158) Shock Corridor (1963)

158) Shock Corridor (1963) Dir: Samuel Fuller Date Released: September 1963 Date Seen: April 30, 2010 Rating: 4.25/5

In a very weird way, it's fitting that I saw Shock Corridor as part of Film Forum's "The Newspaper Film" series. In spite of the fact that its protagonist is an unscrupulous opportunist, Shock Corridor is a psychodrama about being affected by The Truth about post-war America. That Truth, as our hapless investigative reporter finds out, is that irrational fear and prejudice is the psychotic fuel that secretly fuels our nation. It frequently drives men and anyone that seeks that Truth will become corrupted by it by proxy. Because bigotry is a highly contagious disease that sometimes results in attacks by nymphomaniacs, visions of your girlfriend dancing on your shoulder or a spontaneous indoor rain shower. And as naive and reductive as that kind of Truth sounds, Fuller expresses it with such vehemence and such a devotion to cinematic experimentation, that I can't help but fall hopelessly in love with his polemically provocative Truth. Forget the restored director's cut of The Big Red One: this is my real introduction to Fuller's world of tortured men that carry the world's troubles on their shoulders. More, more, gimme, gimme.