The Mind Benders

Dirk Bogarde can be described as a great actor who was never in a classic film. Popular films, like the Doctor series, certainly; good films like The Tale of Two Cities; excellent films like The Servant; fascinating, discussed films like Death in Venice and The Night Porter. But classic films like Casablanca - maybe Darling comes closest, and that's not even his movie.

"The Mind Benders" is another Bogarde film on the bizarre side. When an elderly scientist is suspected of treason, an investigator endeavors to find out whether his experiments in isolation made him do something - betray his government - that he ordinarily wouldn't have done. One of his coworkers (Bogarde) agrees to go into the isolation tank; when he emerges, he is told things about his wife that, if he believes them, will threaten his seemingly happy marriage.

The film holds one's interest; with his science fiction bent, it has the distinctive '60s stamp on it.

Mary Ure plays Bogarde's wife. The acting is good, with the usual fine performance from Bogarde, a man who, once he got away from Rank, was attracted to unusual roles and unusual films. This isn't as wild as it gets for Bogarde. It's not great, but it's not bad either.

This is not among Dirk Bogarde's more famous films. Still, it's very enjoyable and worth a look...and would make a great double-feature with "The Manchurian Candidate".

The film begins with a seemingly loyal British professor killing himself...and he was suspected of being an enemy spy. However, Professor Longman (Bogarde) cannot believe that his dear friend would be a spy and suspects that their sensory deprivation research COULD have warped the poor man's mind. A subsequent experiment proves, the hard way, that this could indeed be the case.

Unless you are watching the pilot episode of the original "Hawaii Five-O", you won't get a better look at sensory deprivation tanks and their ability to warp a person's mind. A fascinating, cerebral sort of film that is well worth seeing and Bogarde, as usual, is excellent!

From the reviews I've read online (both current & from the time of the original release) I think that The Mind Benders is sorely underrated. Here is my attempt to convince you that the film is really one of the best! -- I think that generally there are two kinds of films -- films that you watch and films that you experience. The Mind Benders is definitely the latter. And though "scary" is usually defined as monsters and ghouls, this movie scared me out of my wits without one hint of the supernatural.

Conventional monster movies always give me the spooks, but I'm only really petrified when the terror in a film seems like it could actually happen - or when the main character is so dreadfully afraid in the film that you become just as afraid yourself. The Mind Benders deals with one of the most frightening experiences that man could suffer through- complete isolation. Isolation from sight, sound, touch, taste, smell and human contact. The experience is made so real, so absolutely horrifying that I actually felt sick to my stomach at one point. Now this might not seem like a selling point, but it is. I was so engulfed in this film that I want to pop the disc in my DVD player again tonight. I want to be with it again, to see it again. I'm not a sadist or anything- the film isn't torture. While it has it's unsettling moments, it is actually incredibly moving and really makes you think.

The film opens with an elderly scientist committing suicide by jumping off of a moving train. Next to his body they find a suitcase filled with cash, apparently the money he was given for leaking top-secret scientific information to the Communists. What seems like a simple open-and-shut case of treason is actually much, much more complicated. The scientist, Dr. Sharpey, was working on a disturbing project called Isolation in which he was attempting to find out what happens to the human brain when all of the senses are taken away. The guinea pigs in the study were Dr. Sharpey himself, and his colleague, Dr. Longman-- played by Dirk Bogarde.

Longman realizes that the only way to prove that Sharpey wasn't the kind of man who would commit treason is to show that once you go through "Isolation" you don't come out the same man. The only way to prove this is to go through Isolation himself. While the plot seems to be about espionage and proving someone's innocence, it really isn't. It's about what makes us human, and how fragile that something is.

I can't tell you how much I want to go into more detail about the plot and the twists, and how Dirk Bogarde's character progresses throughout the film but I think that if I had known any of that before I watched it, the intensity of the movie would have definitely been blunted. You need to see this film fresh for the first time, with no preconceptions in order to full appreciate it. One thing to look out for, though-- Dirk Bogarde's eyes before and after Isolation. They seem to get darker in color, but they don't. It's not a special effect; it's a cold, icy look -- and it is remarkable.

This was by far, hands down the best Dirk Bogarde performance I've seen so far. I don't know how he didn't have a nervous breakdown while acting this part. He is so emotional and intense it is almost incomprehensible. When I first discovered Dirk Bogarde, I had no idea how much talent he had-- I thought he was a handsome, skilled actor and that I'd like to see more of his films. I am so glad that I followed through, because I think his might be the single best performance I've seen by an actor in my entire life. It was absolutely brilliant, and I think that it actually enriches my life to have seen him in this movie.

I loved this film so much (can you tell?) that I really wanted to write the most brilliant post ever about it, but I'm so tongue tied (or keyboard tied, as it were) that I can't express myself. Good films do this to me, they knock all of the wordiness out and just leave me gaping and staring at the screen. Since I watched it last night, I've gone to sleep, woken up, eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner, worked and had fun. But inside I am still gaping and staring at the screen. It has a hold on me and I think I need to watch it again tonight. I'm sorry, I mean I need to experience it.

THE MIND BENDERS is a very interesting film about sensory deprivation experiments that result in unexpected, tragic results. The story is told in a serious and somber manner. Dirk Bogarde is especially good as the reluctant researcher who volunteers to take a second dip in "the tank" to prove that sensory deprivation can be used to brainwash a person. The film seems to come to a climax when it is revealed to Bogarde that he was brainwashed while in "the tank", but then goes on for another 15 mins. in order to give the film a happy ending. This some what drags the film down, but does not detract from the overall impact of this film.

A FEW NOTES: This film somewhat resembles THE ELECTRONIC MONSTER (aka.ESCAPEMENT) in many ways, although THE MIND BENDERS is superior in every way. The plot of using sensory deprivation to brainwash people (complete with subject submerged in a tank) was used in "The Cocoon" episode of HAWAII FIVE-O.

It struck me how few films there are on the subject of brainwashing, which seems strange considering films themselves can be very influential on one's imagination and emotions.

I managed to find this little gem and found it far more fascinating and intelligent than I was expecting for a film of its era. I actually prefer it to Frankenheimer's Manchurian Candidate. At its core, is a very simple but very powerful and disturbing idea - how much of our personalities and lives are vulnerable to certain suggestions? Once your deeper imagination (where core beliefs are held) wraps itself around an idea, then your whole mind distorts to fulfill it. Its like an early version of 'Inception' without the need for dream-machines.

It all pans out in a way that feels unnervingly credible, far from the hokey silliness I was expecting. There are some subtle themes woven in about conditioning generally (a dog symbolising Pavlovs famous experiments) and some justifiable feminism.

But... with just a few changes, it could have been an absolute classic. The acting of the Major is atrociously and laughably wooden throughout. Some subtle conflict, shame and emoting would have gone a LONG way to make the most of his character. Also, while the idea of the film is brilliant, I feel more could have been done with it. A brilliant twist ending would be to discover that the Major himself had undergone the sensory deprivation elsewhere, and had been subject to suggestion himself... explaining his cold callousness when seeking the truth of Sharpey.