Amicus: The Mind of Mr Soames [Blu-ray] Terence Stamp

Brittioriginaali, eli toimii normaalisti suomisoittimissa mutta ei suomitekstejä.

(Alan Cooke, 1970)
Release date: 27 July 2020 
Standard Edition Blu-ray

Based on a best-selling novel by Charles Eric Maine, Amicus Productions’ The Mind of Mr. Soames is a contemporary reworking of the Frankenstein story. Terence Stamp (The Collector, Far from the Madding Crowd) is a young man left comatose from birth, who is awakened live on TV into a world he can’t comprehend, and exploited as a living curiosity.

Remarkably prescient in its depiction of reality television and media turpitude, the film also boasts a superb supporting cast, including Robert Vaughn, Nigel Davenport, Christian Roberts, Donal Donnelly and Vickery Turner, and features luminous cinematography by the great Billy Williams (Women in Love, The Wind and the Lion, Gandhi).

INDICATOR STANDARD EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES
• High Definition remaster
• Original mono audio
• Audio commentary with Kevin Lyons, editor of The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television, and Jonathan Rigby, author of English Gothic: Classic Horror Cinema 1897–2015
• The Mind of Mr Stamp (2018, 19 mins): new and exclusive interview with Terence Stamp in which he discusses his early career and the time he spent away from acting
• Memories of Mr Soames (2018, 5 mins): actor Christian Roberts, cinematographer Billy Williams, researcher John Comfort, and sound mixer John Aldred recall their experience of working on the film
• Original theatrical trailer
• Image gallery: promotional photography and publicity material
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
 

#PHIBD093
BBFC cert: PG
REGION FREE
EAN: 5060697920949

Amicus Productions became synonymous with a number of excellent portmanteau horror movies in the 60s and 70s, such as The House That Dripped Blood and Asylum, but nothing they released was as strange as this particular curio. The Mind of Mr. Soames sees Terence Stamp playing the eponymous Soames, a 30 year old man who has been in a coma since birth and who (through the wonders of modern science in the form of a brain transplant) has been awakened into a world of noise, pollution and violence. The viewer is then witness to his subsequent progress and finally to the story’s sad and surprisingly touching denouement.

The Mind of Mr. Soames is never less than interesting and raises many philosophical and ethical questions throughout. For instance, has mankind gone too far in its scientific advances? And does the media help induce public hysteria through sensationalist reporting? The film also raises question marks over the integrity of reality television, which is fairly prescient for a film made in the late 60s and shows parallels with later films such as Bertrand Tavernier’s vastly underrated (and unremembered) Death Watch and also The Truman Show.

It would have been easy for any actor to ham it up as someone with a child’s mind in a man’s body but Terence Stamp never overplays the lead role and it’s to his credit that the afore-mentioned ending evokes such pathos from the viewer. The location shooting throughout also helps create a feel for the times the film was set without dating it too much, unlike some other movies of the period (yes, I’m looking at you, The Italian Job!).

The version of the film I watched was the Blu-ray release from Powerhouse Indicator and although the print isn’t perfect and is understandably grainy at times, it is never so much so as to be distracting. Extras on the disc are interesting, if unspectacular, the highlight being an enlightening interview with Terence Stamp.

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