We open at the track of the Pennsylvania 500 with car #37 in the lead. After Tom Kovack (Leonard Nimoy) brings that car in for a quick pit-stop, he then roars back out and retakes the lead. Concentrating on the track, as he rounds a dangerous curve, Kovack is suddenly overcome by a psychic vision: he sees a large palatial mansion, followed by visions of a road, a green van, and a hay truck -- coming right at him! The vision fades to an older woman in distress, screaming her head off, while a young girl runs down a flight of stairs, and a whispering voice keeps repeating "Windom in Devon..." And these images are so strong that Kovack seizes up, loses control of the car and wraps it around a tree. The rescue team arrives, and for a minute, believe him to be dead, but Kovack walks away unscathed.

Some time later, when Kovack is interviewed about the wreck and reveals the visions to the interviewer, Michelle Brent (Susan Hampshire) happens to catch the results on TV. Brent (-- who is English and lives in London --) is a dealer of antique books and more than a casual dabbler in the occult (-- and what's she's doing watching Formula-One Racing Today is beyond me). Fascinated by Kovack's tale, she believes the woman he saw is real, and in grave danger, and somebody needs to do something about it. Tracking Kovack down in New York, he thinks Brent is some kind of kook but is willing to give her fifteen minutes to convince him that his vision are real -- but I really think he is more intrigued with her good looks. (Man, Spock is hitting on a chick -- alas, he doesn't quite have the Shatner technique down.) As the duo hash it out, Kovack figures the manor he saw was in England, because of the Windom and Devon reference, but the voice he heard saying it was definitely an American. While he makes a crude drawing of what he saw, Brent produces a book with a picture of Windom Manor in Devon, England; it's exactly what he saw in his vision. Kovack writes it off as a coincidence, and with her fifteen minutes up Brent leaves her number in case he changes his mind.

Meanwhile, we discover that the screaming woman and the girl Kovack saw in his vision are none other than famed American movie actress Andrea Glenn (Vera Miles), and her daughter, Jennifer (Jewel Blanch). Things get more sinister because they're on there way to Windom Manor to meet with her estranged husband, Duncan Sanford. Seems the couple have been separated for over eleven years, and the plot thickens some more when we find out that Duncan arranged for the trip to meet Jennifer, his daughter, for the first time. Arriving at the manor, they're greeted by the creepy Mrs. Faraday (Rachel Roberts), who runs the palatial retreat. Excited to meet her father Andrea asks where Duncan is, but Faraday is ignorant of any plans of the alleged family reunion. But she's sure that Duncan will show up eventually; if not, he lives in the nearby village. Jennifer is severely disappointed by this, but Andrea promises that they'll go to the village first thing in the morning. They head inside and are impressed with the seaside view; Windom Manor is built on a cliff overlooking the sea. (He says knowing this will probably be relevant.)

Back in New York, while preparing to take a shower, Kovack is overcome by another vision: he's running in the country and comes upon Windom Manor. He runs to the door and pounds on it until it opens up. He goes inside and sees the staircase he saw earlier, but is drawn more to an elevator that ominously indicates it's going down. The vision shifts and he's on a balcony, overlooking the sea. He turns and spies someone, or something, coming at him and is pushed over the concrete railing and then plunges into the sea ... Kovack snaps out of it before he splashes down. He's still in his apartment, lying in the middle of the floor, but is soaked through. The shower is running, but his clothes reek of salt water. Convinced that maybe there's something to these visions after all, he quickly calls Brent...

You know, contrary to what you might think, or have heard, the Internet is a truly wonderful thing. You want proof? Well, without it, I’d never have seen that video clip of Leonard Nimoy rocking out "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins". Judging by the style of music, go-go dancing and fashions, this was done sometime in the mid- to late ‘60s. It also appears Nimoy was still involved with Star Trek at the time, too, because he’s sporting his famous Vulcan widow’s peak and funky sideburns. 

