A Casa Encantada (1945)

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

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Ben Hecht (screen play), John Palmer (suggested by novel: "The House of Dr. Edwardes") (as Francis Bleeding)

Stars:

Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 6 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

Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) is a psychiatrist at Green Manors mental asylum. The head of Green Manors has just been replaced, with his replacement being the renowned Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck). Romance blossoms between Dr. Petersen and Dr. Edwards, but Dr. Edwards starts to show odd aversions and personality traits...

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Plot Keywords:

amnesia | dream sequence | post traumatic stress disorder | guilt complex | psychic | 

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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:

M/12

Did You Know?

Trivia

Composer Miklós Rózsa hated working with producer David O. Selznick.

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Goofs

When Lieutenant Cooley ends his phone conversation with "goodbye" (in his first scene in the film), the telephone receiver is not only not near his mouth, it's almost back in the cradle.

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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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Alternate Versions

In one of the final scenes, when the gun is fired, two frames of the explosion have been hand tinted in red. These were only present in the premiere's copy, as it was too expensive to do the tinting by hand for the full release. Only a later DVD release and a restored print by the film museum Munich feature the tinting.

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Connections

Referenced in Quase Modelo, Quase Detective: Altared Steele (1983)

User Reviews

Powerful

Spellbound (1945)

**** (out of 4)

Alfred Hitchcock's classic (and underrated going by IMDb scores) thriller about a psychiatrist (Ingrid Bergman) who falls in love with another doctor (Gregory Peck) but then learns the man isn't really a doctor but suffers from amnesia and might have killed the man he was pretending to be. This was only my second time viewing this and the first time in God knows how many years but I really loved every single second of the film so there's no question I'll be watching it a lot more in upcoming years. I thought the film had a high level of suspense running from start to finish with the usual great style from Hitchcock. the brilliant music score also helps things wonderfully, especially during the highly intense ski scene. Both Bergman and Peck are terrific together and they really sell the story and make us care about the two characters. As great as those two our the film belongs to Michael Chekhov who adds great comic support. The love scene was also highly passionate and the dream sequence packs a nice punch as well. The crowd I watched this with seemed to be really involved like I was as there were all sorts of little "tense" noises as you could hear people gasping and holding their breathe.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 October 1946 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

A Casa Encantada

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$1,696,377 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$19,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Selznick International Pictures, Vanguard Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min 95 min (Ontario) 118 min (with overture and exit music)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (brief sequences tinted) Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1