Brainstorm (1965 film)
Encyclopedia
Brainstorm, released in 1965, is a late film noir
. The film stars Jeffrey Hunter
(credited as Jeff) and Anne Francis
and was produced and directed by William Conrad
, who became better known as an actor in such television series as Cannon
and Jake and the Fat Man.
Identifying her from a driver's license as Lorrie Benson, the wife of Beverly Hills millionaire Cort Benson, he drives her to their mansion. Grayam is a systems analyst for Benson Industries, widely admired throughout the company for his intelligence. When she wakes up, Lorrie makes it clear that she had parked the car on the tracks on purpose, a suicide attempt, and resents Grayam for saving her. Grayam declines a $1,000 reward.
Impressed that he didn't rescue her for his own advancement, the hard-drinking and wild-partying Lorrie recruits him for a scavenger hunt, then begins a romantic affair with him. When the relationship turns serious, Cort Benson begins to sully Grayam's reputation at work, making it appear the valued employee is having a nervous breakdown, similar to one from his youth. Dr. Elizabeth Larstadt, a therapist, is asked to examine Grayam and finds him to have a volatile personality.
Lorrie wants to leave her husband, but Cort makes it clear he won't permit her to take their young child. Grayam hatches a diabolical plot. He will kill Cort, but not before studying how to give the appearance of insanity, so that he will be sentenced to a psychiatric institution rather than to the gas chamber for murder.
The scheme works. Dr. Larstadt's testimony lands Grayam in a sanitarium rather than a prison cell. Grayam's intention is to gradually prove to doctors that he is safe to be released back into society. In the weeks to come, however, the other inmates' behavior drives Grayam slowly out of his mind. And when he finally is visited by Lorrie, he discovers to his horror that she now has another man in her life.
A desperate Grayam plans to escape. He confides in Dr. Larstadt, now believing her to be the only one who truly understands him, and even professes his love for her. The doctor, however, is only making sure that she was correct in her assessment that Grayam is unbalanced. Hospital security guards carry him away.
that also included the series Temple Houston
for Warner Bros. Television. William Conrad had also directed Hunter in the pilot episode of that series.
Hunter and Anne Francis had previously acted together in the movie Dreamboat (1952), and in an episode of Temple Houston. Hunter and Viveca Lindfors previously worked together in King of Kings (1961).
Francis had a surge of new popularity in 1965 due to the premiere of her television series Honey West
. She made two films during the year, but the TV show was dropped after one season.
Victor Rodman
, formerly of NBC
's Noah's Ark
, made his last screen appearance in Brainstorm in the uncredited role of a prison inmate. Veteran character actors Strother Martin
, John Mitchum
and Richard Kiel
are among the sanitarium's patients.
called the film "a sub-B potboiler for those who find comic books too intellectual"; Leslie Halliwell
called it an "overlong thriller which starts off agreeably in the Double Indemnity vein, but goes slow and solemn around the half way mark."
Some critics held the film in higher regard with the passage of time. The editors of Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (1979) described Brainstorm as "a minor masterpiece of the 1960s":
"Brainstorm is undoubtedly the last of the truly great black-and-white films noirs," wrote Nicholas Christopher
in his book, Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City (1997):
Reviewing Christopher's Somewhere in the Night, Michael Atkinson
of The Village Voice
wrote that "the book does evoke a few forgotten beauts, notably William Conrad's 1965 schizonoir Brainstorm. For Christopher, this truly nutty film 'is to other film noirs what Lobachevski's geometry — in which parallel lines eventually intersect — is to Euclid's,' and insofar as noir seems to reflect back what the viewer brings to it, he's not far off target."
For the 2002 Sight & Sound
poll of the top ten films of all time, critic Jack Stevenson included Brainstorm in his list.
released Brainstorm on Region 1 DVD, as part of the Warner Archive Collection.
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
. The film stars Jeffrey Hunter
Jeffrey Hunter
Jeffrey Hunter was an American film and television actor. His most famous roles are as Jesus in the film King of Kings, as Martin Pawley in The Searchers, and as Capt...
(credited as Jeff) and Anne Francis
Anne Francis
Anne Lloyd Francis was an American actress, best known for her role in the science fiction film classic Forbidden Planet , and as the female private detective in the television series Honey West . She won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy award for her role in Honey West...
and was produced and directed by William Conrad
William Conrad
William Conrad was an American actor, producer and director whose career spanned five decades in radio, film and television....
