Edge of Fury (1958) User Reviews

Better than Expected

[gordonl56 · 7/10 · 28 May 2016]

EDGE OF FURY 1958

This one is a low budget tale of one man's decent into madness. The cast includes, Michael Higgins, Lois Holmes, Jean Allison and Doris Fesette.

The film starts with a young man on a New Jersey beach, Michael Higgins, being arrested by the Police. An off screen voice announced to be a psychiatrist, narrates the events leading up to Higgins arrest. Higgins is a man with more than a few mental issues. He was recently discharged from a mental hospital. Though he works in a bookstore, he spends most of his time wandering the Jersey Shore. He rents a small out of the way beach cottage and invites a family he just met to stay.

The family is, a mother, Lois Holmes, and her two daughters, Jean Allison and Doris Fesette. They spend their time lolling around the beach swimming and sunbathing. Our boy, Higgins, is attracted to the older daughter, Miss Allison, who wants nothing to do with him. The younger daughter, Fesette, has a crush on Higgins who does not notice this at all.

Higgins slowly becomes unglued as his psychiatric problems go untreated. Paranoia slowly overcomes Higgins has he fails to understand how to deal with the women. Matters take a nosedive when Allison shows up with a beau on her arm. The mother, Holmes can see that Higgins has problems, but writes it off to being shy. Needless to say, matters get worse with rape, violence and murder in the future.

This shot on a shoestring film is pretty good despite its lack of budget. The film was made in 1953 but not released till 1958. The cast does some decent work here with Higgins in particular shining. With a bigger budget, and a better director at the helm, this could have been a real winner. It still is worth a look if you can find a copy.

The director was long time b-film man, Irving Lerner. Lerner scored with a couple of excellent late 50's low rent film-noir, CITY OF FEAR and MURDER BY CONTRACT.

Of particular note here is the director of photography, Conrad Hall. This was 10 time Oscar nominated, and 3 time winning cinematographer Hall's first film. Hall's work includes American BEAUTY, COOL HAND Luke, IN COLD BLOOD, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID and FAT CITY.

Actress Jean Allison was a long time fixture on 50's and 60's television as a guest star.

Empty Movie

[recluse2 · 5/10 · 25 September 2018]

Nothing exciting happens until very end. The character's psychological sickness is portrayed in a kind of vague, foggy way. What is going on between the characters is not very clearly drawn either. At the end of the movie I felt like I really hadn't watched much of anything at all. Enjoyed the beach photography.

I'm the writer co-director of this film

[rgurney353 · 5 November 2004]

As the writer director of this film it would be unethical for me to comment on it.. but I would love to know if there is a video tape(or DVD) available.

I have only a 16mm print of it. The reviewer who mentioned the release date as incorrect.. it was made in 1953 sold to United artists and released in 1958. He also thought that the leading actor was dead two years before but that is not correct.. I do not know if he is still alive but I suggest that others search date bases to see if Michael Higgins is still with us but I know he appeared in the movie THE CONVERSATION Starring Gene Hackman... Perhaps he took the listing of the cast as having published the name with the starring name first. another thing that should be in the base is the name of the Director of Photography: Conrad Hall - It was his first feature and he went on to win Academy Awards... He died I think last year.

There's a calm before the storm.

[ulicknormanowen · 7/10 · 24 December 2020]

Framed by a prologue and epilogue, both featuring a psychiatrist's voice over, edge of fury " is a mysterious work , off the beaten track .

Richard is a lonely young man,whose background is unknown ;who is this Jenny , who warns him against his new friends? his guardian ?or only his employer in the bookstore ?Why does she urge him to leave for what must be a mental institution? The shrink one never sees hints at a financial problem.

Richard desperately tries to find himself a family; he thinks he's got the right one in the shape of a mother ,Florence,and her two daughters ,Louisa and Eleanor ;the latter has a strange relationship with Richard who seems sexually repressed in this female world .Although he needs them and throws a party for them (and treats them to the delight of French crêpes Suzette) ,his real outlet is his art:painting "his " family is a bizarre way of owning them .But there are enemies : the other men who call on the Hackett family and who might steal some of the members from him ;tragedy is around the corner.

Made on a shoestring budget, "edge of fury" looks more like an European movie than an American one.

Michael Higgjns and Lois Holmes stunning in a rare gem

[taptoe-09046 · 7/10 · 24 January 2020]

What a surprising and unexpectedly thoughtful venture into the heady realms of psychological drama this is, found belatedly on You Tube. Particularly impressive is the performance of Michael Higgins, an actor I did not know who I learned had a long career mostly in supporting roles. Ignore the reviewer who described the film as "empty" and that "not much happens" until the last bit. On the contrary, the film builds tension steadily and methodically. One anticipates this troubled young man is headed for a flip out in the final reel, but even this is handled with sensitivity, if graphically in a single shot. Higgins was singled out by a professional reviewer as providing the only work of substance in the the cast but Lois Holmes (and her screen daughters) is likewise excellent as Florence who is fighting something of a losing battle to keep the peace.

