User reviews

Scientist Ray Milland believes he's seeing and speaking to his late young daughter in "Daughter of the Mind," also starring Gene Tierney and Don Murray. I suspect this was a pilot for a series on psychic phenomenon that was to star Murray; hence the "guest starring" credits for Tierney and Milland.

This is an intriguing drama. Milland is a scientist involved in sensitive government work, and our side is convinced that the messages he's getting from his daughter to quit what he's doing - bringing into play the possibility of defection - are a conjurer's trick by the other side. George MacCready, who plays Murray's boss, asks him to investigate. There are some sticking points for Murray. He sees the girl's image, he hears her voice - and then, during a séance, a wax replica of her hand appears in water, with verifiable fingerprints yet! If these things aren't true, how are they being accomplished? John Carradine, who plays an expert in the field of séances and mediums, advises him, "You're going about it the wrong way. Don't ask if it was a trick. Ask yourself, if you were going to do it, how would you?" Gene Tierney plays Milland's wife. 1969 was the last year she worked with the exception of one appearance in 1980. Though not Laura any longer, the blue eyes are still beautiful and vibrant, her smile is still lovely, and though illness has taken its toll, she is still beautiful. Ray Milland is fine as the devastated father though his bad hairpiece is distracting. He lost his hair after a permanent he received for "Reap the Wild Wind," and eventually embraced baldness. Pamelyn Ferdin, a popular child actress of the day, plays the daughter. All in all, a very interesting story.

Ray Milland has been grieving his dead daughter, Mary. Now, oddly, she has begun appearing to him--and it seems so very real. As a result, he goes to see a parapsychologist (Don Murray)--perhaps he can help Milland figure out if he's going crazy or if the child really is trying to contact him. Along the way, they learn that a government agent (Ed Asner) is watching them--unsure if maybe, perhaps, these manifestations are the result of the work of a hostile nation. After all, Milland is a top cybernetics scientist--maybe someone is deliberately messing with his mind. I don't want to say more, as it might divulge where it's going next.

Overall, it's a very tense and interesting made for TV film. However, there are quite a few plot holes and the whole thing seems overly complicated and far-fetched. Some of the film relies on technology that isn't even possible today--more than 40 years later!! Still, it is entertaining and it's nice to see such an accomplished cast (also including Gene Tierney and John Carradine) in a TV movie that often has more light-weight actors!

By the way, Pamelyn Ferdin who plays Ray Milland's dead daughter, Mary, should be a very familiar face and voice if you grew up when I did. She played on a bazillion TV show, such as playing Felix's daughter on "The Odd Couple" and was the voice of Lucy in three Charlie Brown movies/TV shows. Also, there's a tiny role starring Virginia Christine as the housekeeper. You may recognize her as Mrs. Olsen--the Folger Coffee lady.

I just came across this old TV movie of the week and after reviewing other reviews, it seems we all experienced the same thing in seeing this movie - we were all young when we first saw it, vividly remember the hand in the fishbowl and recall "daddy, daddy, daddy...." Whoever said films don't leave an impact?

This is very well-conceived and well-acted. But, just when you think you are watching an unsung classic, just when you are scratching your head to come up with a resolution, you realize that the film makers do not have one and instead leave us with the ultimate cop-out ending. Too bad.

Government officials become involved after a cybernetics professor and a parapsychologist record evidence of life beyond death: the professor's recently-deceased daughter, whose spirit has apparently come back to stop her father from proceeding with his work for the military. Made-for-TV adaptation of Paul Gallico's novel "The Hand of Mary Constable" wants to be more complex than the usual bump-in-the-night ghost story, but the questions and answers the film does offer us are nonetheless unexciting. The casting also seems off, with Ray Milland and Gene Tierney both far too old to be the parents of a little girl (grandparents would be more appropriate). Young Pamelyn Ferdin, however, excels once again in a difficult part for a child, and John Carradine pops up in a colorful cameo as an illusionist expert. This was the first television movie for 20th Century Fox, and the technical aspects (aside from Milland's heavy eye makeup and the cheapjack music score) are above-par for a TV feature.

