Essential Cinema - 47

Possessed

ACTORS:
Joan Crawford ... Louise Howell
Van Heflin ... David Sutton
Raymond Massey ... Dean Graham
Geraldine Brooks ... Carol Graham
Stanley Ridges ... Dr. Willard

DIRECTOR
Curtis Bernhardt

SCREENPLAY
Silvia Richards (screenplay) and
Ranald MacDougall (screenplay)

CINEMATOGRAPHER
Joseph A. Valentine




SYNOPSIS:
An emotionally empty woman's slow descent into madness.






CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER:
How people act and how they relate to others isn't an instantaneous thing, it develops slowly over time.






PROS AND CONS
I came across this LaserDisc while shopping in a thrift store with my wife. LaserDiscs are sometimes tucked in with the old vinyl record albums and you have to hunt for them. This looked like a real treasure. Joan Crawfod in a 1947 film noir classic and it is in really good shape. The wife and I watched it that evening and we were pleasantly surprised at how good a film it is.






First of all, this is the first film that Joan Crawford did after making "Mildred Peirce", the role for which she won her best actress Oscar. So there were high expectations for this film. Watching it today, the film walks a fine line between being a bit campy and a little on the scary side. I don't know if it is intentional or not, but Joan comes across as being a bit crazy in this role. Looking back through the window of "Mommie Dearest" and "What Ever Happened to Baby Jaine?", you can sort of see where her whole persona as a really messed up person may have started.






The marketing and liner notes for this film lead the viewer to believe that Joan's character is some sort of crazed stalker that hunts down her lover (Heflin) who has spurned her. However, once you start watching the film, you quickly realize that is not the case at all. The ad campaign by the studio was meant to be much more scandalous than the actual content of the film. The reality is that Joan's character, Louise Howell, has schizophrenia which slowly manifests itself over her lifetime, to the point where she goes totally insane at the end of the picture. It is probably one of the first Hollywood attempts at psychological drama based on modern psycho-analysis, since most of the story is told in flashback as her doctor attempts to unravel what has lead Louise Howell to the psycho ward.






The film is shot in classic film noir style, with high contrast black and white imagery, every room has the shadows of venetian blinds on the walls, dark spiral staircases and Joan dressed to the nine's with broad shoulder pads and tight fitting dresses. For me, half the fun of watching these films, is looking at the shadows cast in the scenes and trying to figure out where all the light sources are. I often refer to these types of films as the Caucasian fantasy films of the 1940s and 1950s. The characters are extremely wealthy, they always have servants, they go to a lot of cocktail parties and they live in multiple houses in gorgeous locations. There isn't an Hispanic, Asian or African American in sight.






When viewed in the context of when it was created, I don't see a lot of cons in this film. Although, the relationship between Louise Howell and her husband, Dean Graham (Raymond Massey) seems a bit of a stretch. She obviously doesn't really love the guy, and why he sticks by her, even at the end, either shows him to be the most devoted man on earth or a real idiot. Again, the viewer will have to decide. this work is a great walk down memory lane and a peek at some classic acting and cinematography.




Click the Film Title Graphic or here to watch the trailer for this film on YouTube.


This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection which is located on the LaserDisc Database.

Clicking on the "Essential Cinema" title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. The listing of all the LaserDiscs that I have reviewed on IMDB can be found here.

Clicking here will take you to a listing of all the "Essential Cinema" reviews in my Blog.