Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Woodyanders Driven Pulitzer prize-seeking reporter Johnny Barrett (a fine performance by Peter Breck) fakes being unhinged so he can be committed to a mental health hospital in order to investigate a baffling unsolved murder. However, Barrett risks his own sanity in the process of doing this. Writer/director Samuel Fuller uses the gloriously lurid and improbable, yet still gripping story as a means to explore the various ways social pressure can drive a person insane, the fine line that separates madness from sanity, and the bitter price one must pay for ruthlessly pursuing a self-aggrandizing single-minded goal. Moreover, Fuller certainly doesn't skimp on the requisite sleazy thrills: We've got a sizzling striptease cabaret number, a hysterical attack by predatory man-hungry nymphos, and a colorful array of flaky inmates. The enthusiastic cast attack the tabloidy material with considerable gusto: Constance Towers as Barrett's concerned girlfriend Cathy, Gene Evans as the infantile Boden, James Best as delusional farmboy Stuart, Hari Rhodes as the bitter and disillusioned Trent, Larry Tucker as gentle opera-singing giant Pagliacci, Chuck Roberson as friendly orderly Wilkes, and John Matthews as the earnest Dr. L.G. Cristo. The ironic ending packs a devastating punch. Stanley Cortez's sharp black and white cinematography boasts lots of striking stylistic flourishes. An enjoyably delirious marvel.

ofpsmith Shock Corridor is a film that Samuel Fuller made with limited sets and a tight budget. But out of these limitations Fuller made a truly great film. Yeah it's cheesy in some parts and some of the acting is pretty bad but it's a film that really get's under your skin. Johnny Barrett (Peter Breck) is a reporter for the paper who has himself committed to a mental hospital to solve a murder. I think this would actually be illegal but so on. Whilst there, Barrett befriends three main patients. Stuart (James Best) an ex soldier who underwent North Korean brainwashing, defected and returned and now believes himself to be General JEB Stuart of the American Civil War. Trent (Hari Rhodes) is an African American college student who was one of the first African Americans to integrate a Southern University, but was broken by racism and now believes himself to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Boden (Gene Evans) was a brilliant scientist who was driven insane by the knowledge of nuclear weapons and now has the mental capacity of a six year old. Martin Scorsese said that Stuart, Trent, and Boden represent the insanities of war, racism, and nuclear weapons respectively and I think that that's what Fuller's intentions were. Scorsese also pointed out that Fuller was showcasing in these characters that the United States had become like an insane asylum. I recommend Shock Corridor though I must point out. It is not for the faint hearted.

sunznc Shock Corridor is a tired melodrama with actors who probably played long term roles in soaps at some point. The acting feels like something from a soap in this dated film. The entire premise of the film is ridiculous and the story is predictable. Peter Breck plays a reporter who is coached by a psychiatrist on what to say and how to act so that he can be committed in a mental hospital. No psychiatrist would do this so it's hard to take anything seriously thereafter.The acting is okay but the script is dull. The film has a tedious feel to it and one wants things to move quicker. The film is black and white but oddly enough, any patient flashbacks are in color. Why not just film everything in color? Oh, black and white feels more stark. Right.I suppose there are certain scenes that command ones attention but for the most part, this is tired, tepid stuff and just isn't original enough to make any impact. I think most people will be bored and won't want to sit through this twice.

seymourblack-1 Samuel Fuller's experience as a crime reporter and pulp novelist are very evident in his work as the writer, director and producer of "Shock Corridor". This is a movie which makes a big impact, primarily because of its outrageous plot but also because of its lurid content and its powerful social commentary. Fuller's tabloid sensibilities are clearly intact as he adopts a bold and uncompromising style to deliver the story and his observations about some of the issues which were preoccupying society in the early 1960s.The publicity for the movie was overtly sensationalist and promised its audience a story containing sex, violence, psychos, schizos and men in white coats (one of whom was having sexual relationships with the female patients). Additionally, the central character is seen being straight-jacketed, being given electric shock therapy and being attacked by a group of nymphomaniacs.Fuller clearly has little time for subtlety and this fits perfectly with the needs of a maker of low budget movies and provides his output with a tremendous amount of vibrancy and energy. "Shock Corridor" is ostensibly a murder mystery but the events that take place in trying to solve this particular crime soon take prominence over everything else.Johnny Barrett (Peter Breck) is an ambitious newspaper reporter who's determined to win the Pulitzer Prize and decides to do this by getting himself into a mental hospital as a patient so that he can carry out his own investigation into the unsolved murder of one of the inmates. In order to do this, he's helped by a psychiatrist called Dr Fong (Philip Ahn) who teaches him how to appear sufficiently unstable to be committed to the institution and also his editor "Swanee" Swanson (Bill Zuckert). These two men are enthusiastic conspirators but Johnny's girlfriend Cathy (Constance Towers) who's a stripper and a singer is far more reluctant to be involved.Cathy, however, is soon persuaded to co-operate and posing as Johnny's sister makes the charge that he'd tried to sexually assault her. This leads to Johnny being committed as planned and also to him being able to begin his investigation. There were three inmates who'd witnessed the murder and Johnny's challenge is to get to the truth of what happened by eliciting the pertinent information from these witnesses before his own mental state suffers irreparable damage.Peter Breck effectively portrays the aggression and single mindedness of Johnny Barrett who was desperate for recognition and the prestige of being a Pulitzer Prize winner. His determination to achieve this goal was commendable but the means by which he planned to do so was fraught with a level of danger which Johnny ignored because he was supremely confident that his own sanity wouldn't be threatened by being institutionalised. This error of judgement predictably meant that any success that he achieved came at a very high price.The three witnesses that Johnny conversed with all displayed bizarre behaviour and were all victims of traumas that were strongly linked to social issues of the period (i.e. the arms race, racism and anti-communism). Fuller's use of the quotation "Whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad" (Euripides) is interesting as it clearly refers to the predicaments of the patients in the asylum but also infers that as their problems were triggered by manifestations of society's madness, it's not only the patients who stand to be destroyed.