1969's "Daughter of the Mind" was one of ABC's earliest Movies of the Week, and like so many from that first decade left an indelible impression on younger viewers, based on the 1964 novel "The Hand of Mary Constable" by Paul Gallico, best known for writing "The Poseidon Adventure." Ray Milland and Gene Tierney, reunited from 1951's "Close to My Heart," again portray a married couple, Professor Samuel Constable and his wheelchair-bound wife Lenore, being visited by an apparition which claims to be their late daughter Mary (Pamelyn Ferdin), killed in an automobile accident some two months earlier. Enter parapsychologist Alex Lauder (Don Murray), keeping an open mind on the supernatural, while C.I.C. Inspector Saul Wiener (Ed Asner) suggests that foreign agents may be involved due to Constable's private government work. Everything is played with total conviction, keeping the audience guessing for the first two thirds, and even if there aren't any paranormal phenomena on hand it's still an enjoyable watch. Among the many guest stars present is venerable scene stealer John Carradine, around for only two minutes but making an impression on Lauder; his character, Mr. Bosch, is a lifelong illusionist who points the way to the final answer: "don't try to figure out how it was done, that's a waste of time...just start from zero and say this is the illusion I want to create, now how will I go about it?" Though only 49, the still beautiful Gene Tierney looked much older, in what turned out to be her final feature film role.

At its core this movie is a cold war espionage drama in the guise of a ghost story. There is some reasonably good acting and dialogue, and some fun cameos and supporting roles by well-known actors, including Gene Tierney, John Carradine, and Ed Asner, so it may be worth look if that sounds appealing to you. However, there is nothing supernatural about this movie; if you are a fan of made-for-television horror movies from that era, such as Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and The Night Stalker, and looking for something along those lines, this movie will likely disappoint you.

First saw this made for TV film back in the 1970s when I was about the same age as the little girl in the movie.I wasn't able to understand it properly at the time,but the ghost theme captured my imagination.I found it very appealing and intriguing when I saw it again much later on as an adult.

At times, this is quite a decent supernatural drama with Ray Milland ("Prof. Constable") as a man haunted by the recent death of his young daughter. When driving home from the cemetery one night, he is certain that he has seen her, heard her - almost touched her! He decides that either this is a real psychic phenomenon or he is being had, so consults cybernetics man "Lauder" (Don Murray) to get to the bottom of it. FBI man Ed Asner ("Wiener") also has an interest in the case as it transpires that "Constable" is, unwittingly, working for the government on some top secret project and it soon looks like there is a third hand at work here and manipulation on a grand scale is afoot. The use of the visual effects and audio is quite effective in recreating a plausible scenario of re-incarnation but the score from Robert Drasnin overwhelms any subtlety and even Milland's acting is a bit too by the book. There is little by way of menace and as the political storyline develops, it really stops being very interesting. Still, worth watching for the first half hour.

I saw this way back in 1969 when it first aired, and I saw it as a plain old ghost story, since I knew nothing of the Cold War when I was 12 years old. But...seen today, I think that maybe we could have a really cool horror movie with the Ghosts of all of our American Heroes who have died while fighting in Iraq coming back to haunt and terrify George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condi Rice ... and all of their peers and cohorts who put our American Heroes in Iraq in the first place--all because George W Bush had to prove himself to his old man since Saddam tried to kill the older Bush.

Now that's a movie I would pay to see!!!

Like Curtis, this movie freaked me out when I was eight years old. I always thought that it was Cathy Silvers and tonight I was watching the 30 year reunion for Happy Days and thought, Let's Google!! Well, her filmography didn't list any TV shows (I would have never remembered Daughter of the Mind ) and found the Pamelyn Ferdin website and then ended up here. One of my life's greatest enigmas has been answered and now I plan to try and locate the movie from the vaults of Movie of the Week which gave rise to Mystery of the week which gave rise to McMillan and Wife, Columbo, The Night Stalker, and McCloud. Whew. Isn't the Internet wonderful?!!

I just was channel surfing and ran across "Daugher of the Mind", which have not seen since I was a young child (I am now almost the big 50), however, much to my dismay the movie was 3/4 over and I only got to see the last 1/2 hour. But this was enough to bring back memories of seeing it as a young girl and how haunting the movie was to me.

In now seeing the credits and getting the name of Pamelyn Ferdin I was able to go online (something I was not able to do 36 years ago) and find her web-site with all of this wonderful biography information.

I had no idea how many movies and TV shows she had done and I am sure that I must have seen many of them in order to have such fond and vivid memories of her.

To Pamelyn, "thanks for the memories" and hopefully this movie will be on again so I can see it from the beginning or better yet, obtain a copy for my collection. Also, I am glad to see that you are not a "casualty of child stars" and that you proved you can be a child star and a successful adult person.

