Daughter of the Mind


Daughter of the Mind is a 1969 American made-for-television horror-thriller film starring Don Murray, Ray Milland and Gene Tierney. It was first broadcast on American [Broadcasting Company|ABC] on December 9, 1969 as the ABC Movie of the Week. It was based on the book The Hand of Mary Constable by Paul Gallico.

Plot

At the request of a colleague, psychologist and ESP researcher Dr. Alex Lauder investigates leading cybernetic expert Dr. Samuel Hale Constable's claim that he has seen and spoken with his young daughter, Mary, who died 13 weeks before. Keeping an open mind, Lauder decides to take the case and see where it may lead.
As Lauder's investigation progresses, he learns that U.S. government counter-intelligence is watching his every move with great interest. "Mary" appears to others besides her father, including Lauder, Mary's mother and other acquaintances during a seance. "Mary" leaves physical evidence of her appearance. "Mary" also tells Constable he must abandon his work if he wants to continue to see her. After learning from a major general how valuable disrupting Constable's work would be to the Soviet Union, the possibility of "Mary" being a real spirit begins to erode in Lauder's mind. He starts to pursue the possibility that everything connected to Mary's appearances may be generated by elaborate human-made illusions to guilt Constable into abandoning his research, and defecting to work for the Soviets to equalize their power. In the end, Lauder and the counter-intelligence agents monitoring Constable uncover a plot from behind the Iron Curtain to get the Nobel-winning scientist to defect from the United States.
Daughter of the Mind was one of the first high-quality offerings of ABC's Movie of the Week series.

Cast