"SPELLBOUND" BY MR. HITCHCOCK / ONCE AGAIN

This is once again a classic example of old Hollywood at its finest; Alfred Hitchcock at the helm, starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck. A psychological thriller on more than one level this one; not only is it a classic Hitchcock thriller, it is also set largely in and around the human mind with plenty of psychoanalysis thrown in. I am not a particular fan of psychoanalysis. I am, however, a particular fan of Mr. Hitchcock so I persevered. And boy am I glad I did…
Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) is a star psychoanalyst in an asylum called Green Manor. She is young, brilliant and beautiful. The only problem is she steers well clear of all emotion. This stems from the (rather old fashioned and very sexist) belief that a woman in love operates on the lowest level of intellect. Her peaceful life at Green Manor is shaken to the core when the new head of the asylum; Dr. Anthony Edwards (Gregory Peck) arrives on the scene. He is a lot younger than everyone thought. He is charismatic and good looking. Ok, he has some strange mannerisms but that can be overlooked. Despite her own misgivings about women and emotion, Dr. Petersen is madly in love with him in a thrice. Her feelings are by o means one sided… But even though their love is strong, there is something decidedly wrong with Dr. Edwards. As his outbursts and fainting fits get more and more frequent, Dr Petersen is faced with a rather strange question: Who exactly is this man she has fallen in love with?
If you checked in last week, you will have read my opinions on Notorious, another brilliant Hitchcock film, well my opinions stand for this one as well. I mean, Mr. Hitchcock went as far as asking the great Salvador Dali to design the dream sequences in the film. Now THAT is what I call not cutting corners. The plot is complicated and very intelligent as usual. And another thing I love about these old movies is they do not take the audience for fools. It was the same in War and Peace. One assumed you knew the rudiments of European History; no idiotic babble explaining the background for “those who missed it”. Here the same. The film does not have a scene where a professor is lecturing first year students for instance. No. The director feels that a brief introduction to the concept of psychoanalysis is necessary, so, he puts a brief definition of it, in writing, on the screen for a few moments. The audience reads, grasps the definition and carries on. Freud, dream analysis and guilt complexes hurtling at you left and right. You are assumed to have the capacity to follow all that. It’s not scientific at all, but as I said in Notorious, it’s just a good quality thriller. A thriller with quality. And perfect for those of us who do not want to watch monsters and 3D precipices for a thrill but prefer to use our intellects. Elitist? No. I loved Avatar, I just ADORED it. I would have gone again if I could afford the hiked ticket prices (hiked for 3D purposes you know). I just think that this should NOT be the only sort of adventure around. We are forgetting to use our heads as we watch films and that is very sad indeed… Well at least the film was given its due in Oscar nominations in its time (Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Effects, Best Director and Best Actor in a Supporting Role - it ended up only winning Best Music, very unfair in my view...
As I watched this film, I was thinking something else… Oh heck who am I kidding; I wasn’t thinking at all, I was positively drooling over Gregory Peck. Now HE was a stunner – that’s my view anyway. But the cinema business is funny like that isn’t it? One craves intelligent, quality entertainment but even old fashioned Hollywood at its best would not be Hollywood without Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck and all those who came both before and after; looking dashing or beautiful, making us drool or get quite hot and bothered… Well well, that’s the nature of the beast. I mean, both human beings and show business, naturally =)