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Review: I enjoyed this! It's an, interesting, romantic, mystery-thriller, but doesn't feel like a noir. It was ground breaking in being one of the first films to portray psychoanalyze, and it portrays that branch of medicine in a good light. Back in 1945 the mentally ill were still being treated as objects of fear and scorn...and were still be subjugated to barbarous treatments...so this gentle style of care as shown, was important for people to see.
I thought Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck were quite good and very believable as a romantic couple struggling with the mystery of Peck's identity and the logic of love being more initiative than psychoanalysis. The film itself is aware that the love of the doctor for her patient is illogical...so I don't see that as a flaw.
The love conflict is a major theme of the movie and even the elderly doctor in Rochester points out to Ingrid (and to the audience) that her love for Peck is not logical and not based on good science. But the films premise is that the heart can be more powerful than the mind and love can heal all. And I love that concept!
Spellbound (Alfred Hitchcock, 1945)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov
Genre: Film Noir Mystery
About: A woman psychiatrist (Ingrid Bergman) falls in love with her patient, (Gregory Peck) who suffers from amnesia. He's accused of murder, but believing him innocent she goes they go on the lam, while she attempts to recover his memory that might prove his innocence.
Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov
Genre: Film Noir Mystery
About: A woman psychiatrist (Ingrid Bergman) falls in love with her patient, (Gregory Peck) who suffers from amnesia. He's accused of murder, but believing him innocent she goes they go on the lam, while she attempts to recover his memory that might prove his innocence.
Review: I enjoyed this! It's an, interesting, romantic, mystery-thriller, but doesn't feel like a noir. It was ground breaking in being one of the first films to portray psychoanalyze, and it portrays that branch of medicine in a good light. Back in 1945 the mentally ill were still being treated as objects of fear and scorn...and were still be subjugated to barbarous treatments...so this gentle style of care as shown, was important for people to see.
I thought Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck were quite good and very believable as a romantic couple struggling with the mystery of Peck's identity and the logic of love being more initiative than psychoanalysis. The film itself is aware that the love of the doctor for her patient is illogical...so I don't see that as a flaw.
The love conflict is a major theme of the movie and even the elderly doctor in Rochester points out to Ingrid (and to the audience) that her love for Peck is not logical and not based on good science. But the films premise is that the heart can be more powerful than the mind and love can heal all. And I love that concept!