Nimoy, along with William Tiberius Shatner, released several albums in the late 1960s. Albums or vanity projects I'll leave you to judge, but people only seem to remember Shatner's singing escapes. Now, Shatner had his own “unique” musical style -- I like to call it Caucasian Scat, treating every tune as if he were speak-singing "When I was Seventeen" with the expected hilarious results. His album, The Transformed Man, contains his interpretations of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Recently, Shatner has resurrected his musical career with those hilarious Priceline.com commercials. Nimoy, on the other hand, actually has a very rich baritone voice and doesn’t sound all that bad. It’s just hard to swallow him singing "Proud Mary". (Highly illogical.) Leonard Nimoy: The Way I Feel is probably his most infamous album, containing the covers of  "If I had a Hammer" and "I Walk the Line". The New World of Leonard Nimoy includes "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" and the cornpone classic, "Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town". The Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy has one side done as Spock, the other as himself. And he went through an experimental phase with The Touch of Leonard Nimoy. Outer Space/Inner Mind is back in Spock territory with the prophetic "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Earth". So, he has at least five albums floating around on vinyl collecting dust somewhere, and if you’re feeling brave enough, track them down. For those of you who don’t know what vinyl is (-- man, I’m getting old), there’s a CD compilation combining their best efforts titled Spaced Out: The Very Best of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. They both are also prominently featured on The Golden Throats collections, so you could also snag those if you need to get your fix.

But we’re here to talk about movies, right? Right. Well, after seeing the video clip of Nimoy smiling and singing to his heart’s content about 30 times it finally tripped a synapse in my head. Cerebral Tesla coils sparked, and along with the smell of burning copper it triggered a latent memory of a movie I once saw: a vague notion of Nimoy playing a psychic race car driver, who used his mind powers to help solve mysteries. Crossing my fingers I headed to the video store, hoping beyond hope it hadn't disappeared in the great VHS purge. And, believe it or not, it was still there to rent! (I’m as shocked as you are.) The film, of course, was Baffled!, and after doing some research I discovered it was a made for TV movie, or more appropriately, a failed TV-pilot made back in 1972. (Shields up, Captain! Bad fashions ahead! Set phasers on Earth tones! Fire photon bell bottoms! Full spread!) Tipping it's made-for-TV hand very early, the opening credits consist of rapid-cut action scenes taken directly from the film, ending in freeze frame. (A '70s TV staple if there ever was one.) The wonky musical score actually grew on me, and soon I was really digging the action theme to Baffled!. The mystery at its center is fairly engrossing and set up quick as our partners in crime agree to meet up in London. Ms. Brent is very grateful that Kovack changed his mind. After their initial meeting she did some research, and after a hair-raising ride through Piccadilly Circus, they manage to book the last two reservations at Windom for the season. Not to rouse any suspicions, when Brent thinks they should go separately Kovack happily agrees so he won't have to ride with her anymore.

Meanwhile, Andrea and Jennifer find Duncan's house, but only find an old woman in a wheelchair inside. She introduces herself as Louise Sanford (Valerie Taylor), Duncan's cousin, who allows Jennifer into Duncan's bedroom, where she finds all the letters she'd written him. The girl also finds another letter that has the seal of vicious looking wolf. (And the dissonant organ sting upon it's discovery tells us it is, indeed, EVIL!) Alas, Louise doesn't know where Duncan is either. She fears he's taken up with that Parrish character again (-- you know, that dastardly occultist), and the mere mention of that name makes Andrea bristle. 

Kovack arrives at Windom manor just as Andrea and Jennifer get back. Recognizing both of them, he gets another psychic-whammy when he gets inside, finding both the staircase and the evil elevator. Elsewhere, Jennifer wanders around the library, finds an old tome and miraculously opens it right to the page with the same wolf's head symbol that labels it the Sign of Marchosias, who is (-- you guessed it) EVIL! Brent arrives next, and Kovack offers to help with her bags. When they're alone, he confirms that his psychic visions were all true. Faraday catches them talking but they cover up fast by talking about race cars. Then, Brent asks if Faraday knows that Kovack is a racer. She doesn't, but believes he will be delighted to meet Girlie: the pride of Windom Manor. (But that meeting will have to wait for a bit.) Later, we meet the other guests as they gather for supper: Voreli (Chris Benjamin) is an Italian who designs highways, and is infatuated with Windom's excellent selection of vintage wines; the other guests are George and Peggy Tracewell (Ray Brooks and Anharad Rees), a younger British couple, who seem normal enough. (Perhaps TOO normal.) Not very hungry, Jennifer excuses herself and wanders the grounds. In the boathouse she runs into her estranged father, where things get even more cryptic when Duncan (Mike Murray) tells her sinister forces are working to keep them apart, so she can't tell her mother they've met. Jennifer appears to be under some kind of trance, and our suspicions are confirmed when Duncan places a medallion of the Marchosias wolf around her neck with strict instructions not to show it to anyone else. Back inside, Andrea is growing worried because Jennifer isn't back yet. She hears a clavichord (-- cool, Lurch is here), follows the noise and finds Mrs. Faraday playing away. She hasn't seen Jennifer, so Andrea keeps looking and heads outside. She searches the grounds and the boathouse with no luck. Returning to the house, she hears more voices and follows them to the same room as before, finding Faraday and the Tracewells enjoying a nightcap, but the clavichord has vanished! Again, Faraday plays dumb and says there has never been a clavichord in Windom. Andrea begins to question her sanity as she returns to her room, where Jennifer waits in hiding and scares her.

