Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Distributor: United Artists
Top Billed Actors: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture - Miklós Rózsa
Nominated for 5 more:
Best Motion Picture - Selznick International Pictures
Best Director - Alfred Hitchcock
Best Supporting Actor - Michael Chekhov
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White - George Barnes
Best Special Effects - Jack Cosgrove (photographic)
Plot: The only woman doctor at mental hospital falls in love with an amnesiac patient who also happens to be on the run for a crime he thinks he committed.
Distributor: United Artists
Top Billed Actors: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture - Miklós Rózsa
Nominated for 5 more:
Best Motion Picture - Selznick International Pictures
Best Director - Alfred Hitchcock
Best Supporting Actor - Michael Chekhov
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White - George Barnes
Best Special Effects - Jack Cosgrove (photographic)
Plot: The only woman doctor at mental hospital falls in love with an amnesiac patient who also happens to be on the run for a crime he thinks he committed.
Sadly, we've come to the final film directed by Alfred Hitchcock to be nominated for Best Picture, Spellbound (1945). The year Rebecca (1940) won for Best Picture saw two Hitchcock nominees that year in addition to another the following year. It's safe to say his most critically acclaimed decade was the 1950s so I'll be searching, likely in vain, as to why the Master of Suspense didn't resonate as much contemporaneously as it does in retrospect. Spellbound is the only Best Picture nominee for 1945 to not be nominated in either of the lead acting categories. Interestingly enough, both leads were nominated that year, just for other movies. Ingrid Bergman was on quite the streak as of 1945 - she was nominated for a third year in a row (for The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)) after winning the Oscar the year prior (for Gaslight (1944)). Gregory Peck, on the other hand, was at the beginning of his career. It's been told that Hitchcock envisioned many other alternatives to Peck and he was frustrated with his lack of facial expressions, or that he just wasn't doing what was in his mind. In any case, I'm glad to see Peck in his first role in a Best Picture nominee and we'll be seeing much more of him. One key sequence in the film only lasts two minutes but it's the source of cinematic lore. The dream sequence outlined by Salvador Dalí was supposed to be twenty minutes in length and a great deal was shot and edited by Hitchcock. Producer David O. Selznick, famous for getting involved in his productions, nixed the whole sequence and had William Cameron Menzies re-shoot the entire thing. What remains in the film is still stylistic, visually interesting, and enhances the mystery of what happened to the murdered doctor, but it's fun to think about a fully developed, psychedelic trip concocted by Dalí and Hitchcock.
There's a lot of moments we can bemoan or yearn for 'what could have been,' especially when dealing with films of this time period as the Code was still very much in effect - the nymphomaniac from the opening scenes is toned way down - but as a 1940s psychological thriller, what's here is quite good. It starts with a pair of strong performances by Bergman and Peck. I know Hitchcock wanted Peck to do more with his face, or at least something more specific, but his subtle approach works for someone who can't remember his past and is just trying to move forward. Bergman has a great chemistry with him as sort of a guardian who also knows when to turn on her romantic aura. The story is just fun to play along with as well. The murder mystery aspect, combined with the shadowy cinematography, gives us another example of noir storytelling from this era. Although I'm always nervous to hear how people from eighty years ago discuss psychology (lots of "crazy" jokes being tossed around), it's still a thrilling facet to include in the mystery - amnesia, guilt complexes, and even the aforementioned nymphomania. The stellar dream sequence lays the solution of the mystery out but fear not if you don't connect the dots as it does get explained rather tidily bringing about a minor quibble for me. But any ill feelings washes out when the music plays. A soaring love theme, haunting strings, and the inclusion of a frickin' theremin are the highlights of Miklós Rózsa's score. There are some scenes in which a lot of dialogue is taking place and I really just wanted to get back to the music! Seriously, the theremin is not to be missed and it chills you to the bone.
I alluded to this when mentioning the dialogue, but the pacing here isn't quote what I hoped. Michael Chekhov turns in a memorable role as a mentor that harbors Bergman and Peck for the night, but there is a tad too much talking here. Perhaps this would have played better with the longer dream sequence so the actual analysis didn't have to do the heavy lifting. There should have been more time spent at the mental hospital in the first act as well. There are a few brief analysis scenes, but more could have been made from Bergman's thoughts with her patients. Perhaps the solution to the mystery could have been better set up here as well. All in all, these are minor criticisms of a film I vastly enjoyed.
Overall, Hitchcock goes out with a bang in his final Best Picture nominee. Suspense, psychology, shadows enhancing an engaging murder mystery, and atmospheric theremins with relative newcomer Gregory Peck being aided by a seasoned Ingrid Bergman and we have an underrated classic. Some longer dialogue sequences cause the pace to drag intermittently but this still engages throughout.
My Score: 8/10
There's a lot of moments we can bemoan or yearn for 'what could have been,' especially when dealing with films of this time period as the Code was still very much in effect - the nymphomaniac from the opening scenes is toned way down - but as a 1940s psychological thriller, what's here is quite good. It starts with a pair of strong performances by Bergman and Peck. I know Hitchcock wanted Peck to do more with his face, or at least something more specific, but his subtle approach works for someone who can't remember his past and is just trying to move forward. Bergman has a great chemistry with him as sort of a guardian who also knows when to turn on her romantic aura. The story is just fun to play along with as well. The murder mystery aspect, combined with the shadowy cinematography, gives us another example of noir storytelling from this era. Although I'm always nervous to hear how people from eighty years ago discuss psychology (lots of "crazy" jokes being tossed around), it's still a thrilling facet to include in the mystery - amnesia, guilt complexes, and even the aforementioned nymphomania. The stellar dream sequence lays the solution of the mystery out but fear not if you don't connect the dots as it does get explained rather tidily bringing about a minor quibble for me. But any ill feelings washes out when the music plays. A soaring love theme, haunting strings, and the inclusion of a frickin' theremin are the highlights of Miklós Rózsa's score. There are some scenes in which a lot of dialogue is taking place and I really just wanted to get back to the music! Seriously, the theremin is not to be missed and it chills you to the bone.
I alluded to this when mentioning the dialogue, but the pacing here isn't quote what I hoped. Michael Chekhov turns in a memorable role as a mentor that harbors Bergman and Peck for the night, but there is a tad too much talking here. Perhaps this would have played better with the longer dream sequence so the actual analysis didn't have to do the heavy lifting. There should have been more time spent at the mental hospital in the first act as well. There are a few brief analysis scenes, but more could have been made from Bergman's thoughts with her patients. Perhaps the solution to the mystery could have been better set up here as well. All in all, these are minor criticisms of a film I vastly enjoyed.
Overall, Hitchcock goes out with a bang in his final Best Picture nominee. Suspense, psychology, shadows enhancing an engaging murder mystery, and atmospheric theremins with relative newcomer Gregory Peck being aided by a seasoned Ingrid Bergman and we have an underrated classic. Some longer dialogue sequences cause the pace to drag intermittently but this still engages throughout.
My Score: 8/10