, who became better known as an actor in such television series as Cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
and Jake and the Fat Man.
Plot
On a lonely highway, Jim Grayam spots a car stopped at a railroad crossing. Inside he finds a sleeping or unconscious woman with the car doors locked. Unable to wake her, Grayam smashes a window and drives the car to safety just ahead of a speeding train.Identifying her from a driver's license as Lorrie Benson, the wife of Beverly Hills millionaire Cort Benson, he drives her to their mansion. Grayam is a systems analyst for Benson Industries, widely admired throughout the company for his intelligence. When she wakes up, Lorrie makes it clear that she had parked the car on the tracks on purpose, a suicide attempt, and resents Grayam for saving her. Grayam declines a $1,000 reward.
Impressed that he didn't rescue her for his own advancement, the hard-drinking and wild-partying Lorrie recruits him for a scavenger hunt, then begins a romantic affair with him. When the relationship turns serious, Cort Benson begins to sully Grayam's reputation at work, making it appear the valued employee is having a nervous breakdown, similar to one from his youth. Dr. Elizabeth Larstadt, a therapist, is asked to examine Grayam and finds him to have a volatile personality.
Lorrie wants to leave her husband, but Cort makes it clear he won't permit her to take their young child. Grayam hatches a diabolical plot. He will kill Cort, but not before studying how to give the appearance of insanity, so that he will be sentenced to a psychiatric institution rather than to the gas chamber for murder.
The scheme works. Dr. Larstadt's testimony lands Grayam in a sanitarium rather than a prison cell. Grayam's intention is to gradually prove to doctors that he is safe to be released back into society. In the weeks to come, however, the other inmates' behavior drives Grayam slowly out of his mind. And when he finally is visited by Lorrie, he discovers to his horror that she now has another man in her life.
A desperate Grayam plans to escape. He confides in Dr. Larstadt, now believing her to be the only one who truly understands him, and even professes his love for her. The doctor, however, is only making sure that she was correct in her assessment that Grayam is unbalanced. Hospital security guards carry him away.
Production
Brainstorm was made as part of a two-picture contract that star Jeffrey Hunter had with Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
that also included the series Temple Houston
Temple Houston (TV series)
Temple Houston is a 1963–64 NBC television series which has been called "the first attempt . . . to produce an hour-long Western series with the main character being an attorney in the formal sense." It was the only show Jack Webb sold to a network during his ten months as the head of production at...
for Warner Bros. Television. William Conrad had also directed Hunter in the pilot episode of that series.
Hunter and Anne Francis had previously acted together in the movie Dreamboat (1952), and in an episode of Temple Houston. Hunter and Viveca Lindfors previously worked together in King of Kings (1961).
Francis had a surge of new popularity in 1965 due to the premiere of her television series Honey West
Honey West
Honey West is a fictional character created by Gloria and Forest Fickling under the pseudonym "G.G. Fickling", and appearing in eleven mystery novels by the duo.The character is notable as being one of the first female private detectives in popular fiction...
. She made two films during the year, but the TV show was dropped after one season.
Victor Rodman
Victor Rodman
Victor Rodman was an American actor best known for his work on two Jack Webb NBC television programs, Dragnet and Noah's Ark. In the latter 1956-1957 series, he played an older veterinarian, Dr. Sam Rinehart, who uses a wheelchair. Paul Burke portrayed the younger colleague and title character,...
, formerly of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark (1956 TV series)
Noah's Ark is a 24-episode half-hour drama television series which aired on NBC in the 1956-1957 season. It stars Paul Burke in the title role of the young veterinarian Dr. Noah McCann, partner with the older Dr. Sam Rinehart, played by Victor Rodman , who in the series uses a wheelchair...
, made his last screen appearance in Brainstorm in the uncredited role of a prison inmate. Veteran character actors Strother Martin
Strother Martin
Strother Martin was an American actor in numerous films and television programs. Martin is perhaps best known as the prison "captain" in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, where he uttered the line, "What we've got here is...failure to communicate."-Early life:Strother Martin Jr. was born in Kokomo,...
