Keeping a holiday tradition, this year Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the 60th anniversary of the Joan Crawford camp classic Strait-Jacket (1964) for one night only, Monday, December 30, at 7:30 PM at the historic Royal Theater in West Los Angeles.
Crawford, one of the great stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, had a career revival with the huge success of the psychological horror classic ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’ in 1962. Looking for new roles, she apparently couldn’t miss an opportunity for self-parody when she chose to star as an axe murderess in the latest project from independent producer-director and huckster showman William Castle, Strait-Jacket.
Castle specialized in low budget exploitation movies with gimmick marketing and hit box office pay dirt with such titles as ‘House on Haunted Hill,’ ‘The Tingler,’ and ’13 Ghosts.’ He tried to up his game with Strait-Jacket, hiring Robert Bloch, the writer of the book Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ was based upon; cinematographer Arthur Arling (‘Love Me or Leave Me,’ ‘Pillow Talk’); production designer Boris Leven (‘West Side Story,’ ‘The Sound of Music’)’ and snaring A-list star Crawford. Bloch concocted a sordid tale of a convicted axe murderess released from an asylum twenty years after chopping up her unfaithful husband. She returns to the scene of the crime to reconcile with her grown daughter (Diane Baker) but then new murders begin and guess who the prime suspect is?
Even with all that talent, Strait-Jacket got a mixed reception from reviewers. On the positive side, Variety reported “Miss Crawford does well by her role, delivering an animated performance.” Leonard Maltin was equally enthusiastic, saying “Crawford’s strong portrayal makes this one of the best in the ‘Baby Jane’ genre of older-star shockers.” At the other end of the critical spectrum, Bosley Crowther in The New York Times was not impressed, stating, “Joan Crawford has picked some lemons, very sour lemons, in her day, but the worst of the lot is Strait-Jacket.” Judith Crist in the New York Herald Tribune took the middle ground, asserting, “It’s time to get Joan Crawford out of these housedress horror B movies and back into haute couture.” A 2010 assessment in The Village Voice called Crawford “indefatigable” but noted that in the role of a woman trying to be convincing in a new maternal role, “Crawford is as uncomfortable as a Tingler down your shirt.”
Although the movie was a hit, Castle did not climb into the A ranks until 1968, producing Roman Polanski’s horror classic ‘Rosemary’s Baby.’ On the other hand, it was all downhill for Crawford after this final box office success. She worked for Castle again in a lesser vehicle, ‘I Saw What You Did,’ then traveled to England to finish her career with similar material in ‘Berserk’ and the worst film of her long career, the sci-fi horror turkey ‘Trog’ in 1970.