BRAINSTORM on TCM 8/29

[Mr. Arkadin]

Ah, Seconds, now that's a cozy nightmare to curl up to.

Good call on starting a Brainstorm thread. Although I do see some thematic similarities to Frankenheimer's work, I would be remiss if I didn't add that it also seems to share some ideas with Sam Fuller's Shock Corridor (1963).

[youtube][/youtube]

[Dewey1960]

Ark, SHOCK CORRIDOR is the brilliant lynch-pin for this intriguing hybrid
branch of noir thrillers, and it does seem to be heavily pruned by Fuller,
Frankenheimer and...Conrad. (Check out MY BLOOD RUNS COLD (65) and
TWO ON A GUILLOTINE (64) and episodes from the sixth and final season
of 77 SUNSET STRIP (63/64) which Conrad produced and directed with Jack
Webb, for further proof of his particularly nasty brand of entertainment.
Still BRAINSTORM remains Contrad's directorial masterpiece; here's the only
other scene available on YouTube. Viveca Lindfors, as the psychiatrist
assigned to get to the bottom of Jeffrey Hunter's "psychosis," runs our
boy through a series of invigorating tests...
[youtube][/youtube]

[JackFavell]

I watched Seconds for the first time at two in the morning some years ago, because I was suffering from insomnia. Needless to say, I was not able to sleep for the rest of the night. I never forgot Frankenheimer, the film, nor Rock Hudson's and John Randolph's fascinating performances.

I can see that I am going to have to investigate Shock Corridor, since there has been some discussion on the other boards about it as well. I seem to be drawn to this "hybrid branch of noir thrillers".

[RedRiver]

I must take a deep breath before saying this. I hate SECONDS and SHOCK CORRIDOR. Maybe I just don't get them. Is "Corridor" a between the lines comedy of sorts? A satire? If not, it's a laughably bad drama! (NYMPHOS!) I'm not a big Fuller fan anyway. He's too much in his head.

To be honest, I didn't even finish SECONDS. (You won't hear me say that at the dinner table!) I found the story lifeless, the "oh, so 60's" atmosphere pretentious. It looks like a collection of all the worst elements of the other counter culture films of its era.

Certainly I should watch the whole thing before critcizing. And I couldn't have more respect for the other members of this board. But I'm not sure I want seconds of SECONDS!

[JackFavell]

You should have watched it at two in the morning...

[knitwit45]

Or in a darkened theater, trying to act nonchalant and grown up.....

[Mr. Arkadin]

I must take a deep breath before saying this. I hate SECONDS and SHOCK CORRIDOR. Maybe I just don't get them. Is "Corridor" a between the lines comedy of sorts? A satire? If not, it's a laughably bad drama! (NYMPHOS!) I'm not a big Fuller fan anyway. He's too much in his head.

To be honest, I didn't even finish SECONDS. (You won't hear me say that at the dinner table!) I found the story lifeless, the "oh, so 60's" atmosphere pretentious. It looks like a collection of all the worst elements of the other counter culture films of its era.

Certainly I should watch the whole thing before critcizing. And I couldn't have more respect for the other members of this board. But I'm not sure I want seconds of SECONDS!

Aw, try another bite:

http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/vie ... f=1&t=4076

[Dewey1960]

Fuller is definitely an acquired taste for many. His bold choices (both in the subject
matter he chose and the methods he used to present them) are often head-scratchingly
odd at times. Most likely his background in sensationalistic journalism and his experiences
in the war helped create this bombastic style. But it was a style that was uniquely his own
and there was generally little doubt that you were watching a Sam Fuller movie.
Frankenheimer is a director who enjoyed phenomenal success at a relatively young age.
After MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE he must have felt that he could do whatever he chose to do
without much thought to critical consensus. SECONDS was not a popular film when first
released in 1966. It’s acceptance today as a “cult” film is fairly typical of unusual American
“art films” that go unappreciated in their own time. But even today, SECONDS is still only
known to a relatively small audience, possibly due in part to its lack of availability on any
home vid format. In any case, it is a difficult film to embrace, but one with its own peculiar rewards.

