The Criterion Collection video series has four of director Samuel Fuller’s films in it, and not only was 1963’s “Shock Corridor†among the first to get in, but it’s one of the company’s oldest DVDs. (Of Criterion’s 551 titles, it was 19.) While the attention Criterion’s given Fuller is the tip of the iceberg in terms of how many movies he put together during his long career, what it pulled from the vault makes you wonder what all the fuss is about. Sure, his overrated “Pickup on South Street†gets a pass by virtue of all its clout, but many cinephiles got along fine without “White Dog†in their DVD collections. If neither converted you into a Fuller fan, chances are the re-release of “Shock Corridor†Criterion’s putting out today won’t change your mind any faster.
It’s a shame this film doesn’t work, especially in light of how promising a setup it has. Hoping to cash in on a killing at a mental institution that might win him a Pulitzer, Johnny (Peter Breck) goes incognito as an insane pervert to coax the identity of the murderer from three troubled witnesses. He gets his reluctant girlfriend (Constance Towers) to masquerade as his sister and tell the police he attacked her, while he hams it up for therapists who evaluate him. With all he subjects her to for a shot at the Pulitzer, you can tell which of the two is more important to him.
Once the orderlies give him the rundown on life in the loony bin, Johnny goes after the men who witnessed the killing: There’s Stuart (James Best), an ex-communist who thinks he’s a Confederate war hero; Trent (Hari Rhodes), the first black student at an all-white college who fantasizes about life as a Klansman; and Dr. Boden (Gene Evans), a Nobel Prize winner who went mad formulating new weapons. As Roger Ebert made reference to with his Law of Economy of Characters, all relevant characters have to contribute something to the storyline – which means that if Johnny wants to crack this case, he’ll have to go through all three to do it.
It’s too bad Fuller couldn’t give such a good cast something better to do, particularly Towers’ overwhelmed girlfriend, a performance that lets you see why he wanted to work with her again. (They reunited for “The Naked Kiss,†another relic Criterion’s re-releasing today.) There’s a sense he had more talent than he knew what to do with – not even the Law of Economy of Characters could’ve saved him.
This article originally appeared on AllMediaNY.com
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