The Brotherhood Of The Bell (1970)

A university professor (Glenn Ford) learns that an elite society he joined as an undergraduate is really a sinister organization that seizes wealth and power for its members through nefarious practices. After refusing an order from the Brotherhood, he finds himself increasingly isolated as he tries to expose the organization. Based on the novel by David Karp and directed by Paul Wendkos (THE MEPHISTO WALTZ). For the first hour, this is a very good conspiracy thriller. It creates an atmosphere of paranoia that grows in intensity until you become unsure if Ford's protagonist is a victim of a conspiracy or if he's mentally unhinged. Alas, it unravels in the movie's last 20 minutes or so. It doesn't entirely fall apart but it goes enough off the rails to make it do some damage. Previously filmed for television in 1958. With Rosemary Forsyth, Maurice Evans, Dean Jagger, Dabney Coleman, William Conrad, Eduard Franz and Robert Pine.