The next morning, we find out that Girlie is cherry '27 Bentley, and Mrs. Faraday gives Kovack permission to shake the cobwebs loose on the old roadster. When Jennifer walks by dressed in a high mini-skirt and go-go boots, Brent comments it took her three years to get from twelve to fifteen but Jen appears to have done it overnight. They try to follow her but she gives them the slip. Suddenly, Kovack is overcome by another vision that it isn't very clear. As Michelle coaches him on how to bring it to focus, it very slowly tunes in: he sees someone squeezing the liquid out of a leaf into a red glass. Fearing it may be poison, they quickly find Andrea, who is having a glass of orange juice out of a red glass. Raising a ruckus about getting an autograph, Kovack knocks the drink over. He apologizes but Andrea blames the rash behavior on Windom; the manor appears to be affecting everyone, especially her daughter, so they're leaving that afternoon.

Relieved that their rescue mission is a success, with Andrea leaving before the deadly vision is fulfilled, the two heroes return to their rooms. They pass Mrs. Faraday and Jennifer, giggling and talking girl talk. Brent watches, smelling a bigger conspiracy, and is convinced that Faraday is looking younger than she did before. After they leave, Faraday gives Andrea another red glass full of OJ and smiles devilishly as she drinks it. Later, Andrea is sick enough that a doctor is called in. They won't be leaving after all. Kovack tries to tell the doctor what's wrong, but the snotty M.D. wants to know how he knows it's oleander poison. (Uh, my old friend Bones McCoy told me?) Kovack backs out of the conversation as best he can. Investigating further, Brent and Kovack sneak outside and find the Tracewell's car full of pharmaceutical boxes, so maybe they're behind the poisoning. Feeling Duncan is the key, Brent offers to head back to London to see if she can find him and his old partner, Parrish. Then, the romantic fire that's been smoldering between them finally sparks, and they almost kiss, but are interrupted by a thunderstorm. Later that night finds Faraday down in the bowels of Windom, where she finds Duncan waiting and they swap some spit. Meanwhile, Jennifer goes out for a stroll and Kovack follows her. She's been spying too, and knows Kovack and Brent are in cahoots. Leading him to the cliffs, she heads down the path, always staying just out of sight. He follows her trail to a landing. She calls out to him from her hiding space, and as he leans over the railing to try and see her it breaks under his weight, causing him to plummet into the surf below, barely missing the rocks. Thankfully, he bobs to the surface and drags himself to shore. 

The next day, Brent follows several leads and finds the burnt out remnants of Parrish's store that at one point was dedicated to the occult and other general weirdness. A policeman runs her off, but not before he reveals that Parrish died in the fire. Returning to Windom and Kovack -- decked out in a ghastly leisure suit and fedora, he offers her a ride in the Bentley so they can exchange information. After Faraday and Andrea watch them leave, Andrea says her daughter thinks the two are really lovers staying under false pretenses and are spying on everyone. Faraday doesn't take this news very well at all, and promises to take action. A little ways down the road, Kovack parks the Bentley and they go for a walk and try to sort things out. Brent says that both Duncan and Parrish were heavily into the occult and witchcraft, and feels that Jennifer is a source of great untapped power. Kovack doesn't think it's that sinister or complicated, and feels someone's after Andrea's fortune. Suddenly, their attention is drawn back to the road by a loud crash: Someone has pushed the Bentley into the ditch. They spot a green van, and while Kovack checks on the car, Brent checks the van and promptly gets conked on the head and dragged inside it. And once Kovack gets the Bentley unstuck the chase is own. After several twists and turns, including the foreseen game of chicken with the hay truck, the chase comes to a close when Kovack forces the van off the road, where it smashes into a tree. He gets the Bentley stopped, but by the time he returns to the wreck, the assailant is long gone. Luckily, Brent is okay and they return to Windom just as Voreli runs up on foot. Kovack accuses him of the attack, but Voreli swears he was just out exercising. Faraday catches this dust-up, giving her the excuse she needs to kick Brent and Kovack out before they can spoil her carefully laid plans, and orders them to vacate the premises by tomorrow morning. (Noon at the latest. Okay two. Alright, no later than five.)

