The Snake Pit (1948)

A detailed chronicle of a woman during her stay in a mental institution.

Director:

Anatole Litvak

Writers:

Frank Partos (screen play), Millen Brand (screen play)

Stars:

Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn

Won 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Olivia de Havilland	...	Virginia Stuart Cunningham
Mark Stevens	...	Robert Cunningham
Leo Genn	...	Dr. Mark Kik
Celeste Holm	...	Grace
Glenn Langan	...	Dr. Terry
Helen Craig	...	Nurse Davis
Leif Erickson	...	Gordon
Beulah Bondi	...	Mrs. Greer
Lee Patrick	...	Asylum Inmate
Howard Freeman	...	Dr. Curtis
Natalie Schafer	...	Mrs. Stuart
Ruth Donnelly	...	Ruth
Katherine Locke	...	Margaret
Frank Conroy	...	Dr. Jonathan Gifford
Minna Gombell	...	Miss Hart

Storyline

Virginia Cunningham finds herself in a state insane asylum...and can't remember how she got there. In flashback, her husband Robert relates their courtship, marriage, and her developing symptoms. The asylum staff are not demonized, but fear, ignorance and regimentation keep Virginia in a state of misery, as pipesmoking Dr. Mark Kik struggles through wheels within wheels to find the root of her problem. Then a relapse plunges Virginia back into the harrowing 'Snake Pit'...

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Plot Keywords:

three word title | mental patient | female mental patient | marriage | flashback | 

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Taglines:

Married and in Love . . . with a Man She Didn't Know or Want!

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

13 November 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die Schlangengrube

Filming Locations:

Camarillo State Hospital, California, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$10,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to a December 1948 Hollywood Reporter article, "several scenes which indicated the gradual recovery of Virginia were edited out in the cutting room."

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Goofs

When Virginia rushes into a vacant room in the sanitarium to hide, she slams the door causing the door-frame and adjoining wall to shake visibly.

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Quotes

Robert Cunningham: Tell me what have you been doing all these months?
Virginia Stuart Cunningham: Working 18 hours a day and being lonely 24.

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Connections

Referenced in God's Not Dead (2014)

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Soundtracks

Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68, 4th movement
(1876) (uncredited)
Music by Johannes Brahms
Played at a concert

User Reviews

....a ground-breaking film....

Considered brutal and scary in the day of its initial release, "The Snake Pit" was a ground-breaking film with its look into the horrors of a mental institution. Giving the film its vibrancy and life is the elegant Olivia De Havilland. This fine actress goes to town in this fascinating portrait of a young woman, Virginia Stuart, who, soon after marriage to the handsome Robert Cunningham (Mark Stevens) , descends into a world of paranoia and insanity. He takes her to an institution, but conditions there are foreign to Virginia. This Hollywoodization of life in a mental hospital, though tame compared to reality, still packs a punch. We follow this delusional woman as she tries to come to grips with where she is, falls in love with her kind-hearted doctor, Mark Kirk (Leo Genn), befriends other patients, and tries to hide out in the hospital. Celeste Holm has a minor, but welcome role as Grace, a fellow patient who takes a liking to and protects the confused Virginia.

What a score for the lovely De Havilland! She really gets to show her stuff in this emotional role, and got an Oscar-nomination for her efforts. And kudos to director Anatole Litvak for a wonderful, but hard-to-take visit into a woman's not-all-there mind and her institutionalized world.