Review of The Big Cube

Mexico-U.S. co-production is misguided, if still entertaining, mishmash of the old and the new. Lana Turner (looking sadly aged, even in softened close-up) plays a retired stage actress who has married a wealthy financier, only to have him perish in a boating accident; meanwhile, Turner's straight-laced step-daughter wants to marry a handsome cad, but Lana's objections over the union are keeping the young woman from receiving her full inheritance. The couple attempts to drive Lana crazy by putting the psychedelic drug LSD into her sedatives--and then goading her into committing suicide! Interesting solution to the mental problems Lana ends up having (reenacting her traumatic events on the stage) nearly makes this ridiculous plot worthwhile; unfortunately, director Tito Davison ends the picture with an extended freak-out sequence, complete with George Chakiris crawling on the floor talking to an ant. Davison has some good ideas (and the film's optical effects and cinematography are good), but he needed a judicious editor to eliminate the "modern" excesses which have now turned the film into a camp-fest. ** from ****