An unnamed man, simply called "The Man" is trapped in a cubical white room where anyone else can enter and leave, but which he himself apparently cannot leave. A stool is brought in covered in strawberry jam, the furniture changes throughout the play. The main character, is subjected to an increasingly puzzling and frustrating series of encounters, as a variety of people come through various hidden doors. But, as many remind him, he can only leave through his own door, so he must find it to leave. Originally airing on NBC's weekly anthology television show NBC Experiment in Television in 1969, the production was produced and directed by puppeteer and filmmaker Jim Henson, and was one of several experiments with the live-action film medium which he conducted in the 1960s, before focusing entirely on The Muppets and other puppet works.
Reviews
I saw this insane thing at my high school, of all places, stoned out of my face as a little hippie about 1971. I remember laughing myself sick over "The Cube" -- and then I never heard of it again. I almost wondered whether I'd dreamed it up, but my fellow spaceshots remembered it with the same mixture of wonder and disbelief I did. ("What WAS that crazy thing we watched -- and why were they showing it in the auditorium?" I've gone on Google and Amazon and EBay looking for this over the years, and never seen any mention of it. Now I've finally ascertained that it does exist (Jim bloody Henson???) and maybe I'll find it someday. I've cleaned up my act a lot in the last 34 years, so I doubt it will have the same effect. But I'm sure curious...Strawberry jam!
Like so many others here, I too saw it, when it was first run, as a teenager - WOW. And yes, I too can't get it out of my head, and just today learned that it was Jim Henson!!! The man WAS a genius!!! And, like the rest of you - I want a copy!!! Just to prove to my friends that I'm not as crazy as you think I am.I remember the band playing "You'll never get out.. You'll never get out... you'll never get out of the cube.."Towards the ending, when he's shown the casket... and given the gun... oh man.. that scene is vivid in my mind right now, 30+ years later after having seen it that one time, in', as we used to say, living color.But really.. isn't life all just strawberry jam?
Me too. I've been telling people about this for 30 years. I can't believe I found proof it really exists! I was starting to think I'd dreamed it. Jim Henson? That's quite a leap. From "The Cube" to "Sesame Street". It was almost 35 years ago and I just happened to catch it one weekend morning. (I think I was hung over or coming down or something.) But it left a lasting impression on me. I would LOVE to see it again.
I have been searching for this for years. I remember seeing it as a kid as well on TV during the sixties. The only reference I had seen for it was in Vincenzo Natali's "Cube". I actually saw it a few times late at night and even ran across it as a cult movie in a theatre during the 80's. The previous summary is fairly accurate. Obviously, the cube is a metaphor for life in an existential sense. One can sense and test the boundaries of our Self, but can't actually get out. Which is obviously very frustrating for even a small amount of self-awareness. It brings into question such subjects as the metaphysical "Who am I?", free will and interactions between what we perceive to be our Self and others. This is a really cool little film. It had a lasting impression an me. To my knowledge it has never been put on video.
