Project X (1968)

Starring Christopher George, Greta Baldwin, Henry Jones, Monte Markham, Harold Gould
Directed by William Castle
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

When a dead uncover agent's last words predict an attack on America in 14 days, the race is on for scientists to recover the memories from his brain.

One of William Castle's last directorial efforts is this early attempt at a techno-thriller, based on the books of Leslie P. Davies.  The film offers a fine premise, with the notion of trying to recover critical information from the dead agent's mind before it's too late, and the attempt to show memories within the brain against backgrounds animated by Hanna-Barbera makes for some interesting visuals.  However this works better when it's done more subtly earlier in the film, as later on Jonny Quest-like drawings clash a bit with the actors.  For a sci-fi effort, the film's attempt to cast Asia as the villains, along with the henchmen wearing conical hats comes off as uncomfortably racist, and the film's women don't fare much better, an uncomfortable remembrance of conflicts and stereotypes in the 1960s.  Although George is the credited star of the film, he's not given a lot to do, nor has any real memorable scenes, but character actor Henry Jones is excellent and the real standout as the scientist leading the journey into his memories.  I enjoyed watching this, and it held my interest, but was never sold on the story's conceit that it needed to give George a new identity when resuscitated to put him in a position where they could retrieve his memories, depending on constructing a 1960s farmhouse to keep him ignorant of the future time period.