Possessed (1947)

Copyright 26 July 1947 by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Hollywood: 29 May 1947. U.S. release: 26 July 1947. U.K. release: 12 January 1948. Australian release: 18 March 1948. 9,755 feet. 108 minutes. NOTES: Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, Joan Crawford, losing to Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter.COMMENT: Possessed is rather heady stuff even if it could stand some sharpening and trimming. Until the first flashback it is a fully engrossing exercise in screen craftsmanship with Bernhardt excelling himself with such inventive directorial touches as the use of a subjective camera in the first hospital scenes with the camera tracking through the corridors on the trolley and doctors peering eerily into the lens. Indeed throughout the entire film, there is a superlative creation of atmosphere - the dark menacing lake house with its massively balustraded stairway and oppressive furniture, the invalid portrayed only by a querulous voice apart from the brief flash of the drowned figure rising into view from the murky waters of the lake, a subjective camera dollying through the shadowy passageways, the rain lashing the windows, the wind howling and chattering in the chimneys, the tinkling of Schumann on the piano - direction, photography, music, sound effects, art direction all coalesce brilliantly in places. At other times, alas, things are somewhat dull - particularly in some of the scenes with Van Heflin, an unsympathetic character whom the actor seems to be unsure how to play. Instead of letting the character stride across the screen in a full-blooded manner to match the dynamic playing of Miss Crawford, Heflin seems to be too restrained and too concerned with not making his characterization too unsympathetic, and as a result he seems weak and his performance pallid.Joan Crawford, as usual, is terrific, playing all stops out with the full melodramatic punch the script requires. Geraldine Brooks is also remarkably accomplished in a difficult role in which she is required to register many different changes of mood and attitude which she does most convincingly. Raymond Massey also has some marvelous histrionic opportunities, though he fails to take full advantage of them and plays his role in too straightforward a manner. The support cast is solid, though Stanley Ridge's cool analyst seems a little too studied (perhaps deliberately to contrast with the more professional approach Moroni Olsen brings to a similar role).Production values are superlative and a special tribute should be made to the special effects so skillfully and at times dazzlingly directed by William McGann.OTHER VIEWS: Crawford evokes all our heartfelt sympathy in this extremely polished film noir. It's given the Warner Bros class "A" treatment in every department and one suspects that the original Cosmopolitan magazine novelette was considerably enhanced for this masterly screen adaptation. Van Heflin is well cast as the heel, whilst the excellent Raymond Massey and Geraldine Brooks come close to rivaling Miss Crawford for our attention. Fluidly inventive direction joined with moody yet attractive photography in effective sets (particularly the gloomy lake house) all keep our eyes firmly where they belong - on the screen! -- JHR writing as George Addison.

Directed by Curtis Bernhardt, and co-written by Ranald MacDougall, this (cutting edge for its time) psychological drama features Crawford's second of three Best Actress Oscar nominated performances, and second of three pairings with writer MacDougall (she'd won for Mildred Pierce two years earlier). Crawford plays a disturbed woman who shows up in an unfamiliar city muttering names and words with no discernible meaning until a psychiatrist is able to uncover their origins using patience and drug treatment. The story he uncovers, during flashback storytelling, is this:Crawford was a nurse for a wealthy family that was also secretly in love with a confirmed bachelor, "in love with his work, and himself" engineer named David, played by Van Heflin (it's a mystery to me what women ever saw in this actor), who lives across the lake from the family's vacation home. Mrs. Graham is the invalid, confined to a wheelchair, to which Crawford's character Louise attends. David tires of Louise's overbearing possessive love and breaks off their affair. A distraught Louise returns to the Grahams and is chastised by Mr. Graham, Dean (Raymond Massey), for being absent, but she explains that it was her day off before she goes to attend to Mrs. Graham. An accident or a murder, it's intentionally a mystery, occurs causing Mrs. Graham to drown in the lake. The Grahams twenty- one year old daughter Carol (Geraldine Brooks) & preteen son return while an inquiry, by the coroner and Lieutenant Harker (John Ridgely), determines it was an accidental death.Dean hires David, then later falls for Louise, though she still loves David. Not knowing this, Dean still accepts Louise's respect for him as enough, hoping that will eventually grow into love. Dean marries Louise causing resentment from Carol who, not only blames Louise for her mother's death, but thinks she's a gold digger. However, Louise is able to smooth it over and the two become friends until Carol starts dating David, despite Louise's cautions. With the stress of it all, Louise's psychological condition deteriorates and she starts imagining things. As a former nurse, she has some realization of what is happening and goes to see a doctor, who confirms her diagnosis.Without giving away what happens next, or the ending, suffice it to say that Crawford gives a terrifically credible performance of a mentally unbalanced woman who goes over the edge.The various doctors are played by Stanley Ridges, Moroni Olsen, and Erskine Sanford.

Possessed (1947) *** (out of 4)Joan Crawford's incredible performance is the highlight of this thriller. In the film she plays Louise Howell, a woman who begins to suffer a mental breakdown after the man (Van Heflin) she loves walks away from her. Even though she marries another man (Raymond Massey) the stress of the other one leaving her just causes her mind to collapse. It's very important to point out the fact that this film was released thirteen years before Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO and I say that because of how much credit that film gets when it comes to looking at mental illness. Viewing POSSESSED today it's easy to see where the film is going as it is quite predictable and there's no question that some of the mental illness terms are out of date. With that said, for the most part this is a fairly good thriller that manages to keep your attention thanks in large part to the terrific cast. I'm not sure what else can be said about Crawford but there's no question that she was on quite a row at Warner. First with MILDRED PIERCE then HUMORESQUE and finally POSSESSED, the actress was really pushing herself and it made for three incredible performances. What's so amazing about her performance here is how many different personalities she manages to play. This character goes through all sorts of mental "issues" and I really loved the various ways Crawford brought them to the screen. It could be as simple as someone turning their back on her or someone telling her that they're not in love. There are several scenes where she's imagining things happening to her and Crawford is just flawless. It certainly doesn't help that Heflin is perfect as the snake and Massey is also extremely good as the supporting husband. Geraldine Brooks also deserves a lot of credit for her wonderful supporting performance as the step-daughter. Director Curtis Bernhardt brings a lot of style and atmosphere to the film and there's also some wonderful cinematography that helps. Again, the film is quite predictable but this doesn't take away the fun or the brilliant work by Crawford.

The story of a thirty-something woman losing her mind in the late Forties. Her symptoms (visual and auditory hallucinations, some pushing her toward suicide) seem to indicate schizophrenia, even though that is less common in women than men, and usually manifests itself at an earlier age. Joan Crawford showed wonderful acting range, and this is the type of role designed to snag an Oscar nomination, which it did. I've not seen a lot of her work, but I am a bit surprised at her popularity back in the day. A good actress, to be sure, but, well, not that hot. Yes, I know, shallow. Anyway I also liked Van Heflin in this film (one of my mother's favorites) and Geraldine Brooks. I would have liked to have seen more of Miss Brooks, but apparently she spent most of her career on TV instead of films. Overall, this movie is OK, but not great.