Film Bulletin (12/Nov/1945) - What The Newspaper Critics Say: Spellbound
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- article: What The Newspaper Critics Say: Spellbound
- author(s):
- journal: Film Bulletin (12/Nov/1945)
- issue: volume 13, issue 23, page 26
- journal ISSN:
- publisher: Film Bulletin Company
- keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Ben Hecht, Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergman, Rebecca (1940), Spellbound (1945)
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Article
"SPELLBOUND" BEST HITCHCOCK THRILLER
(UNITED ARTISTS)
"...Secret recesses of the mind are explored with brilliant and terrifying effect in 'Spellbound'. . .Ben Hecht's crafty scenario and compelling performances by Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck ...Masterful psychiatric thriller. . .Off the beaten track, but it is also irresistibly engrossing. . .Stamped with authority and artistry." BARNES, N.Y. HERALD TRIBUNE.
on the most unlikely theme any movie ever undertook ...One long flight, hard-pressed escapes from police, from insanity or from pure vengeance.. .A murder mystery, one of the most absorbing and exciting ever seen on a screen... If you are going to see any picture at all in the next few months, you will be doing yourself an injustice if you don't make it 'Spellbound'." COOK, N.Y. WORLD-TELEGRAM.
"...Melodrama — good, mature, engrossing. . .Certainly the best job Hitchcock has done since 'Rebecca' which puts it in very high brackets indeed. . .There are flaws in it, but I didn't spot them until the show was over and then they didn't seem to matter... Ingrid Bergman seemed to me to be magnificent throughout the film." McMANUS, PM.
"...Will keep you enthralled if you believe in the efficacy of psychoanalysis in the treatment of amnesia or other derange merits of the mind... If, on the other hand, psychoanalysis seems phoney to you, as it does to me, much of the interest and suspense of the action will evaporate .. .All this psychoanalyticaly stuff is superimposed on a good old-fashioned murder mystery that the audience can spend its time solving if the mysteries of psychoanalysis proves either boring or a little obtuse." CAMERON, N.Y. DAILY NEWS.
"...Story of deep emotional content. . .Rather obvious and often told tale, but the manner and quality of its telling is extraordinarily fine... Miss Bergman chief asset in accomplishing the sincerity of this film, but Mr. Peck is also a large contributor. His performance, restrained and refined, is precisely the proper counter to Miss Bergman's exquisite role." CROWTHER, N.Y. TIMES.
