The Cube (1969) Review
March 29th 2010 17:03
We all know Jim Henson, the puppeteer and film maker that gave us Sesame Street and it's grown up cousin The Muppet Show as well as countless television specials. A man of
great imagination and a child-like wonder that was apparent in all his work. In this medium of puppeteering, (Muppeteering?) he expressed himself quite well, though one of his most brilliant works doesn't involve any puppets at all.
In 1969 Jim Henson was still fairly new to the business. Rolf the dog had made his historic appearance on the Jimmy Dean show, and Sesame Street was starting to take off, but Henson was still trying to find his place. He Decided to try his hand at conventional film making produced and directed a short film called “Timepiece” that won a few awards, so NBC gave him a chance to prove himself with a full length TV movie as part of their “Experiments in television” series.
The film, simply titled: “The Cube” is the story of an unnamed man (played by Richard Schaal from 1972's “Slaughterhouse Five”) who wakes up in a small, white paneled cube to strange otherworldly sounds, that soon fade. The entire film takes place on that one set, as strange characters come and go through panels in the cube, scolding the main character when he tries to leave making clear that “This is my door”. He's visited by a vast array of characters, a musician, a black supremacist, scientists, monks, and the cube's long-suffering maintenance man who pops in occasionally to fix damage to the cube. Despite all the questions the main characters asks of these people as to why he's in the cube and what the cube is, he never gets a simple strait answer. All of the visiting characters behave as if the cube is perfectly normal and seem to think the main character should already know everything about it, including how to escape (at one point the Manager of the cube even insists he leave). One of the more memorable character is the Cube's Manager who shows up several times during the movie to ask the main character how he's doing, or to simply poke fun at the trapped man. The Manager seems to be fully aware that the main character doesn't know what's going on, and even is aware of his suffering but seems delighted to see him suffer. Every time things seem to be going well, or characters do things to make life better for the Man, things suddenly take horrid turns for the worse. Beautiful things become ugly, soothing things become grating and there's the caretaker, heartlessly popping in to remind the Man he's trapped. The Main character seems very aware of his situation, and reacts very much like a real person would, eventually becoming very frustrated with his situation.
Henson's own brand of dark humor is prevalent here, and many people that would latter become voice on the Muppets and Sesame play parts. This means your seeing this sick, twisted vision of a man trapped in what appears to by psychological torture, but with the dark humor and voice from your childhood (Most notably Jerry Nelson, voice of The Count from Sesame Street) you don't know whether to laugh or cry. You're seeing a man slowly driven insane, and for some reason you can't stop laughing. The interesting part of the movie is that you never really do find out who the man is, why he's in the cube and honestly, he never escapes! I don't feel like I'm spoiling the movie by revealing that because within the film a professor enters the cube and reveals to the Main character that he's on a television show, and shows him the end credits of the movie on a monitor, revealing to him that he never gets out. Twisted, very twisted.
Most of NBC's “Experiments in Television” were fringe programing, usually aired once or twice one the late slot then never again. Many were lost due to NBC recording over broadcast tapes, but thankfully this historic bit of film has been preserved and still has a bit of a cult following thanks to the Internet. While “The Cube” was broadcast in black and white, A color DVD can sometimes be found at schlock movie conventions like Ghoulardi Fest, or online. A German theater company also put on a live version known as “KUBUS”.though it's a bit more avant-garde it retains the original spirit of the work. This film is weird, and wonderful and you won't regret watching it. If you get a chance, don't miss Jim Henson's forgotten masterpiece.
Richard Schal plays the unamed main character, and he'll never get out of the cube.'tull he's dead, dead, dead,
The film, simply titled: “The Cube” is the story of an unnamed man (played by Richard Schaal from 1972's “Slaughterhouse Five”) who wakes up in a small, white paneled cube to strange otherworldly sounds, that soon fade. The entire film takes place on that one set, as strange characters come and go through panels in the cube, scolding the main character when he tries to leave making clear that “This is my door”. He's visited by a vast array of characters, a musician, a black supremacist, scientists, monks, and the cube's long-suffering maintenance man who pops in occasionally to fix damage to the cube. Despite all the questions the main characters asks of these people as to why he's in the cube and what the cube is, he never gets a simple strait answer. All of the visiting characters behave as if the cube is perfectly normal and seem to think the main character should already know everything about it, including how to escape (at one point the Manager of the cube even insists he leave). One of the more memorable character is the Cube's Manager who shows up several times during the movie to ask the main character how he's doing, or to simply poke fun at the trapped man. The Manager seems to be fully aware that the main character doesn't know what's going on, and even is aware of his suffering but seems delighted to see him suffer. Every time things seem to be going well, or characters do things to make life better for the Man, things suddenly take horrid turns for the worse. Beautiful things become ugly, soothing things become grating and there's the caretaker, heartlessly popping in to remind the Man he's trapped. The Main character seems very aware of his situation, and reacts very much like a real person would, eventually becoming very frustrated with his situation.
Most of NBC's “Experiments in Television” were fringe programing, usually aired once or twice one the late slot then never again. Many were lost due to NBC recording over broadcast tapes, but thankfully this historic bit of film has been preserved and still has a bit of a cult following thanks to the Internet. While “The Cube” was broadcast in black and white, A color DVD can sometimes be found at schlock movie conventions like Ghoulardi Fest, or online. A German theater company also put on a live version known as “KUBUS”.though it's a bit more avant-garde it retains the original spirit of the work. This film is weird, and wonderful and you won't regret watching it. If you get a chance, don't miss Jim Henson's forgotten masterpiece.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD