Observations on Film Art No. 30

Pitched at screaming, full-throttle intensity, Samuel Fuller’s SHOCK CORRIDOR plunges headlong into the delirium of a psych ward, finding in it a daring metaphor for the anxieties consuming early-sixties America, from racism and xenophobia to sexual politics and nuclear paranoia. In this episode of Observations on Film Art, Professor Jeff Smith explores how Fuller and his cinematographer, the great Stanley Cortez, make use of dynamic long takes to enhance the film’s searing social critique and shattering psychological impact.