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This film was released on DVD last year and can be seen in full on YouTube. Part one is above, uploaded by feverpitch96.
Obscurity factor: 8 (on DVD & YouTube, largely forgotten)
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Terrance Stamp & Robert Vaughn in The Mind of Mr. Soams (1969)
I'd been reluctant to watch this film because it has something of an aura of impending doom. A brain surgeon (Vaughn) revives John Soams (Stamp) who has been in a coma since birth. At the age of 30 he must begin to learn to join the human race. The well meaning, but autocratic head of the institute (Nigel Davenport) takes a clinical approach that makes no allowances for warmth, tenderness and love and understandably, John develops a rebellious nature. When he escapes the institute, he's completely unprepared for the world at large.
This was an Amicus production. The British studio was known for its horror films, primarily, and it milks the subject matter for its scare factor, but in this case, the "monster"everyone is afraid of is a 30 year old man with the mind of a child. You can't help but identify with him, and the pain he's going through. Stamp's performance is extremely effecting and seeing this innocent subject to uncaring treatment and indifference can be painful to watch. It's very much a piece of its time, reflecting the pessemistic attitudes about human nature and the world at large.
This film was released on DVD last year and can be seen in full on YouTube. Part one is above, uploaded by feverpitch96.
Obscurity factor: 8 (on DVD & YouTube, largely forgotten)
This film was released on DVD last year and can be seen in full on YouTube. Part one is above, uploaded by feverpitch96.
Obscurity factor: 8 (on DVD & YouTube, largely forgotten)
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Interesting. This would have come out at about the same time as "Charly" starring Cliff Robertson as a mentally handicapped adult man who becomes smart due to a medical advance, but then the medicine wears off and he gradually returns to a state of mental retardation.
ReplyDeleteRobertson of course won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Charly (proving that you can indeed get the top gong for going "full retard" in a movie.)
Um, anyway, I do look forward to watching this one - I've NEVER heard of it.
DeleteIf you're at all sentimental, have some tissues handy...
DeleteSorry if I offended anyone with the "full retard" remark. I was, of course, simply referring to the infamous Robert Downey Jr. remark from "Tropic Thunder" (when his character claimed that you can't win an Oscar for playing a **fully** mentally handicapped character.)
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to watching the film also; "Charly" is similarly a tearjearker. I wonder why it is not very celebrated today, despite the Oscar gong for Robertson and the fact that it is based on a famous play and short story ("Flowers for Algernon.")
PS--I read somewhere recently that Robert Vaughn was doing a cameo in a remake of "The Magnificent Seven." My favorite Vaughn role, aside from Napoleon Solo, was the mendacious, over-the-top producer from Edwards' "S.O.B"
Thanks for clarifying - I am aware of "Tropic", but have not seen it. I only lasted through three "segments" of this film...I recommend "Charly", for anyone who hasn't seen it.
DeleteAnd I love Terence Stamp in anything! Even an idiotic low-budget movie like "Kiss the Sky."
ReplyDeleteMr. Sanders: I can see why this film is on your "The Obscurity Factor" list of the languishing. Long may it rest there.
ReplyDeleteAnd MP: "Sorry if I offended anyone with the "full retard" remark." Well, you should be. Downey's character was meant to be an insensitive, self centered clod, not a role model for people to quote. I'm glad you recognized that. What would Brini do? She would never have said it in the first place.
As my husband and I say in situations like these, Stamp, Vaughn, and the rest "must have REALLY needed the money".
Thank you, .^_^.
If you're in the mood, there's a "distant cousin" to this film - the 1972 camp/trash classic "The Baby." It's idiotic, but hilarious. Plus, you have former starlet Ruth Roman, doing her best late-Rosalind Russell imitation. It's streaming on Netflix right now...
ReplyDeleteI've heard of that, but have never seen it...
DeleteOh, you should! Anjanette Comer doing her patented darty-eyed fragile thing, Ruth Roman braying in her whiskey baritone, and Marianna Hill wearing very, very tiny outfits. It's wonderful.
Delete