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The Mind Snatchers

Play trailer Poster for The Mind Snatchers PG Released Jun 28, 1972 1h 34m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
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An Army major (Ralph Meeker) authorizes a German doctor (Joss Ackland) to give soldiers experimental shock treatments.

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The Mind Snatchers

Critics Reviews

View All (1) Critics Reviews
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Aug 9, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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nick s The acting was fine but I found the production rather dull overall. It moved at a limping pace and took a long time for anything to happen. The cinematography wasn't particularly eye catching. Seemed to be shaping up as a poor man's clockwork orange, though I didn't have enough patience to stay till the end. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/27/24 Full Review Audience Member I give The Mind Snatcher three stars. I feel it probably should be two because it is not a very good view and has a poor plot. The problem is the film has Christopher Walken in it and some good dialogue here and there, so I can't bring myself to downrate it. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Also known as The Happiness Cage, which is the name of the play upon which it was based, this is the story of remote medical clinic where the military performs experimental brain surgery on unbalanced soldiers, ostensibly to find a cure for schizophrenia. Christopher Walken stars (in his first leading role) as a fiercely intelligent, suspicious, young soldier who finds himself imprisoned in the clinic; Ronny Cox plays a dumb hick who is in the same predicament; and Joss Ackland plays the ambivalent doctor. The cast is uniformly excellent, even if the film is sometimes a little stagy. It's a lot like a subdued version of A Clockwork Orange. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member A very young Christopher Walken stars in this slightly disturbing movie based on a stage play. Baring in mind that this was originally written for live theatre, it's hardly surprising that the main action takes place in just one location. The picture quality isn't up to today's standards and can be quite bland and too brightly lit. However the story is strong enough to bare this. There are some very underused characters in the cast, but again, these would probably have been actors doubling-up in the theatre environment. The contents of the story become even more disturbing if you sit through the end credits, as it explains that much of what you have seen actually DOES happen in reality! This is another of these movies that could certainly benefit from a modern-day reworking. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Excellent!I just bought it on DVD. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member It's not quite as good as it states, aka 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest meets A Clockwork Orange', but you can kinda see what they mean. Walken is god in it, everyone else is okay to rotten. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Mind Snatchers

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis An Army major (Ralph Meeker) authorizes a German doctor (Joss Ackland) to give soldiers experimental shock treatments.
Director
Bernard Girard
Producer
George Goodman, Richard Lewis, Joseph Papp
Screenwriter
Ron Whyte, Dennis Reardon
Production Co
International Film Ventures, Laterna Film
Rating
PG
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 28, 1972, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 21, 2017
Runtime
1h 34m
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