Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) is a psychoanalyst working at “Green Manner”, a mental hospital in Vermont. She is a no-nonsense doctor who devotes all her time to her patients and has no outside life. She is the only female doctor at the hospital. Her superior, Dr. Muchison (Leo G. Carroll) is being forced to retire. A new doctor, named Dr. Anthony Edwardes is expected to replace him. When Dr. Edwardes (Gregory) Peck) arrives, he is introduced to the other doctors. Constance doesn’t meet Edwardes until later that evening at dinner. When their eyes meet, the two fall immediately in love.
Constance figures out that the handsome doctor is actually not Dr. Edwardes. When the fake Edwardes has physical and emotional reactions to anything the color white with dark lines on it, Constance realizes that he has suppressed something in his past. Edwardes tells Constance that he has amnesia but believes he killed the actual Edwardes. All he knows is that his initials are JB. Not wanting to hurt Constance, should he manifest a fugue state, the now JB leaves Constance a note and takes off for New York City. Constance follows him to New York and beings trying to help the mysterious man cure himself.
The doctors at Green Manner notify the police about JB and that Constance is missing. The police put Constance’s picture in the New York City papers. A bellhop sees it and notifies the hotel detective who then calls the police. Constance and JB manage to escape from the city before they are captured. Constance takes JB to her old mentor, Dr. Alexander Brulov (Michael Checkhov). Between the two doctors they figure out that JB’s amnesia is related to both a childhood trauma, that Dr. Edwardes was trying to help JB resolve, as well as an additional trauma related to Edwardes’ death, but finding out what happened could prove that JB is in fact a killer.
“Spellbound” was released in 1945 and was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It is an American psychological mystery thriller and a film noir. The movie is based on the 1927 novel “The House of Dr. Edwardes” by Hilary Saint George Saunders and John Palmer. The movie was nominated for six academy awards.
The film was produced by David O. Selznick. Selznick’s own therapist was the technical advisor on the film. The dream sequence that JB relays to Constance and Dr. Brulov was created by Salvador Dali.
It went from sixty to zero in five minutes. Then it got better. The first time I saw this film I found it boring. This time it was so much better but there was still a good portion that was rather slow. It seemed a little farfetched that Constance, who seems to have some of her own psychological baggage, would fall in love so fast but the main object of the story was to get to the analytical aspects of the film. The best part was when Dr. Brulov shows up. The second-best part was the Salvador Dali scene.
Alfred Hitchcock has a cameo at the Empire Hotel lobby in New York City where he is seen exiting an elevator while smoking a cigarette.