Tonight's Movie: Brainstorm (1965) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

BRAINSTORM (1965), an interesting crime film directed by actor William Conrad, was just released on an attractive Blu-ray by the Warner Archive Collection.

I was completely unfamiliar with this movie; it was released by the Warner Archive on DVD way back in 2009 but escaped my notice.

I was attracted to see the film by the director, cast, and plot, and the movie proved to be an entertaining 105 minutes.

The story begins when handsome Jim Grayam (Jeffrey Hunter, billed as Jeff) is driving home from work and spots a car parked on railroad tracks.

Inside the car is the unconscious Lorrie Benson (Anne Francis). Jim drives her car off the tracks just before a train would have hit it. (Given the train's proximity, I was wondering why he didn't just pull her out and run for it!)

Lorrie turns out to be the wife of Jim's boss, Cort Benson (Dana Andrews), the CEO of Benson Industries. Lorrie is miserably unhappy and was attempting suicide when Jim found her, despite having a beautiful little daughter (Victoria Meyerink) to live for.

Lorrie and Jim fall in love, and when Cort finds out about their affair he pulls some power moves to cause problems for Jim and even make others question his sanity.

Jim decides to build on the concerns about his mental stability by killing Cort in public and then pleading guilty; he calculates he'll be declared "not guilty by reason of insanity" and escape the electric chair.

Jim assumes that eventually he and Lorrie will be together...but getting out of the state mental hospital may be harder than he anticipates.

This was an intricately plotted and rather different film, written by Mann Rubin from a story by Larry Marcus. It's dark yet also quite intriguing.

Hunter is excellent gradually unraveling (literally?) his character's layers, as the viewer begins to wonder what's an "act" and what's real. Jim's desperate attraction to a woman who is herself unstable, being willing to kill for her, is just one clue that maybe the bright, sane young tech scientist seen at the start of the film might have been the actual illusion.

Francis is also quite good as a lovely yet somewhat pathetic character who proves to be rather a femme fatale. It was curious to me that she would not leave her husband because he insisted on custody of their little girl...and yet she seemed to spend very little time with her daughter, between her affair and a wild social life. She's a knowing bystander as Jim explains his plan...ultimately, did she just use him?

Andrews often seemed stuck playing villains later in his career, but I enjoy him anyway. He was quite interesting as a man who alternates seeming normality with pure evil. It's never quite clear why his marriage to Lorrie has fallen apart; was it his controlling nature? As he points out, he's certainly given her everything. Were they originally happy together, or did she marry him for his money? I wish that part of the script had been fleshed out more so that we had greater insight into his character.

The great supporting cast includes Viveca Lindfors, Michael Pate, and Phillip Pine as Jim's psychiatrists. The always-welcome Stacy Harris, a Jack Webb regular who like Hunter died too young, is great in a substantial role as Jim's immediate supervisor and friend.

The cast also includes Kathie Browne (Mrs. Darren McGavin), Strother Martin, Richard Kiel, George Pelling, and John Mitchum.

Conrad, a frequent TV director since 1958, directed two other features in 1965. In BRAINSTORM he obtained excellent performances from his cast; the lead characters were all imperfect, with varied shadings of good and evil -- not to mention ambiguity about each character's mental health -- and that made the movie quite fascinating.

Conrad and editor William Ziegler also made some unique choices in their cutting; for instance, a character looks into a mirror, and that cuts to another scene with a a mirror. The editing style gives the movie a fast-paced feel despite running an hour and 45 minutes.

I especially appreciated the movie's sleek black and white look, filmed in Panavision by Sam Leavitt; at times the visuals made me think of the good-looking EXPERIMENT IN TERROR (1962) from a few years before.

Henry Mancini did the EXPERIMENT IN TERROR scoring, and George Duning's scoring of the opening credits of BRAINSTORM has a nice Mancini-esque feel as well.

The interior scenes in the Benson Industries office, with fluorescent lighting and early computers, are especially striking. The movie was filmed on locations around Southern California, including Burbank Airport and the Greystone Mansion.

As I was searching to see if I could find a photo of Dana Andrews at the airport I stumbled across a great 2013 post on the movie's locations by Robby Cress at Dear Old Hollywood, and I highly recommend those interested in the movie check it out. It turns out that Jim's apartment in the movie was an office building on the Warner Bros. lot!

Robby, incidentally, also liked the movie, describing it as "a thrilling story, well acted, with beautiful black and white cinematography."

The gleaming Warner Archive Collection print is a 1080p HD master from a 4K scan of the original camera negative. It looks terrific and also has a strong soundtrack.

Disc extras consist of the trailer plus two cartoons, THE HYPO-CHONDRI-CAT (1950) and WELL WORN DAFFY (1965). The cartoons are presented in new HD transfers.

I enjoyed this unusual film and think many viewers will find it worthwhile, particularly those who enjoy crime films and this cast. Kudos to the Warner Archive for making it available in such a beautiful print.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, Amazon, and other online retailers.

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