Maybe "TVLand" can do a "Where are they now" special on Pamelyn.

That is what everyone seems to say that I know. We even brought it up at my 30th class reunion! I remember watching it (10 yrs old) and being petrified! But it's all relative. What was scary back then might be cheesy now. But I sure would love to see it again! I found a site called movielead.com that claims to have it but you have to write a request and leave your email, and someone will get back to you. Anyone ever hear of that site and if they are legit? Thank you to all who critiqued it and gave it high ratings. I think the Baby Boomer crowd appreciates this kind of stuff far more than the younger ones. Made for TV movies are sometimes the best, but the hardest to get a copy of!

I had read the book, "The Hand of Mary Constable" in my dad's Reader's Digest Condensed Books, so I was thrilled when I saw that it was going to be a Movie of the Week.

Unfortunately, it didn't live up to the book, as is frequently the case. In particular, the technology supposedly employed by the hero (which was actually the protagonist's name in the book, Alexander Hero) was ridiculously inadequate.

The book had a real downbeat Cold War mood to it and was a highly effective and timely thriller. I first heard the term "cybernetics" there.

Much later, I read the uncondensed version of the book, and though it had a lot more sex (not at all a deterrent), it wasn't as propulsive as the condensed version.

I remember this movie as a young child.Pamela Ferdin and Ray Miland were great in it.It was actually kind of creepy and depressing about a young girl who had died.It actually upset me as a little kid that the characters daughter died so young.I never knew kids could die and this freaked me out as a kid.In some ways I guess it made me realize that anyone can die young and old,but the ending was hopeful and made me feel a bit less freaked out.The musical score was very well done and the acting was good also.TV movies in the late 60's and 70's,80's were SO much better than they are today.They actually had a STORY and Characters that were more realistic and original.Today,writers have no talent as they need to RE DO like every movie in a remake.Sad.I like the Originals.Wow,now that I think about it,I must have seen this in the 70's as I am still in my late 30's and this was made in 1969,the year I was born.I probably saw it at age 11 or 12 sometime in the mid to late 70's on a rerun.It really scared me.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed and Produced by Walter Grauman, for 20th Century-Fox TV, broadcast by ABC-TV. Screenplay by Luther Davis, based on Paul Gallico's novel; Photography by Jack Woolf; Edited by Michael Economou; Music by Robert Drasnin. Starring: Ray Milland, Don Murray, Gene Tierney, Barbara Dana, Ed Asner, Pamela Ferdin, George Macready, John Carradine, William Beckley, Ivor Barry, Virginia Christine, Cecile Ozorio and Frank Maxwell.

Stylish Grauman direction sets this above the run-of-the-mill made for TV horror opuses. Key scientist Milland is subjected to a "daughter back from the dead" supernatural hoax to convince him to defect -his gullibility to psychic suggestion is a most unlikely plot device. Carradine gives a fine cameo as an old-time magician and expert on spiritualist faking. Film ends with an old-fashioned touch: after the hoax is definitively exposed and the film is resolved, Ray hears the voice of his dead daughter saying "Don't forget me" as he gazes at his wife's sculpture of the child.

Daughter of the Mind (1969)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Mildly entertaining made-for-TV thriller about a father (Ray Milland) who lost his daughter in a car crash thirteen-months earlier but on the way home from her grave one night she stops him and passes along a message. The father seeks the help of his doctor friend (Don Murray) and soon the two try to figure out if this is really her ghost or if something else is going on. The supporting cast includes Gene Tierney as Milland's wife and we get small roles with Ed Asner and John Carradine. The film isn't a total success because it tries to be a lot smarter than it actually is with a couple plot twists that take place in the film. The first part of the movie plays out like a horror film but then we switch gears with some espionage thrown in for good measure. I can't say the spy and horror genre mixes too well together but the cast never let things get too boring. Milland, at this point in his career, will certainly be love-him or hate-him because he does have the ability to go over the top and something this hampers a film. He stays under control here for the most part, although some of his rants are a bit questionable. Murray is a tad bit too laid back in his role but Tierney turns in a good performance even if it's pretty much a thankless role. Both Asner and especially Carradine are wasted so if you're tuning in to check them out just be warned that they don't have too much to do with Carradine only getting one brief scene. The plot twists are extremely silly and don't work too well and when the movie is over you're going to think back and catch about fifteen other plot holes but while watching the film it isn't too bad thanks to the actors. This is certainly something very minor so only major fans of there's will want to check this out.