Somehow manages to vacillate between corny and absolutely edge-of-your-seat riveting. The sequence of him in the flooding hallway was mesmerizing stuff. The aforementioned nympho ward, as well as the weird dreams and lengthy "strip"tease sequence are really silly.
Though its representation of madness is naive and stereotypical, it's a solid story. Good acting, and good variety of characters that make this manufactured madness funny to watch.
A journalist craves for a Pulitzer so much that he commits himself to a mental hospital, in order to find the person responsible for a murder committed there. Reading the plot description, I assumed there was a serial killer or something in the mental hospital, who needed to be found, but instead it was just somebody who had happened to kill someone in there. Kind of like wanting to go inside a prison to find who committed a shanking there. It was a bit random when you think about it.
Since there is no story or mystery or anything at all regarding the murder and storyline in question and since the main character doesn't have anything going on character-wise, with his actions limited mostly to his mental patient-act, and since the plot is constructed basically through the main character trying to gain information from the witnesses, some irritatingly over the top mental patients who at most basically say that they happened to saw the incident, well, the movie really wasn't all too captivating or enjoyable.
Having just seen some bad dramatic dialogue in White Dog and Naked Kiss, the opening scene where Constance Towers is trying to warn the main character about the dangers and so on (like about how his own mental health is in danger by being so close to all the sick people...), made me really think if Fuller had some trouble with timing and fluidity when it came to scenes like that. Constance Towers just started to yell and complain right when the movie started, and it all seemed too soon and irritating and melodramatic in a bad way. It wasn't any less annoying that having to watch those mental patients.
The laugh-out-loud nymphos-moment was a slight redeeming factor, and the scene where the main character loses his ability to speak just when he needed to speak did a passable job at creating tension, despite being very convenient at the same time obviously.
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Comments 1 - 11 of 11
caley
Somehow manages to vacillate between corny and absolutely edge-of-your-seat riveting. The sequence of him in the flooding hallway was mesmerizing stuff. The aforementioned nympho ward, as well as the weird dreams and lengthy "strip"tease sequence are really silly.Esnaider
This has to be one of the worst depictions of mental illness everchryzsh
Too much shouting. My head hurtsGodPepper
Though its representation of madness is naive and stereotypical, it's a solid story. Good acting, and good variety of characters that make this manufactured madness funny to watch.V012
Brilliantly wacky and unpredictable. The surreal atmosphere was marvelously original.Dieguito
People shouting to each other..Jpit
A journalist craves for a Pulitzer so much that he commits himself to a mental hospital, in order to find the person responsible for a murder committed there. Reading the plot description, I assumed there was a serial killer or something in the mental hospital, who needed to be found, but instead it was just somebody who had happened to kill someone in there. Kind of like wanting to go inside a prison to find who committed a shanking there. It was a bit random when you think about it.Since there is no story or mystery or anything at all regarding the murder and storyline in question and since the main character doesn't have anything going on character-wise, with his actions limited mostly to his mental patient-act, and since the plot is constructed basically through the main character trying to gain information from the witnesses, some irritatingly over the top mental patients who at most basically say that they happened to saw the incident, well, the movie really wasn't all too captivating or enjoyable.
Having just seen some bad dramatic dialogue in White Dog and Naked Kiss, the opening scene where Constance Towers is trying to warn the main character about the dangers and so on (like about how his own mental health is in danger by being so close to all the sick people...), made me really think if Fuller had some trouble with timing and fluidity when it came to scenes like that. Constance Towers just started to yell and complain right when the movie started, and it all seemed too soon and irritating and melodramatic in a bad way. It wasn't any less annoying that having to watch those mental patients.
The laugh-out-loud nymphos-moment was a slight redeeming factor, and the scene where the main character loses his ability to speak just when he needed to speak did a passable job at creating tension, despite being very convenient at the same time obviously.
tricksta_p
Bombards you with social critique while being captivating as a story.True vigilante cinema from Samuel Fuller.akuma587
The scene about the nymphomaniacs is so goofy that you might fall out of your chair laughing.Other than a few clumsy moments in the film that make it a bit unsophisticated, this is a solid film that holds your interest.
ClassicLady
Fascinating! A marvelous illustration of life inside a mental ward. Insightful and just a little bit campy.Skyscore
http://www.afisha.ru/movie/179393/review/154924/