Movies: “Strait-Jacket”

Jan. 8, 1964 - Opening today is “Strait-Jacket,” a psychological thriller directed and produced by William Castle, written by Robert Bloch, and starring Joan Crawford. The story deals with a woman who, having murdered her husband and his lover decades prior, is suspected of a series of axe murders following her release from a psychiatric hospital. Miss Crawford replaced Joan Blondell in the lead role of after Blondell was injured at home prior to shooting and could not fulfill her commitment. During the film’s opening run, moviegoers will be given little cardboard axes as they enter the theater. At the end of the closing credits, the Columbia logo’s torch-bearing woman is shown in her traditional pose, but decapitated, with her head resting at her feet on her pedestal.