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Cult Camp Classics 2 - Women in Peril
The Big Cube (1969)     Caged (1950)      Trog (1970)

The Big Cube: Squares will be cubed! Peace-and-love lovebirds (including George Chakiris) think a trippy little potion will drive widow Lana Turner loco... and leave them to collect her millions. "For camp followers only."

--Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide


Caged: Hope Emerson is 6'2" of bad road as the penitentiary matron who terrorizes inmate Eleanor Parker. 3 Oscar nominations (really) for this reform-minded iron-bar-motel classic! "One of the best (and most harrowing) of the women's prison pictures."

--Michael Barson, The Illustrated Who's Who of Hollywood Directors
 

Trog: A prehistoric cave dweller emerges. He's the scientific find of the age, says anthropologist Joan Crawford. He's a fearsome killer, say others. People... can't we all get along?.


Titles

 

 


 

The Big Cube (1969)
This amazing chunk of Mexican-lensed trippiness is a lost classic in Acid Claptrap Cinema! Kicking off with groovy credits, it's another blast from the past, chock full of the hideous threads, hip slang, and idiocy which quickly made the late-'60s a joke. But it's also graced with several familiar faces and a rabidly anti-LSD vibe. So prepare to turn on, tune out and laugh your ass off! An aging Lana Turner (in one of her last starring roles) plays Adriana, a famous stage actress who retires in order to marry wealthy financier Daniel O'Herlihy (currently starring in commercials for Magnavox, accompanied by a beachful of baby turtles). His teen daughter, Lisa (Karin Mossberg), is pissed off by the event, so she joins the local longhairs for an expedition to a trendy nightclub called The Trip, featuring "a new show from San Francisco" that has them dropping laced sugar cubes into their beer and blasting off. They also enjoy dosing other's drinks ("I'm gonna cube that mother, but good."). And as we all know, two minutes after taking LSD, your eyes cross, you freak out, you're carted off by cops, and finally run down by a car. Yeah! Enter George Chakiris (an Oscar-winner for WEST SIDE STORY, although you wouldn't know it now) as Johnny Allen, a groovy gigolo who takes a liking to Lisa when he notices how wealthy she is.

Excerpt from Shock Cinema (Steven Puchalski) located HERE


Caged (1950)
A bus stops at a women's prison, and the new arrivals get out, as a voice growls, "Pile out, you tramps, it's the end of the line." That bleak opening of Caged (1950) sets the tone for a look at life inside a women's prison that is surprisingly gritty for the era. Eleanor Parker plays Marie, who's 19, pregnant, and newly widowed as result of a botched robbery that left her husband dead. Because she was in the car with her husband during the robbery, Marie is considered an accomplice, and is sent to prison. Agnes Moorehead plays the one compassionate character in the film, the prison warden who fights a losing battle to improve conditions. Hope Emerson, six feet two inches tall and massive, portrays a brutal matron who terrorizes the prisoners and gets perverse pleasure from seeing them suffer. The film follows Marie as she goes from frightened innocent to hardened, embittered woman, willing to do whatever it takes to survive inside, and to get out.

Excerpt from Turner Classic Movies located HERE

 

Trog (1970)

Instant camp from 1970, as lady scientist Joan Crawford (in her last film)
While venturing into an unmapped cave, a group of potholers are attacked by an ape-like creature. They are taken to be treated at the nearby Brockton Institute where noted anthropologist Dr Brockton becomes excited, thinking the creature is a prehistoric troglodyte. She succeeds in capturing the trog and then proceeds to tame it and even operates to give it vocal chords. But her efforts are undermined and eventually sabotaged by disgruntled fellow scientists and Sam Murdock, a religious bigot who takes her to court to demand the trog be destroyed as a dangerous animal. When he loses the trial, the angry Murdock breaks into the lab, freeing the trog. The trog runs across the countryside in confusion, where it becomes the target of a massive military manhunt.

Excerpt from SF, Horror and Fantasy Film Review located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Releases: 1950 - 1970

 

  DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Warner Home Video (3-disc) - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

Distribution Warner Home Video - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC
Time: Respectively - 1:38:06 + 1:36:24 + 1:31:03
Bitrate:

The Big Cube

Bitrate:

Caged

Bitrate:

Trog

Audio English (2.0)
Subtitles English, English (HOH), French and none
Features

Release Information:
Studio: Warner Home Video

Aspect Ratio:
All Original Aspect Ratios - 1.85:1 for The Big Cube and Trog - 1.33:1 for Caged 

where widescreen

Edition Details:  

• Trailers for each film


DVD Release Date: June 26th, 2007

3 Standard Keep Cases in cardboard box
Chapters: 27, 26, 24 

 

 

Comments:

I was really keen on Caged so this is the Boxset that I viewed first. It surprisingly, for the oldest film, probably has the best transfer of the three.... which are a genuine mish-mash of eclectia.

This Warner boxset features 3 single-layered DVDs containing The Big Cube (1969) in anamorphic 1.85 widescreen, Caged (1950) in 1.33:1 and Trog (1970) in anamorphic 1.85 widescreen. All three are progressive and have optional English (HOH and without) or French subtitles. They are coded for regions 1 thru 4 in the NTSC standard.

The Big Cube is a little soft - but of course it is the liberal use of the alternating soft lens as a function of the 'Acid" 70's feel. Colors look okay and detail is a notch below standard. It all suits the film which is amusing in it horribleness. Unless you have a thing for weak films this is worth a big miss. I, on the other hand, kinda get a kick out this stuff - especially with Turner, Chakiris and O'Herlihy misfiring on all levels.

Caged on the other hand is a real film. Drama that hasn't lost its touch with age - although some of the film context sure has. It is on our Noir listing but like much of that compilation - could be debated. Good performances - especially the lead and the vicious screw. You must have some suspension of disbelief though. Very refreshing considering the crop of sexploitation women's prisons pictures that followed. For over 50 years old this film is very strong in my opinion. And the transfer, as I stated above, is bordering on excellent. Great contrast and very sharp. It deserved a standalone release with some supplements.

Trog - Wow - this is one bad film. I loved every minute of it. Makes you realize how far Crawford dropped in the end of her career. The transfer though is another good one. Decent colors - not faded too bad and pretty strong detail. It looked quite acceptable on my system. The film, however, is an extreme hoot. Worth the boxset price by itself if you are into this brand of kitsch.

But seriously - Caged is the only film I can truly endorse but the price makes the whole boxset enticing enough to give the nod. No extras save trailers and I question Warner for not condensing these Camp Collections and sticking on dual-layered discs OR at least giving using slim cases. We are running out of space folks!

Gary W. Tooze




DVD Menus


Also available individually here:

 

 

Screen Captures

 

The Big Cube

Directed by Tito Davison

Stars Lana Turner, George Chakiris, Richard Egan and Dan O'Herlihy


Theatrical Release Date: April 30th, 1969

 

 


Also available individually here:

 

 

Screen Captures

 

Caged

 


Directed by John Cromwell

 

Stars Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Ellen Corby and Hope Emerson 


Theatrical Release Date: May 19th, 1950

 

 


Standard Keep Case Cover

 

Also available individually here:

 

 

Screen Captures

 

Trog

 

Directed by Freddie Francis

 

Stars Joan Crawford, Michael Gough, Bernard Kay and Kim Braden

 


Theatrical Release Date: September 1970

 

 

 


 

DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

Distribution Warner Home Video - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC




 

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