The straitjacket
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The straitjacket |
| Original title | Strait jacket |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1964 |
| length | 89 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | William Castle |
| script | Robert Bloch |
| production | William Castle for Columbia Pictures |
| music | Van Alexander |
| camera | Arthur E. Arling |
| cut | Edwin H. Bryant |
| occupation | |
| |
The Strait Jacket (OT: Strait Jacket ) is an American crime film from 1964 with Joan Crawford , which contains elements of the horror film . Directed by William Castle . The participation in this film dismantled the reputation of Joan Crawford as a serious actress and brought her in the following years only appearances in B-films .
action
Twenty-five-year-old Lucy Harbin returns from work early one day and finds her husband in bed with another woman. Out of anger, she reaches for an ax and cuts off the heads of the two adulterers. Their three-year-old daughter Carol watched the crime. A court sentenced Lucy to spend the rest of her life in the closed psychiatry. After twenty years, Lucy is, contrary to expectations, released as cured and stands in front of her daughter without prior notice. Carol is now enjoying success as a sculptor and is engaged to the young, attractive millionaire Michael Fields. To Lucy's surprise, Carol is delighted to see her mother again. Overjoyed, Lucy accepts the somewhat strange request from her daughter to transform herself back into the young woman twenty years ago. She wears a black wig, skin-tight dresses, and layers of makeup to complete the illusion. However, massive doubts soon arise as to whether Lucy is really cured. She flirts without inhibitions with Michael, who is decades younger, and makes his parents' parents a scene when they want to ask her about the dark incidents in the past. Carol plays with the idea of having her own mother admitted again. But before that happens, Lucy's doctor is killed with an ax. All suspicions point to Lucy, who begins to doubt her sanity more and more. There is a dramatic scene when Mr. Fields, who disapproves of the marriage between his son and the daughter of an ax murderer, is hacked to pieces in the middle of the night. His wife comes in when a female figure who looks like Lucy threatens her too with an ax. At the last moment, the real Lucy can prevent the deed and reveal the real murderer: It is Carol who has slowly but surely gone mad over the past twenty years. Lucy is deeply shaken and decides to follow her daughter to the mental hospital to care for her there.
background
Joan Crawford said goodbye to the big screen in 1957, despite a large number of offers, in order to devote herself to the concerns of the beverage company Pepsi after she had married its chairman Alfred Steele in 1955. When Steele died unexpectedly in 1959, he left Crawford with millions in debts. The actress was more or less forced to take up film offers again in order to pay off the liabilities. The comeback in All My Dreams brought her a handsome fee and other offers in 1959. Among the multitude of projects, Crawford ended up collaborating with Robert Aldrich and Bette Davis in What Really Happened To Baby Jane? The macabre story about two sisters who are chained to each other in a hateful relationship brought in a lot of money for the stars, as they had a percentage of the box office results. Overall, however, the success permanently ruined the careers of the two actresses in the long run.
Due to an illness of Joan Crawford, the plans for a renewed collaboration with Bette Davis in the film Lullaby for a Corpse failed . A coincidence brought the actress into contact with William Castle , a producer of B-films. Castle wanted to capitalize on the trend of starring female actresses from the heyday of Hollywood, but whose fame was on the decline, in cheaply made horror films that sometimes crossed the boundaries of horror film . An original screenplay by Robert Bloch , the author of Psycho , was to be filmed together with Joan Blondell . Immediately before filming began, Blondell was injured in a fall through a glass door and had to cancel her participation. Joan Crawford accepted the role for a fee of just $ 50,000 and a 15 percent revenue share.
However, Crawford required extensive changes in the script. Lucy Harbin's age had to be reduced to 25 at the time of the murders. Crawford was able to portray a 45-year-old in the film, even though he was 60 himself. At the same time, the actress, who had been on Pepsi's board of directors for several years, insisted on massive product placement . In some scenes, Pepsi bottles and Pepsi vending machines are built into the plot. The role of Lucy's attending physician was played by Mitchell Cox, then Vice-President of Pepsi's board of directors.
In the long run, Joan Crawford's appearance in The Straitjacket proved fatal. In the following years she only received offers for appearances in macabre, inexpensive B-films, which often exceeded the limits of good taste in their graphic representation of violence, abuse and cheap shock effects. Crawford's reputation as a serious actress suffered great damage from these performances.
Theatrical release
With $ 2,400,000 in revenue from the US market, the film proved to be profitable and relatively successful.
Reviews
Contemporary critics have fluctuated between horror at the role's inferiority and regret that Joan Crawford would waste her talent.
Bosley Crowther stuck to his usual derogatory manner towards Joan Craword in the New York Times :
“Joan Crawford has already made a number of wrong decisions in her career, even some very bad ones, but by far the worst wrong decision is 'The Straitjacket' [...] The story is absolutely useless, both psychologically and dramatically and William Castle's direction and production is from the cheapest and shabbiest variety. The only possible viewers for this form of melodramatic crap are people with a penchant for disgusting violence (of which there is plenty) and cheap shock effects. "
Judith Crist, the critic of the New York Herald Tribune , even found Crawford praised:
"'Strait-Jacket' should better be 'What happened to Baby Monster?' and with that you already have the decisive hint. [The movie] proves that lightning never strikes the same spot twice, and it's time to save Joan Crawford from those cheap, self-made horror B-movies and bring her back to haute couture. Miss Crawford, you must know, is in a class of her own. "
literature
- Roy Newquist (Ed.): Conversations with Joan Crawford. Citadel Press, New York / Secaucus 1980, ISBN 0-8065-0720-9 .
- Alexander Walker: Joan Crawford. The Ultimate Star. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1983, ISBN 0-297-78216-9 .
- Lawrence J. Quirk : The Complete Films of Joan Crawford. Citadel Press, New York / Secaucus 1988, ISBN 0-8065-1078-1 .
- Lawrence J. Quirk, William Schoell: Joan Crawford. The Essential Biography. University Press, Lexington, KY. 2002, ISBN 0-8131-2254-6 .
Web links
- The straitjacket in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Strait jacket at Turner Classic Movies (English)
- Background information
- Setphotos
- numerous set photos
Individual evidence
- ↑ see information here: Archived copy ( memento of the original from August 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Joan Crawford has picked some lemons, some very sour lemons, in her day, but nigh the worst of the lot is "Strait-Jacket," [...] The story is utterly invalid, psychologically and dramatically, and William Castle's direction and production are on the cheapest, sleaziest side. The only conceivable audience for this piece of melodramatic rot is those who have a taste for ghoulish violence (of which there is plenty) and blunt shock-effected thrills.
- ↑ "Strait Jacket" should be subtitled "What Ever Happened to Baby Monster?" And there's a clue for you. [It] proves that lightning does not strike twice and that it's time to get Joan Crawford out of those housedress horror B movies and back into haute couture. Miss Crawford, you see, is high class.
