Glen Ford plays a member of a secret college society he thinks is a harmless fraternity with weird secret ceremonies. Until they assign him a task that leads to a death of a friend. From then on, for breaking the code of silence, is "The Brotherhood of the Bell" trying to break him? Or is he losing his marbles? The cockeyed camera angles given Ford as the movie progresses can be seen a either danger or insanity.
Ford is such an ordinary Joe, as actors go, his performance as a typical guy helps get across the paranoia inherent in the story.
When in my 20s I joined the Masons and the first thing my guru told me was, "The Masons never killed anybody," and I thought, "Hot dog!" But I quickly found out it was just a lot of pot-bellied old men who performed silly rites under the pretense of doing something important (though I've kept the code of silence, because that's a code of honor; it's too boring to relate, anyhow).
I suppose most "secret societies" are like that, and when presidential candidates are found to belong to secret societies the tin-foil hat crowd has a collective cow. But they're just as unhappy when "outsiders" run and have worse cows when they win so what are we to do?
Whether you believe the world is run by small, secret cliques (the Trilats, the Illuminati, the Knights Templar, the whomever) or think that's giving way to dangerous mental issues, "The Brotherhood of the Bell" is unsettling entertainment whose eeriness will keep you awake nights. Apart from Ford, good performances all around.
Ford is such an ordinary Joe, as actors go, his performance as a typical guy helps get across the paranoia inherent in the story.
When in my 20s I joined the Masons and the first thing my guru told me was, "The Masons never killed anybody," and I thought, "Hot dog!" But I quickly found out it was just a lot of pot-bellied old men who performed silly rites under the pretense of doing something important (though I've kept the code of silence, because that's a code of honor; it's too boring to relate, anyhow).
I suppose most "secret societies" are like that, and when presidential candidates are found to belong to secret societies the tin-foil hat crowd has a collective cow. But they're just as unhappy when "outsiders" run and have worse cows when they win so what are we to do?
Whether you believe the world is run by small, secret cliques (the Trilats, the Illuminati, the Knights Templar, the whomever) or think that's giving way to dangerous mental issues, "The Brotherhood of the Bell" is unsettling entertainment whose eeriness will keep you awake nights. Apart from Ford, good performances all around.