, John Mitchum
John Mitchum
John Mitchum was an American actor from the 1940s in films and, later, television. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and the younger brother of Julie Mitchum and Robert Mitchum, he initially appeared in only unbilled and extra roles before gradually receiving bigger character parts in middle age...
and Richard Kiel
Richard Kiel
Richard Dawson Kiel is an American actor best known for his role as the steel-toothed Jaws in the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker as well as the video game Everything or Nothing, and Mr. Larson in Happy Gilmore...
are among the sanitarium's patients.
Reception
In June 1965, critic Howard Thompson of The New York Times called Brainstorm "a so-so package of suspense ... Up to a point the story cuts ice. Then it slips into absurdity." Judith CristJudith Crist
Judith Crist is an American film critic. She appeared regularly on the Today show from 1964-1973 and has appeared in one film, Woody Allen's Stardust Memories...
called the film "a sub-B potboiler for those who find comic books too intellectual"; Leslie Halliwell
Leslie Halliwell
Robert James Leslie Halliwell was a British film encyclopaedist and television impresario who in 1965 compiled The Filmgoer's Companion, the first one-volume encyclopaedia devoted to all aspects of the cinema. He followed it a dozen years later with Halliwell's Film Guide, another monumental work...
called it an "overlong thriller which starts off agreeably in the Double Indemnity vein, but goes slow and solemn around the half way mark."
Some critics held the film in higher regard with the passage of time. The editors of Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (1979) described Brainstorm as "a minor masterpiece of the 1960s":
- Along with films like Psycho, Brainstorm is one of the best examples of the 1960s counterpart of 1940s film noir. At the core of the film's quality is a complex, compelling plot. Like Nightmare Alley and Double Indemnity, which in a narrative sense it closely resembles, Brainstorm follows a typical noir pattern from romance, to melodrama, to crime, and finally to horror. But unlike these films, which deal only tangentially with insanity, Brainstorm is primarily an exploration of that theme.
"Brainstorm is undoubtedly the last of the truly great black-and-white films noirs," wrote Nicholas Christopher
Nicholas Christopher
-Background:Christopher graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. He teaches at Columbia University. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, The New Republic, The Paris Review, The Nation, and The New York Review of Books. His novels can be considered as magic realist...
in his book, Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City (1997):
- It is unquestionably the most nihilistic film noir of either the classic or present-day cycle. ... Brainstorm is a film conceived and shot in the year following the Kennedy assassination, and its insistent references to madness, murder, mayhem, and conspiracy reflect the tenor of those times. ... [It] is the final, essential entry in that long line of films noirs that begins at the end of the Second World War.
Reviewing Christopher's Somewhere in the Night, Michael Atkinson
Michael Atkinson (writer)
Michael Atkinson is an American writer, poet and film critic. His debut novel is Hemingway Deadlights , and he has written film and culture critiques for The Believer, Sight & Sound, The Guardian, Film Comment, The Village Voice, In These Times, True/Slant, SPiN, Maxim, The Boston Phoenix,...
of The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
wrote that "the book does evoke a few forgotten beauts, notably William Conrad's 1965 schizonoir Brainstorm. For Christopher, this truly nutty film 'is to other film noirs what Lobachevski's geometry — in which parallel lines eventually intersect — is to Euclid's,' and insofar as noir seems to reflect back what the viewer brings to it, he's not far off target."
For the 2002 Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...
poll of the top ten films of all time, critic Jack Stevenson included Brainstorm in his list.
Home video releases
In March 2009 Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
released Brainstorm on Region 1 DVD, as part of the Warner Archive Collection.
Cast
- Jeffrey HunterJeffrey HunterJeffrey Hunter was an American film and television actor. His most famous roles are as Jesus in the film King of Kings, as Martin Pawley in The Searchers, and as Capt...
(credited as Jeff Hunter) as Jim Grayam - Anne FrancisAnne FrancisAnne Lloyd Francis was an American actress, best known for her role in the science fiction film classic Forbidden Planet , and as the female private detective in the television series Honey West . She won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy award for her role in Honey West...
as Lorrie Benson - Dana AndrewsDana AndrewsDana Andrews was an American film actor. He was one of Hollywood's major stars of the 1940s, and continued acting, though generally in less prestigious roles, into the 1980s.-Early life:...
as Cort Benson - Viveca LindforsViveca LindforsElsa Viveca Torstensdotter Lindfors , better known under her professional name of Viveca Lindfors, was a Swedish stage and film actress.-Life and career:...
as Dr. Larstadt