Unusual and intriguing tale of a man in a coma since birth being brought back to life after 30 years in front of TV cameras. Directed with little visual flair by TV man Alan Cooke this really makes little, ironically, of the TV aspect, perhaps his sympathies were on the wrong side here. Terence Stamp plays the man child here to great affect and I must say that whatever it was that drew him to this distinctly non-glamourous role, he really puts in a fine and believably odd performance. He is well supported by Donal Donnelly, Nigel Davenport and particularly so by Robert Vaughn, who despite some strange facial hair is the best I've seen him apart from his much loved TV work. I do feel more could have been made of the TV aspect here and introduced the home audience as another dimension to help develop a broader sense of community interest and concern. As it is this is more or less a two part ensemble with Stamp and Vaughn battling the rigidity of Davenport and his traditions with Donnelly sidling up as the caring nurse. Provocative and brave and if it looks more like TV than an expose of TV then to some extent I imagine that is as much down to the limited resources of the Amicus production people even if this was picked up by Columbia
Review of The Mind of Mr. Soames
