“Shock Corridor” is a film that takes on topics that range from insanity, racism, patriotism, nuclear warfare and sexual perversion. Only Samuel Fuller could have crafted a film this crazy, this awesome and wonderful! A true Fuller masterpiece that is highly recommended!
Image courtesy of © 1963 F&F Productions. 2010 All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Shock Corridor – The Criterion Collection #19
RELEASE OF FILM: 1963
DURATION: 101 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Color, 1:75:1 Aspect Ratio, Monaural, Subtitles: English SDH
COMPANY: Janus Films/The Criterion Collection
RELEASED: January 18, 2010
Written and Directed by Samuel Fuller
Produced by Samuel Fuller
Executive Producer: Sam Firks, Leon Fromkess
Music by Paul Dunlap
Cinematography by Stanley Cortez
Edited by Jerome Thoms
Art Direction by Eugene Lourie
Set Decoration by Charles S. Thompson
Costume Design by Einar Bourman
Starring:
Peter Breck as Johnny Barrett
Constance Towers as Cathy
Gene Evans as Boden
James Best as Stuart
Hari Rhodes as Trent
Larry Tucker as Pagliacci
Paul Dubov as Dr. J.L. Menkin
Chuck Roberson as Wilkes
Neyle Morrow as Psycho
John Matthews as Dr. L.G. Cristo
Bill Zuckert as “Swanee” Swanson
John Craig as Lloyd
Philip Ahn as Dr. Fong
Frank Gerstle as Lt. Kane
In Shock Corridor, the great American writer-director-producer Samuel Fuller masterfully charts the uneasy terrain between sanity and madness. Seeking a Pulitzer Prize, reporter Johnny Barrett (Peter Breck) has himself committed to a mental hospital to investigate a murder. As he closes in on the killer, insanity closes in on him. Constance Towers costars as Johnny’s coolheaded stripper girlfriend. With its startling commentary on racism and other hot-button issues in sixties America and its daring photography by Stanley Cortez, Shock Corridor has had far-reaching influence.
“Shock Corridtor” begins and ends with…”Whom God Wishes to Destroy He First Makes Mad.” – Euripides, 425 B.C.
Samuel Fuller, the quintessential American screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist who has received the respect of filmmakers and cinema fans worldwide would once again shock the masses with his 1963 film “Shock Corridor” starring Peter Breck and Constance Towers.
A film that would be a Sam Fuller favorite for many generations and a film that would be selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically; or aesthetically significant.”
And what a significant film “Shock Corridor” turned out to be, as it would be regarded as a film that stands out among the many wonderful films in Samuel Fuller’s oeuvre.
When it comes to cinema, one of the more popular American director’s that have inspired many directors abroad is Samuel Fuller. From his first film “I Shot Jesse James†(1949) or as writer beginning with “It Happened in Hollywood†(1937), Fuller is a true auteur who can create a film with all closeups, tackling politics or racism in his films, he was not afraid to do things his way through his style of filmmaking and needless to say, it was that daring style that influenced directors such as French New Wave’s Jean-Luc Godard.
Film critic and filmmaker Francois Truffaut wrote about Fuller: “Samuel Fuller is not a beginner, he is a primitive, his mind is not rudimentary, it is rude; his films are not simplistic, they are simple, and it is this simplicity that I most admire.†(The Films in My Life)
And if there is one word that Fuller emphasized, to even his talent and crew, it was “simplicityâ€.
With a good number of films in his oeuvre, from films such as “I Shot Jesse James†(1949), “The Steel Helmet†(1951), “Pickup on South Street†(1953), “House of Bamboo†(1955), “The Crimson Kimono†(1959) and “Underworld U.S.A.†(1961), Fuller had gained the reputation for being a filmmaker who created the films that he wanted to create, even if it meant not making much money (from his producers). But he was a director who knew what shot he wanted, knew what he wanted to get out of his talent and wasn’t afraid to take on politics, racism, etc.
With a release of both “The Naked City” and “Shock Corridor” by the Criterion Collection in 1998, as the company went on to re-release their older titles in their catalog with better DVD authoring and more special features, many fans have awaited the re-release of both Samuel Fuller films and now both are being re-released on DVD but also in High-Definition on Blu-ray.
“Shock Corridor” prompts the question of how far a journalist would go to get a story. A decade earlier, Billy Wilder would have success with his 1951 film “Ace in the Hole” but for Samuel Fuller, having worked as a journalist, he saw a lot of things that took place in the industry and also in the city. How far a journalist would go to get recognized.
