Invasion of the body snatchers?

I would think it pretty obvious that this film was not, in any way, meant to be a comedy. But I think the different treatments between this and IOBS are worlds apart, and speak for the different themes and intentions of the film makers.

It's pretty common knowledge that IOBS was intended to be an allegory about the cold war and the threat of people losing their individuality, presumably under Communism. (Same goes for Jack Finney's original book.) Certainly it was appealing to one of our most basic fears, that of losing our identity, and security vis a vis being able to trust those we knew.

IFM, on the other hand, comes across as a child's nightmare (even without the US version's framing device), with the emphasis upon that basic fear, first and foremost. It's garish, it's colorful, it's preposterous...and, to a kid, it's terrifying. It's science fiction's version of a kid's nightmare...just as "Night of the Hunter" is noir's version.

That isn't saying that everyone didn't have the cold war in mind as a secondary theme, just that it wasn't its prime motivation. (Similarly, it's obvious that IOBS had those primary fears in mind, as well...in fact, the film couldn't work without them.)

As we grow older our nightmares change. One could say that both films expressed very eloquently one of our worst nightmares...just from the viewpoints of two different ages in our lives.

By the way, I would mildly disagree with your notion that '78's IODB was superior to the original because of the big city locale, I think it's quite the opposite. There is more of a tendency to overlook people in big cities, to consider most of them as being soulless non-entities to begin with. (To advance reasons for why that is would go way beyond the scope of this thread!) On the other hand, in a small town everyone tends to know each other.

Living in Chicago, I don't even know my next-door neighbors, and if they were taken over by aliens last week I wouldn't know the difference. But put me in a room filled with nothing but people I'm well acquainted with, which would be analogous to people from a small town, and I would sure as hell notice some differences if some of them were suddenly pod people! I think that's probably why Finney (and Siegel) placed the original IOBS in a small town to begin with.

(Of course, the black and white was perfect for the original, as well. Color did the story a disservice.)

For the record, I've also heard many criticisms about the third version, "Body Snatchers," along those same exact lines, with the additional disadvantage of having the story take place on a military base, where everyone is supposed to become indoctrinated to losing their identities and becoming "soldiers" in the first place...although I've always enjoyed the changes they made to the story there in trying to make it fresh. At least it's a fun ride!

(I've never seen the most recent version, so I can't comment on it.)

By the way, loss of identity and fear of having ourselves or loved ones taken over by outside forces was quite a common theme at that time (and yes, I'm pretty sure this one was the first...unless you want to count all those vampire or whatever films from the 30's and 40's where the heroine is helpless under a hypnotic spell...but those, at their best, are more allegories for obsessive love, and lust). "It Came from Outer Space," "It Conquered the World," "The Beast with 1,000,000 Eyes," and no doubt others I can't think of offhand, all dealt with the subject, though not as eloquently as either of these, of course. Capped off with the brainwashing of "The Manchurian Candidate," an equally terrifying film!