With their time running out, Kovack reveals that when he grabbed Voreli, he was overcome by a vision of the Italian with blood all over his hands. Writing down their list of suspects, feeling Jennifer is the key, Brent is still in a lather about the girl's strange behavior. When they get past Duncan and move on to Parrish, Kovack stops writing and shows Brent what he wrote. Beside Duncan's name, he wrote something more:  Duncan is dead. Kovack doesn't remember writing it. (OoOoOOooOOoo.)

Later, Andrea awakens to find Jennifer gone again. She hears Jennifer calling to her, follows the voice down the stairs and outside to the boathouse. Inside, she finds Jennifer, lying lifeless on the floor, and then proceeds to pass out. She wakes up inside, surrounded by everyone else and claims Jennifer is dead. But Faraday, who keeps on getting younger, brings the girl in; she's fine. As everyone grows concerned over Andrea's mental state, our psychic sleuths follow the Tracewells as they sneak off, but clear them when they discover the pharmaceuticals they carry are nothing but cartons of French perfume and hair products. The next morning, on the verge of getting kicked out,  Brent tells Kovack to stall while she sneaks into town to check out Duncan's house. After she leaves, Kovack spots Voreli sneaking around and spies him tripping a secret passage that reveals a hidden staircase. Following him down into the bowels of Windom, he catches Voreli in the wine cellar, trying to steal a few bottles. As Kovack grabs the thief he gets another vision (-- and no fair using the old Vulcan mind probe there, Leonard): turns out Voreli isn't a highway engineer at all but a wholesale butcher, explaining the blood on his hands.

Meanwhile, Brent finds Duncan's house but Mrs. Sanford isn't there, only the cleaning woman, who provides the biggest clue of the movie, revealing that Mrs. Sanford has been staying at this residence for only two weeks, not four years as she claimed. Brent also finds an autographed picture of Parrish and (-- I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! --) it's really the man claiming to be Duncan, who has Jennifer under his spell. Returning to the manor, she finds Kovack still stalling and reveals their new prime suspect, Mrs. Sanford, just as they hear the sounds of her wheelchair squeaking about -- but are too late to catch her as the elevator door closes and heads down to the basement. Leading Brent down the secret passage, Kovack plans to head the old woman off at the pass. The basement appears empty, but they find a door to another room. They head in, but realize too late it's just a maintenance door. Then, said door shuts, but not by itself, locking them inside the bottom of the elevator shaft! Upstairs, night falls (-- rather rapidly), and Jennifer confesses to Andrea that she's been seeing her father (-- who we now know is really Parrish -- but hang on we got one more plot twist coming.) Shocked at the news, Andrea is told to save her questions for Duncan, who finally wants to see her. They enter the elevator and head up to the top floor. When the elevator door opens revealing the attic, a lot of cobwebs, and a familiar balcony and concrete railing overlooking the sea, Jennifer steps back into the elevator and heads down, leaving her confused mother stranded behind. But Andrea isn't alone: Mrs. Sanford is there waiting for her.

At the bottom of the shaft, Kovack and Brent watch as the elevator descends down to crush them. As they brace for the worst, she confesses her only regret is not being able to spend more time with him. But the elevator stops just short of smushing them, and then heads back up. Back in the attic, Mrs. Sanford tells Andrea that Duncan died eight months ago, and she was the one who invited them over to England. Raving that Jennifer has great power that she wants to exploit, Mrs. Sanford stands up and discards her wheelchair. When Andrea swears she'll never let that happen, Sanford smiles, saying she won't be around too stop it: seems an American actress whose mind quickly degenerated and snapped will commit suicide by throwing herself into the sea. But, before she takes the final header, Sanford demands that Andrea sign some legal documents first, making her Jennifer's legal guardian. Andrea refuses, so Sanford moves in to persuade her.

