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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Spellbound (1945)


Oh, Spellbound, how I love your little tag-line: "Will he kiss me or kill me?" If you ever find yourself asking this question, I don't care if the guy looks like Gregory Peck, something just isn't right, so get out of the relationship! 


Spellbound is a film full of mystery, psychoanalysis, and romance. Obviously, the romance part is a bit strange, but thankfully it's only a movie, so this sort of a romance works. A highly acclaimed psychiatrist, Dr. Anthony Edwardes has been sent to replace Dr. Murchinson as the new chief of staff at Green Manors mental hospital. When Dr. Constance Petersen meets him, she quickly falls in love with him. However, she begins to realize, as do others working in the mental institution, that Dr. Edwardes isn't Dr. Edwardes at all, but an impostor named John Ballantyne who is a paranoid amnesiac. He runs away with Constance who tries to help him with his amnesia, as well as solve the mystery of what happened to the real Dr. Edwardes. 


I like this movie. It's entertaining, I like watching the chemistry between Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman, and I love the dream sequence scene. The dream sequence was created by Salvador Dali. It is full of imagery and gives the audience an insight into what is going on inside of John's brain and what happened in his life that has caused him to suffer from amnesia. The symbolism that is projected throughout the dream is simple to interpret, but I still enjoy seeing them displayed in this fashion. I especially like the faceless man. 

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