Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Daffy Duck Looney Tunes cartoon, the 1948 The Stupor Salesman , directed by Arthur Davis.
Daffy says that his shootin' iron polish will keep Slug's gun "as shiny as Gabriel's heater." "Heater" was a slang term for a gun at that time. Daffy then breaks the fourth wall to say "Ahhhh, there's good news tonight!" which was the signature line of popular radio commentator Gabriel Heatter.
Before the start of our feature presentation, as we mentioned last week, the staff of ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour would like to post a couple of videos about the murky origins of The Martini:
At this time let us remember the sage words of Noel Coward: a perfect Martini should be made by filling a glass with gin, then waving it in the general direction of Italy. And please, an odd number of olives (no lemon peels!)
We've picked another entry from the excellent reference book, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die by Steven Jay Schneider. Today's film is the 1963 thiller, Shock Corridor, directed by Sam Fuller, and starring Peter Breck, Constance Towers, and Gene Evans. Fuller originally wrote the film under the title Straitjacket for Fritz Lang in the late 1940s, but Lang wanted to change the lead character to a woman so Joan Bennett could play the role. Fuller didn't like the change, so shelved the script, coming back to it years later. There is nothing subtle about Sam Fuller and his movies. Fuller has little interest in traditional Hollywood glamour and finesse, and his in-your-face style is on full display on this film. The film is set in a mental institution and Fuller uses the asylum as a microcosm of an America haunted by topical psychoses - the imperative to succeed, forbidden sex, the threat of Communism, racial injustice and nuclear annihilation, not the average topics for Hollywood films. The difference between Sam Fuller and other "message" filmmakers is that Fuller writes in bold headlines, not subtle subtext. As always, The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour would like you to join us in watching Shock Corridor. So push away from the table, get comfortable and enjoy the film.
Samuel Fuller convinced longtime friend and associate Gene Evans into playing a role, saying "I don't know anyone else who can do this part". Evans has stated that he would have done the film for nothing. Before Evans went to work on the film, however, he got into a fight in a bar with a tough customer. Evans said he hit the guy as hard as he could but only succeeded in breaking his own finger. When he reported to work with a splint on it, Fuller objected, so Evans did the picture without it, resulting in a permanently bent finger. Fuller reportedly said in appreciation, "Well, that's what you get for fooling around."
Demand Euphoria!
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