British drama The Mind of Mr. Soames hasn't exactly gone down well in the annals of cinematic history; given the fact that it has been pretty much forgotten since its release almost forty years ago. I'm not surprised really; despite an interesting premise, the film is not all that memorable and the idea is not handled as well as it could have been; plus, there are better movies on the topic. The movie was apparently made by Amicus, who of course were most famous for their horror anthologies, and the film is really not what I have come to expect from the UK's number two horror movie producing studio. The plot focuses on Mr Soames; a man who was somehow born in a coma and has been in one ever since. He is now thirty years old and has lived all his life in a hospital where he is cared for, despite not being aware of it, by the doctors and nurses. There is a medical breakthrough and finally it is possible to awaken Mr Soames; which happens in a public operation. After he is finally awakened, he's subjected to a scheme to make him mature into a man...but things go awry when he escapes.
The idea that this film is based on is undoubtedly interesting, though probably not possible. There's many ways that a plot like this could be handled, and while in this film it is handled much better and more skilfully than in, say, 1973's The Baby, the result is still disappointing. The film is slow to start and not a great deal happens for the first half of the movie as we get to watch the central sleeping and then learning and not much else. The most interesting part of the movie comes in the second half when the man/child escapes into the real world and this is also the most disappointing part of it as it doesn't resolve anything and we don't get to know much about the central character's condition. The film is largely well made; Alan Cooke could have implemented more suspense but his direction is assured and Terence Stamp is convincing enough in the lead role. It all boils down to a very unsatisfying climax as the ending does not resolve anything which really is a shame. Overall, this is not a completely bad film; but I can't say I enjoyed it much and I don't recommend going out of your way to track it down!
