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Spellbound
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Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
The staff of a posh mental asylum eagerly awaits the arrival of the new director. When the man in question shows up, it turns out to be handsome psychiatrist Gregory Peck. But something's wrong, here: Peck seems much too young for so important a position; his answers to the staff's questions are vague and detached; and he seems unusually distressed by the parallel marks, left by a fork, on a white tablecloth. Doctor Peterson Ingrid Bergman comes to the correct conclusion that Peck is not the new director, but a profoundly disturbed amnesiac--and, possibly, the murderer of the real director. Gradually falling in love with Peck, Bergman begins fearing for his well-being; she and Peck leave the asylum, hiding out in the home of her mentor, psychoanalyst Michael Chekhov. Though Chekhov warns that she might be protecting a killer, Bergman believes in Peck's innocence, and attempts throughout the remaining reels to get to the root of his emotional problems. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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"You've gotta love a movie that has a "psychiatric adviser" among its crew members. In Alfred Hitchcock's 1945 Spellbound, everyone is fluent in psychobabble and dreams are analyzed within an inch of their subconscious lives. Ingrid Bergman stars as psychiatrist Constance Peterson, who transforms from frigid doctor to silly, lovesick girly-girl faster than she can shed her Freu " [More]
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All Movie Guide
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Behind a veil of psychoanalytic babble lies a simple tale of murder in Alfred Hitchcock's popular thriller Spellbound. During the WWII era in which the film was released, it was heralded for its intellectual use of Freudian theories to solve a murder. In retrospect, however, the film reveals psychoanalytic ideas that are simplistic and obsolete to the point of becoming comical. In spite of this, Hitchcock's tremendous ability to create suspense remains a timeless one and the film's thriller elements, combined with a series of outstanding visuals, bring Spellbound within a notch of the director's best works. The psychological elements allowed Hitchcock to be creative visually and he went to the best, hiring artist Salvador Dali to design a series of incredibly eerie dream sequences. Sadly, only a few of Dali's wonderful creations made the final cut while the others were either lost or destroyed. Hitchcock often spoke of one particularly fantastic sequence in which a statue cracked and fell apart, revealing star Ingrid Bergman beneath it. Gregory Peck is a strong male lead playing the protagonist with a confused and cloudy mind, but Bergman steals the show as his love-struck shrink, a woman described by one of her peers as "a human glacier." Spellbound was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor (Michael Chekhov), but went on to win for Miklos Rozsa's chilling score. Hitchcock's cameo arrives at the film's 38-minute mark, when the director can be seen exiting an elevator. ~ Patrick Legare, All Movie Guide
 

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