THE BIG CUBE

US, 1969, 98 minutes, Colour.
Lana Turner, George Chakiris, Richard Egan, Dan O'Herlihy.
Directed by Tito Davison.

The Big Cube is a cinema oddity. It is difficult to sit through - and, indeed, is quite risible at times.

However, the intentions of the film were good. Director Tito Davison worked with Luis Bunuel. The film was shot in Mexico. A group of American stars perform - but are defeated by the lurid heightened melodramatics of the plot. Lana Turner is an ageing actress. We see her performing on stage (not too persuasively), marrying Dan O'Herlihy and inheriting his daughter. She becomes the victim of the daughter's jealousy, goaded by her gigolo boyfriend (George Chakiris). Richard Egan is in the wings to support Lana. The film echoes the psychedelic trendiness of the late '60s in its colour photography. There is also a focus on drug-taking with its hallucinogenic effects. The film becomes a kind of Gaslight towards the end with the couple trying to drive Lana mad. While there is a forcefulness about the film, it is an example of '60s trendy film-making and absurd melodrama.