Down below, desperate to get out, Brent convinces Kovack to see if his new abilities include telekinesis. She coaches him to concentrate on the lock and to try and "push" it open. He concentrates and blurts out "Open Sesame!" To both their surprise, the lock gives and the door opens. But it's only Voreli, who was stealing some more wine and heard them. Rushing upstairs they spy Faraday and Jennifer coming down the staircase. When Kovack stops them and demands to know where Andrea is, Faraday escapes but Jennifer stands transfixed. Brent spots the Marchosias medallion around her neck and tells Kovack to get it the hell off of her because it's EVIL! He tries but Jennifer runs away. The chase leads up the steps, where the girl trips and falls, shattering the medallion in the process. Finally released from Parrish's spell, Jennifer reverts to her old self and starts to cry. We then cut to the Bentley, roaring away, and spy Faraday rapidly returning to her rightful age. So distraught is she over this, she runs the car right over the cliff into the sea. Back inside the manor, Jennifer reveals that her mother is in the attic with Mrs. Sanford. Leaving Brent to take care of her, Kovack heads up to the rescue ... Bursting into the room he finds the two women fighting over the pen and papers. Sanford flies into a rage and attacks him, and starts tossing Kovack around the room. (The fighting sequence appears to be choreographed by Shatner, as well.) Kovack is surprised by her strength but then realizes the truth. He counterattacks (-- use the Vulcan death grip!) and pulls the old ladies mask off, revealing (-- I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! --) that Mrs. Sanford is really Parrish in drag! (Hey, it's Vera Miles, we should have seen this coming.) Parrish socks Kovack in the chin, sending him sprawling onto the balcony, where the concrete barrier crumbles and barely holds him from going over the edge. An enraged Parrish charges to finish the job, but Kovack manages to dodge him and the villain falls to his doom on the rocks below.

The next morning, the police arrive and lock up Windom. Andrea and Jennifer are very grateful for their help and invite Brent and Kovack to come and visit them anytime. They leave, leaving only our psychic detectives at the manor. He has a rental car; she has a taxi waiting. They keep it professional and promise to stay in touch. But as Kovack turns to get in his car, he is seized by another vision: he sees Parrish and another Marchosias disciple boarding a flight to Paris. He calls to Brent, tells her what he saw and to put her bags in his car. They've got to get to Paris because someone else in trouble. Brent happily agrees.

The End

There have been stranger concepts for a TV show other than psychic sleuthing but not that many. Alas, the series was never picked up, so Baffled! was the end of Kovack and Brent's adventures, which is really too bad because Nimoy and Hampshire have great chemistry together. I really liked how Kovack's visions are never crystal clear. Just suggestions, or bits and pieces, that he and Brent must act upon; but they have to be careful not to reveal too much, like with the oleander poison. One by one Kovack's visions are proven true or to be real. And to the film's credit, it uses this to create a sense of danger and urgency as they try to piece it all together before it's too late. It is an interesting premise with likeable characters and given more time it might have proved very entertaining. If memory serves, there was a lot worse crap showing on TV in the '70s. On the minus side, if Baffled! is guilty of anything (-- aside from a couple time warps --) it's that it starts too many supernatural subplots that aren't explored enough, or left to shrivel on the vine. We're never quite sure if Faraday's de-aging process is directly linked with Jennifer's maturing behavior. I think it is, and there was that quick blurb of Faraday aging again after the amulet is smashed. I think. It happened too fast to be sure. I'm also assuming it was Duncan who died in the fire and not Parrish. So the film is about one kooky character, subplot or red herring short of becoming convoluted, and teeters on this precipice for the entire movie. But to its credit, it never falls in. And now that I think about, after a lengthy and tangled build up, the conclusion sure does wrap up in one hell of a hurry.

I must also take a quick moment and say, poor Vera Miles. Does she attract psychotics in drag all the time or what? The Scooby-Doo mask revelation at the end is pretty laughable, but I'll defend it. I'm glad Sanford was played by a real woman, and not Murray in drag, or the mystery would have solved itself in about ten minutes.

Nimoy's affiliation with this movie, and his hosting of In Search Of...(-- a favorite program from my impressionable and misspent youth), leads one to ponder and perhaps conclude that he believed in things like ESP, the occult, witchcraft and Cryptozoology. Or was this all he could get because of his close association with Star Trek? As Ernie Hudson put it so well in Ghostbusters: "If there's a steady paycheck in it? I'll believe anything you say." Nimoy’s career did suffer from being typecast as everybody’s favorite green-blooded alien. Admittedly, there are a couple of occasions in the movie where he slips into Spock mode, and we're having a hard enough time trying to break him out of the Spock mold so this doesn't help. Still, he is a pretty good actor if given the chance, and brings a real likeability and an everyman sense to Kovack, which helps immensely to keep things in proper balance because it gets a little hard to swallow when Hampshire's character insists they're fighting off evil incarnate. There is no boogeyman, Kovack insists, just bad people doing bad things. The truth, like the conclusion of their first adventure, is probably somewhere in between. Which makes Baffled!, on the whole, a disappointing experience because, well, I enjoyed it, and wish there were more episodes to explore the concept further.