Shock Corridor (1963)

Bent on winning a Pulitzer Prize, a journalist commits himself to a mental institution to solve a strange and unclear murder.

Director:

Samuel Fuller

Writer:

Samuel Fuller

Stars:

Peter Breck, Constance Towers, Gene Evans

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Breck	...	Johnny Barrett
Constance Towers	...	Cathy
Gene Evans	...	Boden
James Best	...	Stuart
Hari Rhodes	...	Trent
Larry Tucker	...	Pagliacci
Paul Dubov	...	Dr. J.L. Menkin
Chuck Roberson	...	Wilkes
Neyle Morrow	...	Psycho
John Matthews	...	Dr. L.G. Cristo
Bill Zuckert	...	'Swanee' Swanson (as William Zuckert)
John Craig	...	Lloyd
Philip Ahn	...	Dr. Fong
Frank Gerstle	...	Lt. Kane
Rachel Romen	...	Singing Nympho

Storyline

Johnny Barrett, an ambitious journalist, is determined to win a Pulitzer Prize by solving a murder committed in a lunatic asylum and witnessed only by three inmates, from whom the police have been unable to extract the information. With the connivance of a psychiatrist, and the reluctant help of his girlfriend, he succeeds in having himself declared insane and sent to the asylum. There he slowly tracks down and interviews the witnesses - but things are stranger than they seem ...

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Plot Keywords:

psychiatrist | mental institution | undercover | mental patient | faked insanity | 

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Taglines:

The Medical Jungle Doctors Don't Talk About!

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

(Banned)

Did You Know?

Trivia

Early in the film, during the strip club scenes, a photograph of Samuel Fuller (famously with a cigar) can be seen on the wall.

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Goofs

When talking to the police near the beginning of the movie, when shot from the back, Cathy's coat collar is up, but when we see her from the front, her collar is down.

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Quotes

Cathy: He was sane enough to write that story. He's been sane for weeks. Don't you stand there and tell me there's nothing you can do for him. Why? Why does he look like that?
[Pan left to see Johnny sitting there motionless]
Cathy: Oh, god in heaven...

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Crazy Credits

The quote "Whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad". Euripides 425 B.C." appears at the beginning and end.

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Connections

Featured in Four-Legged Time Bomb (2008)

User Reviews

Bigotry for breakfast, ignorance for dinner

This is one experience I'm not likely ever to forget, it is truly unsettling. One of the most ferocious, savage and disturbing films I have ever seen, and brilliant cinematic art on top of it.

Ambitious reporter has himself admitted to a mental hospital in order to solve a murder there. He poses as an incestuous brother to his 'sister' and real-life stripper girlfriend, and once inside gets to talk to all three witnesses to the murder. Gradually, though, his own mind starts to disintegrate ...

Was there ever an asylum like Samuel Fuller's? Hope not. One of the inmates is singing the Factotum Aria from 'Barber of Seville' around the clock, another savours the words "I am impotent and I like it", but they are the sanest ones. Of the three witnesses one imagines himself to be a general at Gettysburg but suddenly shifts and claims to be a Communist in reaction to "my folks (that) fed my bigotry for breakfast and ignorance for dinner" in a long pathetic virtuoso solo by actor James Best. One, a young black man, dresses as a Ku Klux Klan member, advocating white supremacy, expressing his loathing for blacks ("Oh, they're alright as entertainers, but ..."), and the third, a Nobel prize winner, has retreated into infantilism.

'Shock Corridor', which obviously turned out to be a cult favourite, directed by maverick independent filmmaker and former journalist Samuel Fuller, makes no excuses for itself, and its style is swaggeringly confident, blending pulp and downright tawdriness with high melodrama and noir, in unforgettable, dramatically lit images. Sometimes it's plain silly in its excessive irony, at other times searing in its empathy, and probably the most funny moments are those when the reporter (a wonderful Peter Breck) once more asks his increasingly absurd and irrelevant question, "Who killed Sloane in the kitchen?", and when he finally learns who, he forgets about it immediately! I cannot recommend this film enough, it is one of the great works of art of American cinema. No less.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 1963 (USA)

Also Known As:

O Corredor do Silêncio

Filming Locations:

Kotoku-in, Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Allied Artists Pictures, F&F Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Ryder Sound Services)

Color:

Black and White Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1