Review: Strait-Jacket

Twenty years ago, Joan Crawford was committed to an asylum after taking an axe to her younger, philandering husband and his mistress. She has now been released and taken in by her grown daughter (Diane Baker). Re-integration doesn’t come easy. Leif Erickson plays Crawford’s brother, while George Kennedy turns up as a dirty-looking farmhand.

 

A brilliant twist that I didn’t see coming saves this 1964 shocker from schlock filmmaker William Castle (“The House on Haunted Hill”, “I Saw What You Did”). Scripted by Robert Bloch (“Psycho”, “Asylum”, “The House That Dripped Blood”), this is essentially Castle’s own “Psycho” (with a bit of “Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte” thrown in) there’s some fun moments throughout, but some thumb-twiddling too. Joan Crawford definitely isn’t miscast here, Castle was shrewd enough to use Crawford appropriately in this melodramatic role. She’s a lot of fun. The always underrated Diane Baker is lovely as ever playing Crawford’s long-suffering daughter. Meanwhile, there’s a nice use of sound throughout and the B&W cinematography by Arthur E. Arling (“The Yearling”, “The Secret Invasion”) makes particularly effective use of shadow.

 

This is knowing trash, but what I actually liked most here aside from the twist is that Castle and Bloch show the struggles of re-integration into society for those who have been committed to confinement. And the struggle is shown both on the end of the patient and their loved ones. It’s shown to be a tentative, confusing situation. Make no mistake though, Castle’s making a ‘crazy old lady’ thriller first and foremost. There’s an outstanding decapitation, much better than the severed head in “Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte” and it suggests Castle might’ve done OK in the slasher genre had he lived longer. There’s also a strikingly designed and photographed scene where Crawford has a delusion/nightmare that she’s been locked up. And again, I did not see the big twist coming. I should’ve but I didn’t.

 

On the downside, a guy named Mitchell Cox is woefully miscast and wooden as Crawford’s doctor. He wasn’t an actor, he was on the board of Pepsi Cola and was cast because of his friend Crawford, also on the same board. His lack of experience shows, but it’s more that he doesn’t remotely convince as a doctor. He seems more likely to be a small-town sheriff or maybe a gas station attendant to me. Ultimately the film is a bit uneven and frustrating, dangerously close to not working. The twist narrowly and almost single-handedly earns this a soft recommendation. It’s got some fun in there but isn’t nearly as much fun as you’d like it to be. The contrast between batshit Crawford and calm, sweet Baker is terrific and George Kennedy (who also appeared in “Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte”) is also very fine. Give it a look, but you might end up slightly underwhelmed here.  

 

Rating: B-

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