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:

"Shock Corridor" Opens the Door to Sights You've Never Seen Before!

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Samuel Fuller, the film was shot in 10 days, on one set, with no exteriors.

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Goofs

During the climatic fight sequence between Johnny and Wilkes, Peter Breck's stunt double is visible in a few shots.

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Quotes

Cathy: [Appearing in John's dream] All of the men want me, Johnny. But I want you. And you - you want the Pulitzer Prize.

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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

Edited from House of Bamboo (1955)

User Reviews

Disturbing look at mental wards has its moments...needs better script...

Samuel Fuller's direction helps keep SHOCK CORRIDOR watchable but the script is never valid enough to make the film anything more than an interesting experiment that is only half successful.

PETER BRECK does a good job as a newspaper reporter with only one thought on his mind. ("Who killed Slade in the kitchen?"). He goes undercover at a mental institute in order to uncover the truth. His girl friend CONSTANCE TOWERS agrees to help get him get incarcerated on the pretense that he's her brother and tried to rape her.

That premise alone is hard to make believable the quick succession of events that lead to Breck's being shoved into a psycho ward. Director Fuller lets the camera discover several other rather interesting patients but none of them are fully developed as characters we can care about.

Without revealing the disturbing ending, let me just say you're liable to get hooked into watching the film if you happen to catch it from the start. It's worth a watch, if only to see where all the story strands are going.

But when it's all over, you have to wonder whether anyone can really take the story seriously. Good try though--and Breck really gives his all to his volatile bursts of temper.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 1963 (USA)

Also Known As:

Straightjacket

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