Blu-ray Review: Spellbound and Notorious

For the average movie-goer, “Hitchcock” means Psycho, The Birds, Vertigo, and North by Northwest. Maybe Rear Window, too. But the portly, prolific director made dozens of films, going back to the silent era, so if you haven’t seen Spellbound or Notorious, it’s understandable. However, these two titles should probably be mentioned in the same breath as Hitch’s better known films, if for no other reason but the way they have helped define genres and shape feature films since their release in the mid-1940s.

Spellbound

Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) is a noted psychoanalyst at Green Manors Mental Hospital. She’s a bit stuffy and has little interest in romance, preferring to bury her head in her Freudian work. That is until Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck) arrives as the new head of Green Manors. Not much is known about Edwardes, other than the fact that he has written an authoritative book on guilt complexes, a topic Petersen has taken a special interest in studying. Naturally she is drawn to the good-looking, young doctor and the feeling seems mutual, however, he seems reticent to talk about psychology at all. His odd behavior is only exacerbated after he sees lines drawn on the tablecloth at dinner and later has a meltdown after seeing the blood from an injured patient. Soon after, Petersen discovers that the man she knows – and loves – is not who she thinks he is. In fact, he could very well be a murderer.

Spellbound set the standard for the psychological thrillers we know today. With its emphasis on real Freudian concepts, the film is one of the earliest examples of a film using psychology to glimpse inside the mind of a killer. These otherwise intangible aspects are brought to life as part of a dream sequence designed by none other than surrealist, mustachioed artist, Salvador Dali, in one of his rare Hollywood appearances.

However, all the psycho-babble does make Spellbound a bit talky and difficult to follow, especially once you bring in another psychoanalyst, Dr. Brulov (Michael Chekhov), later on. That doesn’t make it a bad film, obviously, but it does mean you’ll really need to pay attention and process what the characters are saying to fully grasp the intricacies of the plot. Thankfully, the performances by Bergman and Peck will help guide you through the twisting, turning plot. Both are truly solid, as is to be expected, but Peck is especially great; he conveys so much with just a twitch or a furrowed brow. This is also one of Hitch’s more experimental films from a directorial standpoint. Not only was the Dali sequence a risk, but there are some really interesting first-person perspective shots the likes of which you’ve probably never seen outside of an Xbox game.

While it’s not my favorite Hitchcock film, it’s still well worth checking out. A few laughably dated special effects aside, the film holds up pretty well as a psychological thriller, and if you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll see a lot of its influence on everything from Seven to The Cell to Silence of the Lambs.

The recent Blu-ray release by 20^th Century Fox has a nice collection of features for all you Hitch fans. The disc has an insightful commentary track from film professors Thomas Schatz and Charles Ramirez Berg, who espouse interesting tidbits about the making of the film and even personal histories of the key players in the film’s production. You’ll also find fascinating short documentaries on Dali’s sequence, a look at the psychological basis for the story, a 1948 radio version of the movie, and recorded interviews with Hitch himself. Perhaps one of the most surprising and welcome features is called A Cinderella Story: Rhonda Fleming, about a young actress who plays a small, but memorable part early in the film, who later went on to stardom in such films as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, While the City Sleeps, and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Spellbound and Notorious are both available on Blu-ray from 20^th Century Fox, who were kind enough to supply us with copies of both for review.