And while we’re at it, let’s all give a nod to the man who probably did as much as anyone to exploit
this burgeoning hybrid of paranoia and fantasy…Rod Serling.
[youtube][/youtube]
This is a sequence to one of my own personal favorite TWILIGHT ZONE episodes, “Long Live Walter
Jamieson” starring Kevin McCarthy, who had just a few years earlier made a life-long impression as
the star of Don Siegel’s mindblowing film INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. Those familiar with
this episode will probably recall the eerie chill the climax provided.
[youtube][/youtube]

[ChiO]

Did someone say "paranoia"? "Fantasy"?

Oh, maybe the film isn't, in its totality, a paranoia-fantasy hybrid,
but the director had a grasp of the concept.
[youtube][/youtube]

Hey, RR -- I agree with Dewey, but I was where you are. SHOCK CORRIDOR
was the first Fuller film that I intentionally watched. It ended with me
scratching my head and wondering what the fuss was about. Then came THE NAKED KISS
and I was still in the same spot of bewilderment. With PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET,
it became clearer. With each movie thereafter, I became more of a fan, and the three
mentioned above are now my three favorites and Fuller is one of my favorite
directors.

[ChiO]

Or, maybe the director came closer to the hybrid here.
But, is it paranoia if everyone is after you? And is it
fantasy if it is really happening?
[youtube][/youtube]

[CineMaven]

What goes on here? Has everyone been eating cream cheese and hotdogs smeared with grapes and jelly at four in the morning? I like "SECONDS" and thought Rock Hudson gave a great unheralded performance. (Oh when our pretty boys step out from under the klieg lights...) Look forward to seeing "BRAINSTORM" (big Anne Francis fan here). Looking at the screen shot of Jeffrey Hunter with Viveca Lindfors puts to mind "Nightmare Alley" when Tyrone Power meets up with that Ice Queen Helen Walker as the Psychiatrist.

All fantastic examples I see on this thread. Now which one of you is hoarding the grapes?

[Dewey1960]

WOW! Great call, Maven! While I don't claim to be in possession of the
grapes, let's check out Ty and Helen spreading a little of their own
bizarre jam in the nightmarish NIGHTMARE ALLEY...
[youtube][/youtube]

[RedRiver]

Chio,

Afraid I don't like NAKED KISS either. (No, that's not a comment on my social life!) Too much psycho-babble. THE STEEL HELMET doesn't fit me. (I'll take one of those fiber glass ones.) But you'll be glad to know my first exposure to SHOCK CORRIDOR was at the Music Box! The NYMPHOS line brought the house down!

I did enjoy "South Street" and THE BIG RED ONE. The Jesse James film is OK.

Cinemaven, please try and control the wrath of grapes!

[JackFavell]

MAven, GREAT connection to Nightmare Alley! I never would have put those together! I'm glad to see you jumping in.

I've only seen the early Fullers, I Shot Jesse James and The Baron of Arizona, so I can't judge if I'm a Fuller fan or not.... I really like those early films a lot, enough to record them the second time they showed up on TCM. I like Fuller's style quite a lot, his content is what I'm not sure about.

I LOVE Pickup on South Street, it's so pulpy and yet detailed... I love the way the setting is almost another character. it reminds me of Fuller himself (after having seen him in the added The Men Who Made the Movies episode) - full of heart but tough as an ex-con.

When I attempted to watch The Big Red One, I just couldn't go there at that time, despite wanting to see it badly. I tried three times, and three times, I couldn't make it past the first section, it affected me more than I could handle. I'll definitely try again, though, when I feel I have a little more strength to push ahead.

As for John Frankenheimer, he's a favorite director of mine, if a bit on the cold side. And Seconds is maybe my favorite of his films, it's so trippy.