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THE BRAIN OF COLONEL BARHAM
Grant Williams, Elizabeth Perry, Anthony Eisley, Wesley
Addy,
Douglas Kennedy, Paul Lukather, Martin Kosleck.
A wheelchair -bound astronaut donates his brain to a space exploration
project.
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QUICK SCAN...
The brain of an ex-astronaut (Anthony Eisley, of TV's "Hawaiian
Eye") goes on a rampage. Elizabeth Perry is quite good as
the astronaut's wife. The FX, including energy beams from Eisley's
brain, are surprisingly good.
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SYNOPSIS...
Colonel Barham, a wheelchair bound astronaut, volunteers to have
his living brain transplanted into a robot, which will be sent in
a spaceship to Mars. Against his wife's wishes, he does it anyway.
Now existing as a brain in a bottle, connected to high-tech machines,
the astronaut begins to control people through his super brain power.
A brain controlled doctor, now a zombie, almost kills a colonel.
A general, with a high powered rifle, shoots at the brain from a building
across the street. In the resulting fire and explosion, the super
brain is destroyed.
REVIEW...
Director Charles Haas', THE BRAIN OF COLONEL
BARHAM, is an odd, if not entirely satisfactory, Sci-Fi yarn.
Anthony Eisley ("77 Sunset Strip"), as the crippled astronaut,
gives a grim, one note performance. Oddly enough, once he donates
his brain to science, and is reduced to just being a voice on a radio,
Eisley's performance improves.
Grant Williams, ("The Incredible Shrinking Man"), under
Haas' direction, also gives a performance of limited depth. It perhaps
is unfortunate that Williams character didn't donate his brain to
science as well, since a brain in a jar would be more interesting
to look at than Williams' bland mug.
Elizabeth Perry delivers a solid performance as Barham's wife. She
brings a welcome sense of reality to an otherwise very far out story.
The Teleplay, by Robert C. Dennis, (Story by Sidney Ellis), contains
some sharp dialogue. When General Pettit, played by Douglas Kennedy
("The Amazing Transparent Man"), proposes that Eisley, who's
estranged from his wife, donate his brain for use in a robot space
probe, Eisley asks, "How would I do with pretty girls?"
Pettit/Kennedy tersely replies, "How you doin' now?"
The Special Effects, particularly smoky energy beams going from Eisley/Barham's
brain to people and objects, are quite good. Van Der Veer Photo Co.
appears to be the responsible party.
My favorite scene takes place early on. We see pretty good FX of a
spaceship flying through space, as well as a Martian landscape. Most
of the rest of the episode takes place in a military hospital, which
feels pretty confining after awhile.
Director of Photography, Kenneth Peach, once again does a highly professional
job, delivering visually interesting screen imagery.
The music, frequently utilizing violins, weaves an appropriately weird
mood. Harry Lubin gets the credit.
THE BRAIN OF COLONEL BARHAM will be somewhat watchable for most Sci-Fi
fans. Viewers who like stories set mostly outdoors will not dig this
episode.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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