And this is the basis for his 1963 film “Shock Corridor”, a story about a journalist named Johnny Barrett (played by Peter Breck) who seeks the Pulitzer Prize and so he would concoct a scheme to be committed to a mental hospital in order to investigate and learn for himself of who killed a man inside the psychiatric hospital.
Having gone through training with Dr. Fong (played by Philip Anh) and working together with his editor “Swanee” Swanson (played by Bill Zuckert), the only person not supportive of doing this is his girlfriend Cathy (played by Constance Towers).
Cathy is a stripper who is working hard to earn money for her marriage to Johnny but Johnny feels that the only way he will be recognized as a journalist is by going as far to do investigative reporting on the death of a man named Sloan inside a psychiatric hospital. But the only way he can get in is if Cathy pretends to be his sister and that she plays along with a story that as her brother, he has a sickness and looks to his sister for her love.
As much as Cathy doesn’t want to go through with it, for her love for Johnny she does it and gets him committed to the mental hospital.
But in order for him to make his stay in the mental hospital seem realistic, he needs to pretend that he is one of them. So, that means getting into squabbles and occasional trouble.
But as weeks pass and as Johnny gets closer to finding out who murdered Sloan, due to the various mental tests and shock therapy that he undergoes, his state of sanity will now be tested and madness and dementia starts to close in on him.
Will Johnny be able to find out who killed Sloan and eventually get him out of the mental hospital? Or will all these tests drive him crazy?
VIDEO:
“Shock Corridor” is presented in the aspect ratio of 1:75:1. Where the 1998 DVD release featured a transfer from a 35mm low contrast print (and presented in 1:66:1), the 2011 DVD version features a new high definition digital transfer created from a Spirit Datacine from a 35mm fine-grain master positive.
According to the Criterion Collection, thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS system and Pixel Farm’s PFClean system, while Digital Vision’s DVNR system was used for small dirt, grain and noise reduction.
It’s important to note that the Criterion Collection is also releasing “Shock Corridor” (along with Fuller’s “The Naked Kiss”) on Blu-ray, so if you want the best quality of this film, you definitely want the Blu-ray version. As for this 2011 DVD release, I can tell you right now that compared to the 1998 DVD, this version looks fantastic. The picture quality doesn’t look blurred, blacks are nice and deep and the grays and overall contrast looks very good and I can imagine that the Blu-ray release looks awesome.
This DVD shows no blurring, no sign of major DNR and even grain. I’m sure the details are much more noticeable in HD but for this DVD release, the picture quality blows the original 1998 DVD out of the water.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Shock Corridor” features a monaural soundtrack remastered at 24-bit from the optical track. The original 1998 version featured a 35mm magnetic soundtrack, so the 2011 DVD version features a newer soundtrack.
According to the Criterion Collection, clicks, thumps hiss and hum were manually removed using Pro Tools HD. Crackle was attenuated using AudioCube’s integrated audio workstation.
As mentioned above, if you want an HD release, a lossless monaural soundtrack is included with the Blu-ray release. As for this newer DVD release, you definitely get a solid monaural soundtrack and the Criterion Collection did a magnificent job in removing any hiss or audio defects from this latest release.
Subtitles are presented in English SDH.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Shock Corridor” (2011) DVD comes with the following special features:
- Constance Towers – (28:40) A 2007 video interview with star Constance Towers by film historian and filmmaker Charles Dennis about “Shock Corridor”, how she prepared for “Shock Corridor” and talks about working with director Samuel Fuller and also discussing her other films from her career.
- The Typewriter, the Rifle and the Movie Camera – (55:01) Adam Simon’s 1996 documentary on director Samuel Fuller. Featuring interviews with Sam Fuller plus interviews with Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Jim Jarmusch and Tim Robbins as they discuss the films of Sam Fuller.
- Original theatrical trailer – (2:54) The original theatrical trailer for “Shock Corridor”.
EXTRAS:
“Shock Corridor” comes with a 30-page booklet featuring the following essay “Lindywood Confidential†by Robert Polito (author of “Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farberâ€), “Love Your Country Despite the Ulcers†by Samuel Fuller on “Shock Corridor” (an excerpt from Samuel Fuller’s 2002 biography “A Third Face: My Take of Writing, Fighting and Filmmakingâ€).
“Shock Corridor” is a classic Samuel Fuller film that came as a response by Fuller when he wanted to show the pitiful living conditions in mental institutions.
As a journalist, Fuller was in tune with things going wrong in America and when he wrote “Straightjacket” for Fritz Lang, he showed the filmmaker photos of humans being treated like animals at the asylum. People who were robbed of their own dignity. And it’s that mental image that stayed with him from the ’40s through the ’50s and eventually he would go on to rewrite “Straightjacket” as “Long Corridor”.
