Day 97: Spellbound (1945)

Another Hitchcock film. I first saw part of this film in my first year film class. After watching Un chien andalou, a experimental film written by Salvador Dali, we were shown the dream sequence from this film as another example of Dali's venture into film.

The film provides a different avenue for Hitchcock in that it is a psychological thriller that depends entirely on the theories of psychoanalysis. Set in an mental hospital, Dr. Constance Petersen, Ingrid Bergman, is smitten by the new director of the hospital, Dr. Edwardes, Gregory Peck. When Edwardes starts to act oddly, Constance realizes that he is not Edwardes, but an amnesia patient, and together they must help him remember his past in order to avoid a murder charge.

Considering that psychoanalysis was new at the time, especially in film, the viewer is subjected to various explanations throughout the film. While it would be hard to imagine a film today relying entirely on psychoanalysis, it would have surely been something new and fascinating in 1945. Due to it's peculiar plot, it's hard to judge the film compared to other Hitchcock films. I found it hard to find believable, and found it to be overly predictable. Dali's dream sequence is, without a doubt, the highlight of the film. Also, it might contain the shortest amount of colour in a black and white film, and it works beautifully. Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman are fantastic as usual, and provide enough entertainment to compensate for the weak story. Not one of my favourite Hitchcock films.