‘Women make the best psychoanalysts until they fall in love…’
Legendary director Alfred Hitchcock was so innovative and so prolific that even his lesser known works contain moments of genius. Spellbound, while massively financially successful, is not one of the more prestigious films in Hitch’s oeuvre. It’s also far from his most accomplished work. When it’s good, though, it’s really good…
When the ailing Dr. Murchison (Leo G. Carroll), head of Green Manors mental hospital, retires due to exhaustion, his replacement, Dr. Edwardes (Gregory Peck) arrives with the intention of taking his place. He immediately becomes smitten with Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman), and despite her icy exterior, she falls for him too. Unfortunately, Dr. Edwardes isn’t Dr. Edwardes. He is, in fact, an imposter, and possibly a murderer.
Spellbound was a notoriously troubled production. Hitchcock clashed constantly with producer David O. Selznick and composer Miklós Rózsa (who won an Oscar for his troubles), and the famous dream sequence, created in tandem with surrealist artist Salvador Dali, was trimmed down from 20 minutes to a two minute sequence (it remains the film’s most interesting and potent moment despite not being directed by Hitch). Despite this, Spellbound has some interesting (and some very inaccurate) things to say about psychoanalysis. Bergman and Peck share an electric chemistry (unsurprising as Peck revealed years later they had a passionate affair during the making of the film), and Ben Hecht’s twisty screenplay (adapted from the novel The House of Dr. Edwardes by Hilary Saint George Saunders and Francis Beeding) is complex without ever becoming incomprehensible. The ending is perhaps a little too neat and tidy, but the moment in which we see a gun pointing at Bergman before turning back towards the camera and firing is classic Hitch.
Spellbound is not essential Hitchcock. Not for the casual viewer, anyway. Devotees, or fans of 1940s cinema will find plenty to enjoy here. Everyone else should at least watch the dream sequence. It’s trippy.
