Directed by Basil Dearden. Produced by Michael Relph. Original screenplay by James Kennaway. Director of photography, Denys Coop. Editor, John D Guthridge. Music, George Auric. Art director, James Morahan. A Michael Relph and Basil Dearden production, distributed by Warner- Pathe. British. Cert. X. 113 mins.
Dr Henry Longman, DIRK BOGARDE;
Oonagh Longman, MARY URE;
Major Hall, JOHN CLEMENTS;
Dr Tate, MICHAEL BRYANT;
Annabelle, WENDY CRAIG;
Professor Sharpey, HAROLD GOLDBLATT;
Calder, GEOFFREY KEEN;
Norman, TERRY PALMER;
Aubrey, NORMAN BIRD;
Dr Jean Bonvoulois, ROGER DELGADO;
Stewart, EDWARD FOX; and
Coach, TERENCE ALEXANDER.
Basil Dearden and Michael Relph, in their recent work, have shown that they want to be serious about problems which regularly crop up in the newspapers, and are of interest to anyone who gives thought to the sociological difficulties of life. Their ideas (Violent Playground, Sapphire, Victim) are thoughtfully considered and sincere. But serious intentions are not enough to convince an audience that here is something that really concerns them. Only through character development can there be any real involvement, and it is in their treatment of the individual that their work is disappointing. Stated fact replaces subtlety; dramatic contrivance is preferred to sensitive feeling. Emotional reactions of the characters are derived more from the context of the scene than from the individual. Life is based on the relationships between people, rather than ideals: you can stereotype ideals, but not human beings. Once you try to develop a theme based on the reactions of the ‘average’ person, the point is lost. The work of Dearden and Relph seems to lack this vital basis of human relationships, as opposed to the penetrating insight of the interplay of one personality against another, the uncertainties, the weaknesses, in Guy Green’s The Mark.
The basic idea of The Mind Benders is intriguing in its possibilities, which unfortunately are never fully realised because of the flat, unoriginal story. It is based on a series of experiments termed ‘the reduction of sensation’ carried out to discover the effect on the human mind when you subject an individual to a long period of isolation in which he is deprived of all senses. Is it possible to change an entire personality, and an individual’s fundamental beliefs in life?
So, to illustrate the dangers of this we have to be concerned with the possible use to a ‘foreign power’ of a person who has undergone this treatment. A scientist commits suicide, and £1000 is found in his case. He had been seen talking with people ‘with midEuropean accents and snow on their boots.’ Conclusions of the security department lead to the label: traitor. To prove that his colleague is not a traitor we have the loyal scientist Longman (Dirk Bogarde) who undergoes the test to prove that it makes a man ‘a soulless, mindless, will-less thing’ who cannot be held responsible for his actions. This and what follows are more in keeping with the work of the fiction writers than with someone who is concerned with the possible dangers of scientific experiments on the human mind. Science can be inhuman: it used to be practiced on animals, now they use people. To what extent does the ‘advancement’ of science justify the sacrifice of individuals? This becomes obscured in the contrived situations and climaxes designed to bring Longman back to ‘normal’. One of the most interesting scenes is that in which Longman is submerged in a tank or water for eight hours, with tape recorders noting his reactions to the total isolation as he goes through the stages of melancholy. panic, nervous collapse and hallucination. It’f sinister, eerie and compelling-like Frankenstein conditioning the victim he wants to use as a puppet.
The Mind Benders is another example of British fiJm.makers playing it safe, where interesting themes are used merely as a background to stories developed on a conventional pattern.
ROBIN BEAN