of America
Yeah, it's the king of nothing and the queen of rage
With a pile of confusion upon a glittering stage
You know we never did anything to make ourselves feel proud
You know we never did anything, so let's play it loud
Let's hear it for the king and queen of America
So c'mon darlin', there's a big moon in the sky
We're gonna build a little satellite, we're gonna make it fly
We're gonna send it up to heaven, all the way up to the stars
And all of them aliens are gonna find out who we are
We're talkin' 'bout the king and queen of America

Songwriters: Emerson / Jackson / Davison / O'LIST

America lyrics © WB Music Corp., Rilting Music Inc., Chappell & Co., Charles Strouse Publishing, Grey Dog Music, EMI UNART CATALOG INC, CHAPPELL-CO INC, LEONARD BERNSTEIN MUSIC PUBLISHING CO LLC THE, UNIVERSAL-POLYGRM INTL PUB OBO LEONARD BERNSTEIN MUSIC PUB.C, JALNI PUBLISHING, INC., RILTING MUSIC, INC.

 

 

 

 

The Nice - She Belong To Me - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnXsGTyHm5Q

 

 

Lyrics

She's got everything she needs,
She's an artist, she don't look back.
She's got everything she needs,
She's an artist, she don't look back.
She can take the dark out of the nighttime
And paint the daytime black.

You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees.
You will start out standing
Proud to steal her anything she sees.
But you will wind up peeking through her keyhole
Down upon your knees.

She never stumbles,
She's got no place to fall.
She never stumbles,
She's got no place to fall.
She's nobody's child,
The Law can't touch her at all.

She wears an Egyptian ring
That sparkles before she speaks.
She wears an Egyptian ring
That sparkles before she speaks.
She's a hypnotist collector,
You are a walking antique.

Bow down to her on Sunday,
Salute her when her birthday comes.
Bow down to her on Sunday,
Salute her when her birthday comes.
For Halloween buy her a trumpet
And for Christmas, give her a drum.

Songwriters: Bob Dylan

She Belongs to Me lyrics © Special Rider Music

 

 

 

THE NICE - Hang on to a Dream - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrCBWzhlCVM

 

Lyrics

What can I say, she's walking away
From all we saw
What can I do, still loving you
It's all a dream

How can we hang on to a dream?
How can it really be the way it seems?

What can I do, she's still saying it's through
With how it was
What will I find, I still can't see why
She says what she does

How can we hang on to a dream?
How can it really be the way it seems?

What can I say, she's walking away
From all we saw
What can I do, she's still saying we're through
It's all a dream

How can we hang on to a dream?
How can it really be the way it seems?
How can we hang on to a dream?