The Intruder (1961)

The Intruder is the greatest irony of Roger Corman's film career. In 1962, after cranking out dozens of exploitation quickies and gaining recognition for his widescreen Edgar Allen Poe series, he put up his own resources to produce a serious work of drama on the explosive issue of racism and integration. Shot on location in a small town in Missouri, where he and his crew faced bigotry first hand when the locals found out exactly what they were actually shooting, the film went on to win rave reviews and film festival prizes and became Corman's first film to lose money. William Shatner delivers the most controlled performance of his career as Adam Cramer, a cool, charismatic white supremacist who rouses the smoldering white citizens of a small Southern town to mob violence on the eve of school integration. As the crowd slips from his control and events escalate, Cramer's true intentions are laid bare, and as he flails about in desperation Shatner's performance slides into near hysteria. There are few weak performances in the smaller roles and the film at times slips into didactic speeches, but Corman's strong direction drives home the film in powerful scenes and striking imagery: Cramer's incendiary speech on the courthouse steps, the deathly quiet KKK ride through the black part of town. By the climax Corman understands that controlled silence is even more terrifying than a mob's thundering cries. --Sean Axmaker Amazon.com

The Intruder

Adam Cramer arrives in a southern town with one purpose in mind, to gather the white residents to rally against forced school integration. The white residents seem resigned to the fact that 10 Black students will be attending the local school, but Cramer is determined to change that. Once he starts to stir things up, his efforts snowball and the viewer can see how this will likely end.

Watching this film reminds me of how much things have changed and how much they've remained the same. I must admit, I chuckled when 'Captain Kirk' and 'Katherine Chancellor' were having an intimate moment. I found this to be one of those films that did a decent job of exploring racism in the south, but the ending is highly unbelievable. May 31, 2008

WARNING --- WRONG ASPECT RATIO for Special Edition!

Corman fans have been waiting for this DVD for a long time, and I am thrilled that we will be able to see it in a (hopefully) sharp new DVD transfer.


***HOWEVER***, according to the specifications listed, this "Special Edition" DVD from Buena Vista Home Video is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, which is the wrong ratio for this film.


The earlier, 2001, "40th Anniversary" DVD release (from Corman's own company New Concorde, not Buena Vista!) shows a listing as *widescreen* format.


Therefore, this "Special Edition" in 1.33:1 is evidently a cropped, "pan-and-scan" transfer.


How sad!


For viewers familiar with Buena Vista Home Video this probably comes as no suprise, for BVHV is notorious for releasing many of the Disney classics in cropped pan-and-scan versions (often mistakenly called "full screen"), instead of in their proper, original widescreen theatrical aspect ratios.


According to one user, the back of this Special Edition ADMITS the error by the usual disclaimer: "This film has been modified from its original version." (Some have said it is an open-matte transfer rather than pan-and-scan; however, others have said that the framing seems too tight and close, which suggests pan-and-scan. Open-matte would "loosen" the framing, not tighten it).


HOW CAN A DVD CLAIM TO BE A "SPECIAL EDITION" WHEN IT BOTCHES THE ASPECT RATIO?


Bottom line: for those who want to see THE INTRUDER in it's original widescreen ratio, do a search on amazon and find the 2001 "40th Anniversary" DVD release, in it's proper widescreen ratio, available from several Amazon sellers.


Please note that another review below for the "Special Edition" states the DVD is in "widescreen" --however--- that review is copied in it's entirety from the **2001 EDITION's** Amazon page, and therefore it's mention of "widescreen" is assumed to be inaccurate for this "Special Edition".


Again, Amazon's own specifications indicate an improper 1.33:1 ratio (see "Product Details" above: "Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1").


Buena Vista Home Video should be ashamed!


Instead of ordering this "Special Edition", I've just ordered the 2001 "40th Anniversary" version, and evidently, according to the ratio listed in "Product Details" above, if you want to see the whole film, you will have to order the 2001 edition too, instead of this one. Just a friendly word of warning. May 31, 2008

The Intruder...intrudes!!!

Yes, this gritty, grim film intrudes into one's consciousness and poses questions to one's soul that are as vital to be asked as they were when this film was made. If anything, it is even more timely today! Despite a rather predictable ending, the first 2/3rds of the movie are NOT predictable and grip the viewer from the opening credits. The opening credit music (reminiscent of parts of the score to "Ace in the Hole", another classic with a heel for its "hero") and the rest of the score by the often uncredited Herman Stein is exceptional. Shatner is exceptional. Leo Gordon is exceptional. The cinematography....Wellesian in places...exceptional. Corman's direction - the best of his wonderful career, ergo exceptional. In short, the film is a must-see. The DVD extra (comments by Shatner and Corman) are, however, disappointingly brief. How can you talk about a film and NOT even mention its illustrious author, Chuck Beaumont? Despite the shortness of the extra, the movie is both a time capsule AND a movie whose echoes can be heard loudly unto this present day. It's actually better than most movies currently being made! May 28, 2008

A remarkable document of its time

Low-budget filmmaker Roger Corman really surpassed himself on this seething, searing civil rights potboiler from 1960. A young William Shatner, fresh to Hollywood after doing a bit of stage acting, is cast as a malevolent would-be right-wing demagogue who comes to a small Southern town to stir up racial tensions and undo a court-ordered school integration program. Shot in black-and-white, the film zeros in on Shatner, and he is positively chilling and creepy to the core. He also hasn't come up with the many Kirk-ian affectations that colored his acting career, so it's fascinating to watch him play the part straight, including a few scenes of sexual seduction straight out of the Tennessee Williams playbook.

According to the bonus features, the movie was shot in a real Southern town, whose schools were recently desegregated, and Corman and his crew did a lot of fancy footwork to disguise just how incendiary the film actually was. And it turned out pretty amazing: coarse, racist language, sweaty scenes of near-lynchings and an electrifying nighttime Bund rally with a maniacal Shatner inveighing against the Communist-liberal conspiracy were both over-the-top and entirely reflective of the social tensions of the time. And this was 1960! The Rosa Parks era of the Civil Rights movement had yet to give way to the March on Washington and the student-led campaigns of CORE and SNCC, yet here was Corman, more or less predicting the contours of what would happen in a few years time. There are dramatic deficiencies, but in many ways they are just emblematic of the limits of television and B-movie storytelling at the time... By Corman's standards, this was a dazzling film, with taut, highly controlled direction and cinematography. It fizzled when it came out, but this film holds up remarkably well,all these decades later. (Joe Sixpack) October 22, 2007

Powerful Anti-Segregation Film

Divorcing this film from the time it was made it's still an amazing achievement. When you do consider that this film was made while the civil rights struggle was still going on makes one more appreciative of the guts and courage it took Roger Corman to bring this film to the screen. Only Corman could have made this film because no major studio wanted to touch it. Corman had to do it on a shoestring budget and even then he lost money on this enterprise. In all likelihood the film contained too many uncomfortable truths about us to attract wide distribution. Consider that it was only a short time before this film was made that we had fought a war against facism only to have an institutionalized form of it in our own backyard. OK, enough of the soapbox. This film works because it feels so real not unlike a documentary. Corman's employment of non-actors probably contributes to it's authenticity. It does take some doing to distance William Shatner from Captain Kirk but do consider that this film was made 5 years prior to "Star Trek" and Shatner was a newcomer at the time this film was made. January 8, 2006

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