Spellbound (1945)
I have no idea what to write about this one, but maybe it'll mean the review's going to be better than my usual rigid rants. I feel that Spellbound hasn't aged well (not only the psychology but also things like the characters and the ridiculous skiing scene).
The best thing in Spellbound is Ingrid Bergman. Her character is silly and naive in worldly matters, but she makes the poor doctor adorable. By the way, anyone else thinking that she reminds Jodie Foster a lot (especially her facial expressions). Peck is quite weak in this, and most other characters would fit better to romantic comedies (most doctors at Green Manors and maybe even Peck) or random sketches (Chekhov).
Dali's dream sequence is okay, but it would have worked better as an actual dream instead of a weirdly accurate recollection of one. The four-minute overture is pointless, and all it did was giving me a negative mindset for the rest of the film. There's very little suspense considering the director is supposed to be the master of it. Also, for a noir (is it really?), the absence of cynicism is noticeable (it's rare to see more gullible and trusting "investigator" than Dr. Petersen).
It would be too harsh to call Spellbound bad, but it's far from being a masterpiece either. At this point, it's firmly at the bottom of my vote.
I have no idea what to write about this one, but maybe it'll mean the review's going to be better than my usual rigid rants. I feel that Spellbound hasn't aged well (not only the psychology but also things like the characters and the ridiculous skiing scene).
The best thing in Spellbound is Ingrid Bergman. Her character is silly and naive in worldly matters, but she makes the poor doctor adorable. By the way, anyone else thinking that she reminds Jodie Foster a lot (especially her facial expressions). Peck is quite weak in this, and most other characters would fit better to romantic comedies (most doctors at Green Manors and maybe even Peck) or random sketches (Chekhov).
Dali's dream sequence is okay, but it would have worked better as an actual dream instead of a weirdly accurate recollection of one. The four-minute overture is pointless, and all it did was giving me a negative mindset for the rest of the film. There's very little suspense considering the director is supposed to be the master of it. Also, for a noir (is it really?), the absence of cynicism is noticeable (it's rare to see more gullible and trusting "investigator" than Dr. Petersen).
It would be too harsh to call Spellbound bad, but it's far from being a masterpiece either. At this point, it's firmly at the bottom of my vote.