The Happiness Cage

A bit talky, but certainly well acted and thought provoking.

Walken, looking all of 19, does his usual standout performance in this ethical drama. While not without it's drawbacks - the pace is a bit slow at times and the score is annoying, the questions raised about the ethics used by both the well-meaning Doctor and the frightening military will certainly cause future reflection.

THE MIND SNATCHERS is about mind control, a government conspiracy, and an experiment gone wrong. In spite of these intriguing elements, this movie is painfully slow. This makes it feel days long instead of its actual 90 minute running time.

Watching it, it's clear that this would have made an excellent short film or anthology film segment. As it stands, it has a brain-scorching-ly padded midsection sandwiched between a decent beginning and a perfectly downbeat finale.

On the upside, Christopher Walken plays his character, Reese, with his soon-to-be signature, unforced quirkiness. In retrospect, it seems obvious that his future would include roles in THE DEER HUNTER and THE DEAD ZONE.

Unfortunately, he's the only bright spot in this movie. That is, unless you count a young Ronny Cox as Reese's unhinged hillbilly roommate...

This low key drama is about medical experiments in the American military where a form of mind control is being developed which involves brain washing of violent individuals to make them 'good'. An unruly young soldier is sent to the facility where these techniques are being developed for conditioning.

The most significant thing about The Mind Snatchers is that it features a young Christopher Walken in an early starring role. He is certainly the best thing about the film. His intensity is evident at this early stage and he carries the movie really. While the plot-line has some definite similarities to A Clockwork Orange, whose success I am sure led to this stage play being filmed, it is much less cinematic and pretty under-stated. It's a little too stage-bound for its own good to be honest and a little bit bland overall. It's a shame because there is certainly the basis of something quite good here but the uninspired direction means that it is not entirely successful. Its low budget probably restricts it in some ways but I have seen other similarly cheap sci-fi films from the 70's that engage the viewer more. Still, it's interesting enough for a watch and Walken is very good. It also features Ronny Cox from Deliverance as a sex offending inmate in line for corrective surgery.

Based on a play "The Happiness Cage" by Dennis Reardon

A German scientist works on a way of quelling overly aggressive soldiers by developing implants that directly stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain.

Joss Ackland did an excellent portrait of Dr. Fredrick our German scientist. You may remember him as C. S. Lewis in "Shadow Lands" (1985).

The movie has a constantly annoying background musical theme that distracts from this movie that feels more like a play. There is even a long Ayn Rand type speech on the morality of electrodes.

Using subtitles can correct for occasional Mumbling.

The advantage of the DVD is that the picture is a lot clearer and brighter without those annoying dark spots that you have to guess what is happening.

I wish they had cut a lot more of this dialogue. I've been imagining this on a stage in a theater and it would be wonderful. With all of this talking, they would create a world and it would have ups and downs and it would work.

That doesn't translate to film. You don't have to create a world or an atmosphere. The camera can photograph a huge empty room in a mental hospital and you don't have to tell us what it feels like. The starkness of the setting is already pretty overwhelming. They are trapped. This is horrifying.

I grew up in the 70s so I'm familiar with this weird weak neurotic snarky tone that everyone has. It was a pretty awful time to live. People were not nice. Negativity was coolness, and everybody just wanted to drop out and let go of everything.

I was really not liking Christopher Walken in the first few minutes but I relaxed and decided to go with it. And here he is an absolutely wonderful actor doing the best with this material. And a lot of his works that we all know about now as an actor show up here. It might be worth watching just to see Christopher walken.