Review of The Intruder (1962) by Martin C — 26 Apr 2013

This film appears to have been brushed under the carpet of cinematic history. Perhaps it was dropped in a bin somewhere, and has not seen the light of day for a long time, which would explain why it has very little in the way of a critical history.

Apparently, Hollywood had to wait for Sidney Poitier to come along before they could stomach a movie which touched upon the main issue of the day. Now that The Intruder has been restored and redistributed, as part of the tribute to Roger Corman, who directed it, we may finally see this film, and experience its power.

A Trekkie from way back, I was interested in anything Shatner had done, but I wasn't prepared for what the movie delivered, and for what Shatner delivered. I'm not one for telling the story of a film, but I feel like I should at least say this: The Intruder by Roger Corman is a great film, a brave film, and it is a disgrace that it has been treated so poorly over the last fifty years.

Shatner's performance, also, is electrifying. He comes across as completely convincing -as a white extremist- and that alone is disturbing, especially for all those millions who have become fans of this most elegant of actors.

There is something truly disturbing but truly great in Shatner's performance here. Yet the lion's share of the praise goes straight to Roger Corman, who directs with something like the sparsity and the restraint of James Joyce writing Dubliners.

He overstates nothing, and yet exposes such maniacal behaviour in some of characters, especially the Shatner character, that at times one wonder how he could have done so very much with so very little.

It is also a complex drama about human inter-relationships, which lifts it far above being just about black-white relations. Made on a shoe-string budget, and braving a series of death-threats, Roger Corman succeeded in creating an honest movie about the white-black issue in the year 1962.

I would say this film was binned because it was too painful to watch at that time and after. I have to say it straight: this is an amazing film, full of directorial shocks, yet done with an artist's touch.