Sam Fuller's Shock Corridor
"Whom God wishes to destroy he first makes mad." -Euripides, 425 B.C.; quotes Sam Fuller in his opening and closing of Shock Corridor; a sentiment that surely could have been the mantra of Fuller's predecessors, Conrad and Hemingway; leading men, equal parts brave and naive, into the darkest corners, in search of something, material and/or spiritual; only to be irreparably damaged.
"The story will write itself", says Johnny (Peter Breck), a writer who enters an insane asylum to uncover the identity of a murderer; a story he is convinced will win him the Pulitzer Prize. Johnny's stripper girlfriend, Cathy (Constance Towers), expresses grave concerns early on as to whether its safe for Johnny to pose as an insane person. Does she know something we don't know about Johnny? Or is she just a bit more aware of how a vulnerable soul can be corrupted?
After the initial introduction of cartoon caricatures bouncing off rubber walls, Fuller fleshes out some of the crazies, and Cathy's concerns prove prescient. Rosco P. Coltrane, or Stuart (James Best) is one of several witnesses Johnny gets close to in order to solve the murder mystery, comforting Johnny after he is sexually assaulted by the most rabid group of nymphos this side of
Sex and the City.
As only a filmmaker with limited resources can, Mr. Fuller brilliantly uses color stock footage to tell the witnesses' back stories (Fuller also makes each witness a symbol of social and political strife). But, of course, the lucidity of the witnesses will be Johnny's biggest challenge, as each time he is within a breath of hearing the killer's name, the lunacy returns to consume them.
Fuller compounds the tension, when he places his hero in the most frightening of scenarios: shock therapy; which will lead to a great climax; including a stunning set piece wherein Johnny's state of mind is symbolized by a tumultuous rain storm within the halls of the asylum. The shot is amazing, partly because it is simply beautiful filmmaking, and partly because it is jarringly unexpected in a low-budget "B-movie".
Will Johnny be able to solve the mystery before going crazy himself? It's quite a compelling drama. The story writes itself.
