atlasmb A potential treasure trove for MST3000, "The Big Cube" is a hideously flawed film from the year man first walked on the moon. One (the moonwalk) was a technological mile stone; the other represents the nadir of filmmaking.Still, there are laughs to be had by viewing this flop that features Lana Turner as a retired actress who marries a man with a spoiled daughter who resents her new stepmother. The daughter meets a fortune-hunting medical student (played by George Chakiris) who dabbles with the manufacture and ingestion of LSD. He manipulates the daughter into a deadly scheme, hoping to pocket some of the family coin.George and the other young actors get to speak lines that might come from a "Laugh-In" skit. It's all very groovy yet heavy, man. Expect go-go boots and psychedelic nonsensical graffiti. Meanwhile, the "adults" exist in a soap-opera world. The horrendous dialogue is complemented by bad acting, insipid and annoying music, amateurish camera work and lighting, a pointless and meandering plot, confusing editing, and laughable characterizations.The end result is a film that feels like a compilation of freshman year film students' projects edited into one incongruous and inferior mess.

wes-connors After a well-received performance, popular platinum blonde actress Lana Turner (as Adriana Roman) announces she is retiring from the stage to start a new life with silver-haired millionaire Daniel "Dan" O'Herlihy (as Charles Winthrop). After the wedding, Ms. Turner gets to know heavily-accented step-daughter Karin Mossberg (as Lisa), who begins a romance with handsome medical student George Chakiris (as Johnny Allen). As it turns out, Mr. Chakiris is quickly revealed to be an LSD-peddling playboy. Chakiris introduces Ms. Mossberg to a psychedelic lifestyle, which irks her parents. After as boating mishap, Chakiris decides to use LSD to drive Turner crazy and gain control of the family's fortune...Chakiris explains, "There are ways of dealing with cats like her," adding later, "Maybe there's no perfect murder, but I think we've figured a perfect freak-out." Possibly extending Anthony Perkin's "Psycho" performance, Chakiris is sometimes impressive. His efforts, however, are clearly wasted in this production. A long-time friend longing for Lana, Richard Egan (as Frederick Lansdale) hedges his bets and does little which can be criticized. In the other co-starring role, Mossberg is forced to walk the acting plank. Others try to act trippy. With generous close-ups, Pamela Rodgers does a dance in her panties...Generally, contemporary filmmakers were unable to capture the 1960s counterculture, if they tried. Most of the films look like unintentional bad parodies. "The Big Cube" falls into this category. When a golden age movie star is added to the cast, the effect became even more ludicrous. Clueless about how to play her character, Turner sounds like both a girlish teenager and a melodramatic matron – even before they plan to drive her crazy. Decked out with outrageous hair and make-up (even for bed), she manages to look good and garish at the same time. After this trip, Turner found her footing again in "The Survivors" (1969-1970), an appropriate evening serial which unfortunately could not support its cost with high ratings.** The Big Cube (4/30/69) Tito Davison ~ Lana Turner, George Chakiris, Karin Mossberg, Richard Egan

zetes From Warner Brothers' Cult Camp Classics line, in the Women in Peril set, along with the excellent (and not at all campy) women in prison classic Caged and the truly (and hilariously) awful Trog. This is the least worth watching film in that set. I loved the ultra-stereotypical late '60s setting, and the first half hour is a bunch of fun with hippies tripping their balls off. This is kind of a Reefer Madness for LSD. Except there's more of a plot and a couple of famous actors. George Chakiris, Oscar winner for West Side Story eight years earlier, is a doctor who has been doing experiments with the drug. He's trying to marry a young girl who stands to inherit a fortune. Her mother is Lana Turner, and Chakiris plans to drug her with LSD until she goes insane. The latter two thirds or so of the movie are pretty much a bore. Turner's acid trips start off amusing enough, but grow old pretty quick. Unlike Reefer Madness, this was a major studio production (Warner Brothers itself). The psychedelic music is pretty good, if generic music of that type. Chakiris is actually a pretty good villain.

blanche-2 Lana Turner on an acid trip - a bizarre thought, but this low-budget Mexican production, "The Big Cube," is about just that - you know, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," the "Sugar Shack" - LSD. And what a bizarre trip it is for all involved.Turner plays a great theater star, Adriana Roman, who retires to marry Charles Winthrop (Dan O'Herlihy) and comes up against his angry daughter Lisa (Karin Mossberg). No one explains why O'Herlihy's daughter has some sort of foreign accent. Everyone else is American. Anyway, Lisa falls for a sleaze drug dealer and soon to be ex-medical student (George Chakiris) who is after her money. When O'Herlihy dies in a boating accident, the Chakiris character hints to Lisa that they can hurry along the inheritance by - and this is really not clear - either driving Adriana nuts with LSD or using it to kill her. It falls to the playwright with whom Adriana has worked (Richard Egan) to rescue her from the clutches of these two connivers.The plot is beyond muddled. One day Lisa hates her stepmother, and then the next day they're best buddies. One day Adriana has an acid trip while in a car, and Lisa and her boyfriend take her to a cliff, presumably to throw her over, and Adriana gets away from them and doesn't die. The next day, Adriana goes on another acid trip and tries to throw herself out a window, and Lisa saves her. Why did she save her when she tried to kill her the day before? It's a mess.The movie is filled with psychedelic parties and horrible acting, particularly from Mossberg, Pamela Rodgers, Lisa's friend, and Carlos East, who plays an overly made-up artist named Lalo.Turner, approaching 50, does her "Portrait in Black," "Imitation of Life" acting number wearing some horrific wigs. With a simple upswept hairdo, those enormous blue eyes, and petite figure, she's quite beautiful and glamorous, though dressed like she's supposed to be 18; with her hair down, she's a way over the hill ingénue; and with those gargoyle wigs, she looks just plain awful. Her closeups are shot through linoleum. I hate that older beautiful classic film stars had so few alternatives that they turned to these trash movies, but many did.Campy though not on the camp level of a "Valley of the Dolls" or another Lana Turner film, "Portrait in Black" but some might find it fun. It was fun, but also a little sad for those who enjoyed Lana in "Slightly Dangerous," "Green Dolphin Street," and the Ross Hunter glossy melodramas of the '50s.