Spellbound (1945)

Subject: Spellbound (1945) Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:29 pm

This Hitchcock film tells the story of a man hired to be a psychiatrist at an asylum. It turns out he's not who he says he is and the actual psychiatrist has been murdered. The imposter (played by Gregory Peck) is thought to be a prime suspect but another psychiatrist (played by Ingrid Bergman) thinks he is suffering from amnesia and completely innocent. The plot sounds rather interesting, especially once all of the nuances and conclusion is added, but it plays out as rather dull. Perhaps I was just tired or something, but this film didn't really get me all that excited at any point. This is nowhere near Hitchcock's best work.

As for the acting, Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman aren't bad but they're nothing terribly special here either. The supporting cast, like the main actors, is good but not great.

Overall, this is a mediocre film and a below-average Hitchcock film. It's probably not worth seeing unless you are a big Hitchcock fan. To make matters worse, this film was released on DVD by Criterion but it is now out of print and a used copy runs $50 and up.

71/100
C-

UP NEXT: Either another Hitchcock film, Notorious or something else.
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