SPELLBOUND: Blu-ray (Selznick 1945) MGM/Fox Home Video

Psychologically speaking, Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound (1945) is a red herring; its simplification of Freud's theory on the guilt complex seem utterly quaint and slightly archaic by today's standards. That, however, does not discount the film from being a superior psychological thriller. By 1945 producer David O. Selznick was involved in several productions that diluted his total involvement on this film. In fact, Selznick had 'packaged' Spellbound as a property to market to RKO before deciding to produce the film himself. Hitchcock detested being traded as though he were a prize thoroughbred. But he owed Selznick two more pictures under his current contract. Spellbound was one of them.


After initial apprehension Hitchcock persuaded Selznick to purchase the rights to Hilary Saint George Saunder's novel ‘The House of Dr. Edwardes’ for $40,000. Selznick had wanted Hitchcock to make a film about his own life-affirming experiences employing psychoanalysis. In fact, Selznick's own therapist, May Romm is credited as being the film's technical advisor. But Hitchcock had no such intensions. Instead, the director scored a minor coup by having Selznick hire renown painter Salvador Dali to stage the elaborate dream sequence. Hitchcock saw the inclusion of Dali - with his bizarre and clever visual interpretations - as an artistic collaborator. But as far as Selznick was concerned, having Dali (an artist of immense repute) on the marquee translated into considerable cache at the box office.

Spellbound begins in earnest with Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman); a somewhat sexually repressed psychotherapist doing her analyses of patients at Green Manors; a country sanitarium. Although Constance's own sexual frigidity becomes the brunt of Dr. Fleurot’s (Jon Emery) cynical humour and flirtations, her romantic life kicks into high gear with the arrival of new chief of staff, Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck) who is replacing retiring head, Dr. Murchison (Leon G. Glenn).

However, certain phobias begin to manifest themselves in Edwardes’ character, drawing Constance romantically closer to him, but at the same time exciting the maternal, as well as her professional instincts to protect Edwardes and get to the bottom of his psychosis. The authorities suspect that Peck's character (rechristened John Brown after it is learned he is not Anthony Edwardes) has murdered the real Anthony Edwardes to assume his identity.

Constance and John escape the police and take a train to her old academic mentor, Dr. Alex Brulov (Michael Chekov) who suggests to John that women make the best psychiatrists until they fall in love. "After that," he explains, "They make the best patients." Determined to break John's repression, Alex and Constance try regression therapy. John recalls being in a gambling house with Edwardes, but the resulting jumble of images (including a curtain full of eyes and a giant wheel tumbling down a snowy incline) only elaborate the mystery at hand.

Constance decides that John needs to be taken back to the last place he remembers being before his blackout: the ski slopes where he assumed Edwardes' identity. But Alex warns her that she is taking a terrible risk. She believes John is innocent of the crime of murdering Edwardes. But what if he is not? Unlocking his repressed memory might force John to kill her too.

At the heart of Spellbound is a romance. Yet John is exonerated from killing Edwardes only after Constance decodes his dream and realizes who the real killer is. Ben Hecht's screenplay deftly exploits her race against time and makes legitimate attempts to sustain the psychoanalytic thread. But the latter is eventually relegated to the backdrop of this glossy and suspenseful romance. Miklos Rozsa's memorable score, complete with its spooky Theremin strains captures the duality of this dangerous love.

Hitchcock’s battles with Selznick on the set of Spellbound were daily and exhausting. At one point the director pleaded with Selznick to buy out the rest of his studio contract and find someone else to complete the film. Selznick retaliated with the threat of a lengthy lawsuit, forcing Hitchcock to finish the film.

Selznick also encountered resistance from Salvador Dali, who had planned an elaborate dream sequence far too costly and much too lengthy for the purpose of the film. Although Hitchcock convinced Dali to reduce his scale – many sequences that were filmed were eventually excised by Selznick to tighten Dali’s meandering symbolism. None of these edits pleased Dali’s artistic sensibilities.

After Spellbound’s premiere, Hitchcock focused his attentions on crafting Notorious. Believing that Spellbound’s narrative still lacked clarity, Selznick pulled the general release print and removed a montage explaining the clinical treatment of patients; effectively eliminating an additional fourteen minutes from the finished feature.

Even after enthusiastic reviews and favorable box office, Selznick seemed dismissive about the final cut, calling it “just another man-hunt wrapped up in pseudo-psychotherapy.” Thankfully, audiences have continued to disagree with this snap assessment. Spellbound is a magnificent thriller. Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman have genuine on screen chemistry. Yet, there is a sense of foreboding about their relationship that is sustained until the final fade out. As publicity of its day indicated, "Will he kiss me or kill me?" In the final analysis, Spellbound is compelling entertainment. It retains its allure as pure escapism even if the science behind it has rendered the film's theories about the human mind utterly moot.

MGM/Fox Home Video Blu-ray shows marked improvements over its SD DVD. The image tightens up as it should in 1080p. Contrast levels greatly improved with richer blacks and cleaner whites. But so too does the overall sharpness, clarity and detail in the image improve. The video noise on the DVD translates to an impressive patina of very naturally reproduced film grain. The audio is DTS mono perfectly reproduces the power in Miklos Rozsa's dramatic score.

Extras are all imports from the DVD and include an engrossing audio commentary by Charles Ramirez Berg and Thomas Schatz, an isolated music/effects track, a making of featurette, interview snippets with Hitchcock and Peter Bogdanovich, a featurette on Salvador Dali and galleries dedicated to stills and poster art. Highly recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
4

VIDEO/AUDIO
4.5

EXTRAS
3