Before Miloš Forman’s critically acclaimed classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) unveiled the plight of behavioral control among institutionalized inmates, a low-budget sci-fi drama The Mind Snatchers (1972) took moviegoers in and out of the subject. Written by Ron Whyte off Dennis Reardon’s play The Happiness Cage (which was also the movie’s original title) and directed by Bernard Girard, The Mind Snatchers laces emotions, will, and authority through a thread of meaning that runs across some deep and dark territory of human consciousness.

The original title of the movie - The Happiness Cage – visually matches the movie’s opening shot with young American soldier James Reese (Christopher Walken) stopping by a cage that has a lobotomized...

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