And as Fuller was sensitive to the racial overtones of America and dealt with racism in his films, for “Long Corridor” he wanted to tackle insanity, racism, patriotism, nuclear warfare and sexual perversion all in one and thus the name of his film would be retitled to “Shock Corridor”. To take on issues to shock the audience and in his words, create a crazy film “ranging from the absurd to the unbearable and tragic”.
It was the sign of the times back in America were journalists would do all they can to get noticed from an article they written as that one article can definitely set one up for a career with financial benefits but also make one noticeable to the masses for the accomplishment. But ways to achieving that go from moral to immoral practices and as Billy Wilder had tackled the subject in the ’50s with “Ace in the Hole”, Samuel Fuller goes further as he tries to tell a story of a journalist who wants to solve a murder that took place at a mental hospital but will do all he can to be committed but also to put himself in the situation that he is sick.
Peter Breck played Johnny Barrett wonderfully. The journalist who would do all he can to find out the murder of a man named Sloan but will put himself through various mental tests including shock and hydrotherapy along with mixing it up with the insane, all he has is his mental state, his sanity to prevent him from being insane. But what he didn’t count on are the tests changing him from normal to a man with schizophrenic tendencies. We watch as Johnny gets close to finding out who murdered Sloan but slowly see his sanity being taken away.
Johnny has been committed to the mental asylum because he was looking at his girlfriend Cathy (who is pretending to be his sister) as a woman he is sexually attracted to. So, the doctor at the hospital are doing all he can to remove that feeling from him. Sure, he manages to keep his mind thinking about solving the case but everything else is slipping away and he doesn’t know it. When Cathy goes to visit him and finds out that he truly believes that she is his sister, we know that he is in trouble and as a viewer, you can only hope that he finds his way out. Actually, hoping that he gets the hell out of the asylum before he subjects himself too tests that will take any bit of sanity he has left.
Constance Towers does a wonderful job as playing the caring girlfriend Cathy, but as most Sam Fuller fans will recognize Towers for her wonderful role in “The Naked Kiss”, she is able to showcase her emotional acting as well as her singing in “Shock Corridor”.
Also, like other Samuel Fuller films that were shot in the ’50s, he continues to hire people of color to play key roles in his films. Philip Ahn plays Dr. Fong, Hari Rhodes plays the African American named Trent who has been subjected to fear as a Black man that now he thinks he is a white supremest and member of the KKK. And what makes this film also work are its diverse cast of insane characters.
From the hulking Pagliacci (played by Larry Tucker) who is often singing opera or a breath away from Johnny when he’s in bed can definitely scare the hell out of someone. Especially how he sings his opera while pretending to stick a knife in one’s body.
Add in Boden (played by Gene Evans), the former American physicist who worked on the atom bomb who has now regressed to a six-year-old after seeing how his work has been used as a weapon of mass destruction. And there is Stuart (played by James Best) who is a man who went on to become a communist and was chastised and humiliated when he returned back to the U.S. that he became a General named Jeb Stuart, a Confederate hero of the civil war.
“Shock Corridor” has quite a few of these interesting insane individuals that Johnny has to interact with. And it’s storyline continues to hold up quite well nearly 50-years-later. Sure, we have had other fine movies that covered life in a mental asylum, from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975) and “Girl Interrupted” (1999) but not many filmmakers and screenwriters would try to take all these various topics that were on the main headlines of American newspapers and try to incorporate it all in film. Fuller did and along with “The Naked Kiss”, these two films were Sam Fuller without Hollywood interference. He had the final say on his film and he was involved in the editing process and pretty much making sure no one messed with it, including the producer (and in this case, the producer’s wife who wanted certain scenes to be cut).
As for this DVD release of “Shock Corridor”, I can’t help but tell anyone who wants the best release of the film, to buy the Blu-ray or the new 2011 DVD release as the picture quality of the film surpasses the original 1998 Criterion Collection DVD release in so many ways.
In fact, this latest release is more than just the film themselves, both “The Naked Kiss” and “The Shock Corridor” 2011 DVD’s are a celebration of the life and film career of Samuel Fuller. The featurettes and footage are wonderful and if you are a Sam Fuller fan, I highly recommend the purchase of both “The Naked Kiss” and “Shock Corridor”.  Both films are deserving to be in your cinema collection!
Overall, I can’t help but be happy with the release of “Shock Corridor” and “The Naked Kiss” as The Criterion Collection definitely gave Fuller fans a wonderful release with the remaster and the additions of the special features plus the booklets included. Once again, if you love Samuel Fuller films, these two DVD’s (and even better on Blu-ray) are highly recommended!
