New Releases: Shock Corridor and The Naked Kiss Blu-ray and DVD

Shock Corridor (1963)

The Criterion Collection honored the startling and sensationalistic cinema of a true American original, filmmaker Sam Fuller, with the release of his classic films Shock Corridor (1963) and The Naked Kiss (1964) on DVD and Blu-ray on Jan. 11, 2011, priced at $29.95 and $39.95, respectively.

Criterion released DVD versions of both drama movies in the late 1990s (Shock Corridor, The Naked Kiss), but they were noticeably lacking in special features. Not so with the 2011 editions, which are both fully loaded with extras (in addition to sporting new high-definition digital transfers).

In Shock Corridor, Fuller masterfully charts the uneasy terrain between sanity and dementia. Seeking a Pulitzer Prize, reporter Johnny Barrett (Peter Breck, TV’s The Big Valley) has himself committed to a mental hospital to investigate a murder. As he closes in on the killer, madness closes in on him. Constance Towers (TV’s General Hospital) co-stars as Johnny’s cool-headed stripper girlfriend. With its startling commentary on race in 1960s America and daring photography by Stanley Cortez (The Night of the Hunter), Shock Corridor is now recognized for its far-reaching influence.

The setup in The Naked Kiss is pure pulp: A former prostitute (also Constance Towers) relocates to a buttoned-down suburb, determined to fit in with mainstream society. But in the strange, hallucinatory territory of director Fuller, perverse secrets inevitably simmer beneath a seemingly wholesome surface. Featuring radical visual touches, full-throttle performances, more brilliant cinematography by Cortez and one bizarrely beautiful musical number, The Naked Kiss is among Fuller’s greatest, boldest films.

Here’s a list of special features on the Shock Corridor DVD and Blu-ray discs:

• new video interview with star Constance Towers by film historian and filmmaker Charles Dennis
• excerpts from The Typewriter, the Rifle and the Movie Camera, Adam Simon’s 1996 documentary on director Samuel Fuller
• original theatrical trailer
• illustrations by cartoonist Daniel Clowes (Ghost World) and a booklet featuring an essay by critic and poet Robert Polito and excerpts from Fuller’s autobiography, A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting and Filmmaking

And here are the special features for the DVD and Blu-ray of The Naked Kiss:

• new video interview with star Constance Towers by film historian and filmmaker Charles Dennis
• excerpts from a 1983 episode of the BBC’s The South Bank Show dedicated to Samuel Fuller
• interview with Fuller from a 1967 episode of the French television series Cinéastes de notre temps
  
• interview with Fuller from a 1987 episode of the French television series Cinéma cinémas
  
• original theatrical trailer
• illustrations by Clowes and a booklet featuring an essay by Polito and excerpts from A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking

Buy or Rent Shock Corridor
DVD | Blu-ray	DVD | Blu-ray	DVD | Blu-ray

Buy or Rent The Naked Kiss
DVD | Blu-ray	DVD | Blu-ray	DVD | Blu-ray