The Cobweb (1955)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

William Gibson (novel) (additional dialogue)
John Paxton (writer)

Release Date:

7 June 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

At an exclusive psychiatric clinic, the doctors and staff are about as crazy as the patients. The clinic head...

Plot Keywords:

Clinic | Psychiatric Hospital | Beautiful Woman | Psychiatry | Power Abuse

Cast

Richard Widmark	...	Dr. Stewart 'Mac' McIver
Lauren Bacall	...	Meg Faversen Rinehart
Charles Boyer	...	Dr. Douglas N. Devanal
Gloria Grahame	...	Karen McIver
Lillian Gish	...	Victoria Inch
John Kerr	...	Steven W. Holte
Susan Strasberg	...	Sue Brett
Oscar Levant	...	Mr. Capp
Tommy Rettig	...	Mark McIver
Paul Stewart	...	Dr. Otto Wolff
Jarma Lewis	...	Lois Y. Demuth
Adele Jergens	...	Miss Cobb
Edgar Stehli	...	Mr. Holcomb
Sandy Descher	...	Rosemary McIver
Bert Freed	...	Abe Irwin

Runtime:

134 min | USA:123 min (TCM print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

James Dean was originally cast to play Steven Holte.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Karen McIver: Can I give you a ride?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Point Blank (1967)

Hollywood assembled a pretty good group of actors--yet gave them a script made by a chimp!

This film just goes to prove that not every film made during the glory days of Hollywood is worth seeing. Just because you've got an excellent ensemble cast doesn't mean that this can overcome a script that was probably written by a chimp! Think about it--the film featured Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall, Charles Boyer, Gloria Graham, Lillian Gish and Paul Stewart and yet it still was a bad film! The basic premise of the film isn't bad--a private psychiatric hospital where the staff are more screwed up than the patients! Also, the subplot involving the overworked husband and wife (Widmark and Graham) had a lot of promise. However, the script was handled with all the finesse and deftness of a drunk buffalo--with bellicose and way over the top scenes again and again in the film. In fact, it was less like a drama and more like a very bad episode of "General Hospital". Subtle, this film ain't!! Realistic, this film ain't!!

While most of the reason this film reeked was the awful script, but I also blame the producers as well for miscasting and misusing come veteran actors. For example, Paul Stewart may not be a household name but this character actor had exceptional talent--especially when playing gangsters in Film Noir movies. Yet here, Stewart is cast as a very nondescript psychiatrist with some bizarre European accent--it just didn't work since this was well outside his acting range and his character was totally undeveloped and one-dimensional. Also, Charles Boyer just seemed hopelessly miscast and totally out of place. Seeing this fine romantic actor as a psychiatrist in the heartland of America just seemed bizarre.

Overall, this is a rather awful film. It is very watchable in a train wreck sort of way but it certainly isn't very pretty. My wife and I disliked much of the movie but also felt it could have been very good had the writing been competent.

PS--In a case of art imitating life, Oscar Levant played one of the patients. In real life, the brilliant Levant spent much of his life in and out of mental institutions.