The Mind Benders

Although seeming something an odd choice for the post-Victim team of director Dearden and star Dirk Bogarde, The Mind Benders has lots of adult style for what begins e... more >

Although seeming something an odd choice for the post-Victim team of director Dearden and star Dirk Bogarde, The Mind Benders has lots of adult style for what begins essentially as a B-picture yarn. Bogarde is Longman, an arrogant but happily married Oxford scientist who volunteers to put himself through an extreme experiment in isolation to prove to government busybody Hall (John Clements) that the process is capable of changing his behaviour (in order to exonerate a late colleague who has been labelled a traitor after engaging in similar research.) But the experiment works too well. While Longman is submerged for hours in a water tank, his mind is ‘bent’, and he emerges with a sadistic dislike of his loving wife (Mary Ure). What could have veered towards sci-fi hokum, however, becomes – in the hands of Dearden, Bogarde and the haunted, impressive Ure – a strangely compelling and unexpectedly intimate portrait of a couple’s fractured relationship. Perhaps it’s not a million miles from Victim after all. < less

View all 77 of Julian Upton’s reviews

Little-seen since the Sixties, this drama with a sensory deprivation theme has a characteristically strong performance from Dirk Bogarde as a scientist whose marriage ... more >

Little-seen since the Sixties, this drama with a sensory deprivation theme has a characteristically strong performance from Dirk Bogarde as a scientist whose marriage is tested by the dangerous experiments he undertakes with his colleagues.

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View all 349 of Barry Forshaw’s reviews

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Film Details

Cast

Dirk Bogarde, John Clements, Mary Ure

Technical Details