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Spellbound Details

1945 DVD Certificate PG.gif
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 2738 members

Drawing on psychoanalysis to frame a transcendent love story, Alfred Hitchcock's SPELLBOUND is a mind-bending study of just how far people might go to escape trauma or to pursue passion. Gregory Peck is introduced as Dr. Edwardes, the newly arrived director of a mental asylum. However, when Edwardes starts displaying strange .. Read more

Starring Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Rhonda Fleming, Leo G. Carroll
Director Alfred Hitchcock
Genres Drama

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Spellbound

Drawing on psychoanalysis to frame a transcendent love story, Alfred Hitchcock's SPELLBOUND is a mind-bending study of just how far people might go to escape trauma or to pursue passion. Gregory Peck is introduced as Dr. Edwardes, the newly arrived director of a mental asylum. However, when Edwardes starts displaying strange behavior in a meeting with the staff, Dr. Constance Peterson (Ingrid Bergman) begins to suspect that all is not right with him. Edwardes proves to actually be John Ballantine, a patient suffering from amnesia--and a consuming dread in relation to the missing Dr. Edwardes. As suspicion of murder falls over Ballantine, the icy Peterson finds herself growing more and more emotionally attached to him and more and more convinced that curing his amnesia is the key to proving his innocence. Retreating to an upstate residence, Peterson enlists the help of leading psychoanalyst Dr. Brulov (Michael Chekhov). Pursuing the truth of the mysterious disappearance of Dr. Edwardes leads deep into the tangled mindscape of Ballantine and proves that danger is very close indeed. To illustrate the psychological journey Ballantine undergoes, the film includes a captivating dream sequence designed by the legendary surrealist painter Salvador Dali."

Starring Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Rhonda Fleming, Leo G. Carroll, Wallace Ford, Donald Curtis
Director Alfred Hitchcock
Studio FREMANTLE
Run time DVD: 1 hr 50 mins
Certificate DVD Certificate PG.gif
Genres Drama
Language English
Released DVD: 23 Aug 2004
Production year: 1945
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (3) of Spellbound

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    In his eagerness to make the first serious film about psychoanalysis, Alfred Hitchcock so diluted the fantastical elements in Francis Beeding's novel The House of Dr Edwardes, all that remained was a melodramatic plot and an awful lot of psychobabble. Not even dream sequences designed by Salvador Dali could enliven the turgid script, made all the less palatable by the robotic performance of Gregory Peck as the amnesiac trying to unravel his troubled past with the help of sympathetic shrink, Ingrid Bergman. Hitch himself was disappointed with the picture, but there are enough masterly touches to prevent the attention from straying too far.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006
  • 2 stars out of 4

    Enthralling and rather infuriating psychological mystery; the Hitchcock touches are splendid, and the stars shine magically, but the plot could have stood a little more attention.

    • Halliwell's Film Guide
    • Posted 02 Mar 2006

  • Most helpful member's review of Spellbound

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  • 15 out of 20 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Spellbound (1945)

    Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergman & others great acting.

    Great director.

    OLD FASHIONED SUSPENCE FILM.

      • Sparkie from BRISTOL, UK
      • Posted 23 Jun 2005 16:46

  • Most recent members' review of Spellbound

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  • 7 out of 7 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    Spellbound without the spelling ...

    Worth watching just to hear Gregory Peck announce with all the conviction he can muster: 'If there's one thing I hate - it's a SMUG WOMAN'.

    The music is a bit exaggerated and some of the scenes, for example - the opening of all the doors after Bergman gets her first ever kiss, are well somewhat over dramatised and bordering on the absurd, within the context of what has actually just taken place.

    The scene where Bergman gushingly chooses Bratwurst over ham still perplexes me. Was that supposed to be a sly sexual reference, her choosing a sausage over a piece of flat ham?

    A rather simplistic analysis of psychiatry really but Peck and Bergman are both at the peak of their acting careers here and talent just oozes out of them irrespective of the plot.

    As things progress they begin to unravel the mystery behind Peck's amnesia and there is enough there to keep you interested in the outcome.

      • Daniel Carl from Kilmarnock, Scotland
      • Posted 31 May 2004 17:44

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Rating breakdown

2,738 Member ratings
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  • 90
218
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600
  • 70
535
  • 60
546
  • 50
264
  • 40
149
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80
  • 20
57
  • 10
33

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    • Spellbound

    • Spellbound
      Drawing on psychoanalysis to frame a transcendent love story, Alfred Hitchcock's SPELLBOUND is a mind-bending study of just how far people might go to escape trauma or to pursue passion. Gregory Peck is introduced as Dr. Edwardes, the newly arrived director of a mental asylum. However, when ...