There's a volcano of insanity on the edge.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 3 March 2022]

A very well written view of increasing mental illness coming out ofvthe already disturbed Michael Higgins as a bookstore clerk who stays with kind-hearted Lois Holmes and daughters Jean Allison and Doris Fesette, and becomes obsessed with them, thinking of them as family even though they are not related. Falling in love with one of the girls, he becomes insanely jealous when she basically shows no interest while the other one does. His behavior goes from quietly bizarre to violin and finally exploded into a horrific accident, all the while when he had the opportunity thanks to his boss Mary Boylan wanted him to take a vacation and seek help. The obsession he feels for this family shows that he has abandonment issues as well as perhaps arrested development, far more than just a strong case of bi-polar behavior.

Movie fans will recognize Mary Boylan as the sick woman on the bus in the film version of "The Night of the Iguana", and she gives a very natural performance filled with worry as she tries to be strict with Higgins (obviously knowing his mental history) over his obsession with Holmes and her daughters. Holmes is also very good as the very understanding mother, liking Higgins in spite of the fact that she sees his issues but isn't worried too much about them when she should be. This drama really builds with intense music, waves coming from the beach, and montages in the photography that reveals the spinning mind he's dealing with. You wish that Higgins would take the money that Boylan gives him and get help, but then the script wouldn't so what behavioral disorders like this can lead to.

This is a very disturbing subject to see on film, but it's one of those social dramas that somehow escaped getting attention simply because it it ended up as a B feature release, and on the surface looks like something you'd see in the drive-in. But it is so much more, and very powerfully done. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more outstanding I realized it was. With the cast of mostly unknowns, it really makes a better point, because had it been cast with Jack Palance or James Dean or Brando, it would have gotten the recognition but probably wouldn't be as stunning. It's almost like watching a reality unfolding because it's not movie star driven, but character-driven. It takes a lot to stomach everything that happens, but films aren't necessarily always meant to just entertain. Sometimes they need to show the ugliness of society that moviegoers get enough of on their national news and have a hard time facing when it is in a motion pictures theater.

Very well written and acted

[renee-rv · 8/10 · 18 December 2020]

Takeaway from this film: Never befriend a charming stranger.

A chilling psychological drama, and a rare film.

[Hup234! · 26 October 1999]

I saw this as the second half of a double bill in theatrical release. It's a gripping story of murder and madness, based on reality, from the novel "Wisteria Cottage" by Robert Coates, which I sought out right after seeing the film. The book is readily available, but the film seems to have disappeared from sight. I also believe "Edge of Fury" was made much earlier than its 1958 release date, as its lead male actor died two years prior to then. If by chance "Edge of Fury" ever shows up on a tape rack or late-night revival, I recommend you seize the opportunity to see this offbeat, frightening film. Recommended to all but children and the very sensitive.

Grim, yet empathetic case study of a mentally unstable outsider

[EyeAskance · 2 August 2018]

This unduly sidestepped thriller, one quite shocking for its time, recounts a psychologically troubled young painter named Richard who seeks clinical help for his worrisome condition, but is repeatedly turned away in view of his impecunious financial status. While he struggles through a tangle of procedural red tape and empty promises from indifferent social workers, his mental state grows increasingly discordant. One afternoon, he has a chance meeting with a kindly widow and her two grown daughters, and, seizing an opportunity for some much-needed stability and solicitude, proceeds to guilefully enmesh himself into their lives. It's a satisfactory situation at first, though the ladies soon begin taking notice of his high-strung, impetuous peculiarities and awkward reactions to rather benign matters. Tensions escalate swiftly, and give rise to unspeakable tragedy.

EDGE OF FURY is a surprisingly accomplished low-budget picture, owing chiefly to the artful and highly atmospheric black-and-white cinematography, and the talented key players whose names you probably don't know, but whose faces may seem familiar. It's a downbeat, extremely lurid picture, yet it approaches its core issue of criminal mental illness with a degree of sensitivity and honesty. I suspect this is a possible candidate for the small canon of "film gris"...a proposed subcategory of film noir. The distinctions are somewhat unclear, but seem to ascribe to pessimistic crime dramas with a left-leaning narrative, generally cautioning that violent criminals are a natural product of the very society they prey upon. EDGE OF FURY fits this description, though its production date of 1953 puts it slightly outside the presently delineated film-gris timeline.

All said, a well-made and ahead-of-its-time picture which is quite overdue for rediscovery. 7/10.