Video Interlude: Charly (1968) aka Flowers for Algernon

Submitted by JMB on Mon 15/Jun/2009

Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, was first published as a short story in 1958, and later expanded to a novel. The two treatments won a Hugo award and Nebula award respectively (the Oscars of speculative fiction).

[Via Wikipedia] The titular Algernon is a laboratory mouse who has undergone surgery to increase his intelligence by artificial means. The story is told as a series of progress reports written by Charlie, the first human test subject for the surgery, and touches upon many different ethical and moral themes such as the treatment of the mentally disabled

The book has been adapted for stage (dramatic and musical theatre) and screen, most notably in 1968 as Charly, for which Cliff Robertson won the Academy Award for Best Actor. (Cliff is more familiar to younger viewers as “Uncle Ben” in the Spiderman franchise).

Remarkably, the whole film is available on You Tube.

Click for full Playlist – Charly (1968) – 10 Parts

Interesting fact: Cliff Robertson inadvertently discovered a major Hollywood scandal, and was effectively blacklisted for several years. [Wikipedia: Bio]