Spellbound (1945)

A female psychiatrist protects the identity of an amnesia patient accused of murder while attempting to recover his memory.

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Ben Hecht (screenplay), Frances Beeding (suggested by novel "The House of Dr. Edwardes"),

Stars:

Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ingrid Bergman	...	Dr. Constance Petersen
Gregory Peck	...	John Ballantyne
Michael Chekhov	...	Dr. Alexander Brulov
Leo G. Carroll	...	Dr. Murchison
Rhonda Fleming	...	Mary Carmichael
John Emery	...	Dr. Fleurot
Norman Lloyd	...	Mr. Garmes
Bill Goodwin	...	House Detective
Steven Geray	...	Dr. Graff
Donald Curtis	...	Harry
Wallace Ford	...	Stranger in Hotel Lobby
Art Baker	...	Det. Lt. Cooley
Regis Toomey	...	Det. Sgt. Gillespie
Paul Harvey	...	Dr. Hanish

Storyline

The head of the Green Manors mental asylum Dr. Murchison is retiring to be replaced by Dr. Edwardes, a famous psychiatrist. Edwardes arrives and is immediately attracted to the beautiful but cold Dr. Constance Petersen. However, it soon becomes apparent that Dr. Edwardes is in fact a paranoid amnesiac impostor. He goes on the run with Constance who tries to help his condition and solve the mystery of what happened to the real Dr. Edwardes.

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Plot Keywords:

psychiatrist | patient | female psychiatrist | impostor | amnesia | 

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Taglines:

Will he Kiss me or Kill me?

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Genres:

Film-Noir | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 December 1945 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound

Filming Locations:

Alta Lodge - 10230 E. Little Cottonwood Road, Alta, Utah, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,696,377 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Selznick International Pictures, Vanguard Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min 95 min (Ontario)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Two frames tinted) Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Alfred Hitchcock himself referred to the film as "just another manhunt wrapped up in pseudo-psychoanalysis".

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Goofs

Right before Dr. Peterson gets a letter from Dr. Edwards, she cleans her glasses on her coat and the position of her hands varies between shots.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Nurse: [offscreen] Miss Carmichael, please. Dr. Petersen is ready for you.

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Crazy Credits

Just before the opening credits, an overture is played.

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Connections

Referenced in Dali & Disney: A Date with Destino (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Spellbound Concerto"
Composed by Miklós Rózsa

User Reviews

Freudian fantasy

A world in which Freudian psycho-analysis works as it's supposed to is rather like a world in which magic works - so call this film a fantasy. There's nothing whatever wrong with fantasy. Indeed, there's nothing better. Hitchcock announces at the very beginning that the story takes place in a Freudian world; thereafter he plays perfectly fair with us.

He even chose the right collaborators for a fantasy. The dream sequences were designed by Salvador Dali. (Anyone whose dreams really do look like Dali paintings maybe COULD do with some psycho-analysis.) They're not frightening - dream sequences rarely are - but they are at any rate more interesting than the usual dreams we might have or hear about. The music was by Miklós Rózsa, maybe the best of the composers who settled in Hollywood, certainly the most vividly overpowering. He was exactly the right choice for this film - however much Hitchcock disliked the score, or said that he did.

The story follows a confused Gregory Peck, who cannot remember key episodes of his recent (and not so recent) past, and who may, just possibly, be a dangerous criminal. Ingrid Bergman is a second-generation disciple of Freud who despite her professional caution finds herself falling in love with him. Perhaps it sounds cardboard already, but the performances invest the characters with more life than my descriptions did. Peck in particular is highly sympathetic. He comes across as not at all mad, not even mentally disturbed - just a man who can't remember one or two things and has an odd aversion to things like parallel lines. (That?s right - parallel lines.) Anyway, as I said, it's a fantasy: the forces of psychoanalysis must unravel the mystery before it's too late. (Why there's a "too late" is too complicated to go into.) The usual kind of Hitchcock suspense isn't there but the man WAS capable of moving outside his home genre now and then. Remember, his other fantasy was "The Birds".