Spellbound (1945)

Star Rating: 4
Length of Film: 111 minutes
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov, Leo G. Carroll, John Emery, Steven Geray, Paul Harvey, Donald Curtis, Rhonda Fleming, Norman Lloyd, Wallace Ford, Bill Goodwin, Art Baker, Regis Toomey, & Irving Bacon  
Oscar: Miklos Rozsa (music)
Oscar Nominations: David O. Selznick ( best picture), Alfred Hitchcock (director), Michael Chekhov (actor in support role), George Barnes (photography), Jack Cosgrove (special effects)

Spellbound was a miraculously beautiful film! They had clever camera angles and hired artist Salvador Dali to paint the pictures of a surrealist dream. Miklos Rozssa was the first music director to incorporate a Theremin as a musical instrument-the hum making an eerie, suspenseful sound.  

Dr. Constance Peterson (Ingrid Bergman) is a psychologist who works at a mental facility where they hired a new psychologist, Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck). Constance and Anthony immediately have an attraction for one another, yet she notices that there’s something odd about him, especially when it comes to seeing parallel lines-white parallel lines. Dressed for bed, Constance gets up, puts on her robe, grabs Anthony’s book and goes up to his room to “discuss” the book. While there, she notices that Anthony’s signature didn’t look like the signature that was signed in her book. Anthony has another mental breakdown after seeing white parallel lines, and comes to the realization that he’s not Anthony Peterson. That he killed the real Dr. Peterson.

The whole movie is Constance psychoanalyzing “Anthony” and trying to help him figure out who he is and to also to prove his innocence. Constance brings “Anthony” to meet Dr. Brulov (Michael Cheklov) and both analyze his dreams (artwork by Salvador Dali) which give them clues to what really happened to him. “Anthony” figures out what his real name is, who he actually murdered, and who murdered the real Dr. Anthony Edwardes.

My favorite 2 parts was the camera angle of “Anthony” drinking milk out of a cup and the real murderer of Dr. Anthony Edwardes, holding a gun, pointing it at Dr. Peterson, after she leaves, he slowly points the gun to himself, so the audience is staring down the barrel of the gun.

Notorious (1946)

Star Rating: 2

Length of Film: 101 minutes
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern, Leopoldine Konstantin, Reinhold Schunzel, Moroni Olsen, Ivan Triesault, & Alex Minotis
Oscar Nominations: Ben Hecht (screenplay), Calude Rains (actor in support role)

Notorious is about a woman from a wealthy family, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) who is reckless and hard headed. She meets T.R. Devlin, and he agrees to get in the car with drunk Alicia. She speeds down the highway and gets stopped by a cop. Devlin flashes a badge at the officer, and lets them go (this is the first time we find out that Devlin is an officer). He carries her to bed, and in the morning, while in her hangover state, asks her to be an undercover spy, and get close to fascist Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains). Devlin suspects that Sebastian is involved with the Nazi’s and needs proof. Alicia agrees, and they both head to Rio de Janeiro.

While there, they fall in love, but while Alicia was getting close to Sebastian, Sebastian ends up falling for her, and proposes marriage. Hints were given that Sebastian was hiding uranium (used to create a Nazi A-bomb) in a wine bottle in his wine cellar. At a party, Alicia slips the wine cellar key to Devlin they go to investigate. Alicia is the lookout, to make sure no one appears. Devlin breaks a bottle, exposing the black uranium powder. Alicia runs to help, and at that same moment, it flashes to the party, where the ice chest of champagne is dwindling down, stating at any moment, servants could enter and bust them. Hitchcock meant it to be very stressful and intense, but it wasn’t.

Sebastian put 2 and 2 together, that Alicia wasn’t there for the right reasons, especially after he sees the wine cellar key missing, and then the next morning it was there on the key ring. He went to the cellar and found a broken piece of glass hiding under the shelf, and knew Alicia was a spy. He talks to his mother about the situation (a mother who has too much power over her son), and she informs him that poison is the only way to control and punish Alicia.

Devlin and Alicia meet at a park bench in the middle of the city, and Alicia showed up and wasn’t feeling well, and excused herself. Alicia then started not showing up at all and that worried Devlin. He stormed into the house demanding to see Alicia. The ending is retarded. There’s no climax, no twist in the plot, it’s like a soufflé that collapses; you’re left disappointed. What’s also disappointing is the personality of Alicia. At first she’s all independent “I don’t need a man” and then she’s “oh, I love you Dev” and it was an immediate switch, there was no growth that over time she became fond of Devlin, it was as quick as a light switch turning on, but it wasn’t believable. I hate how Hollywood portrays couples falling in love so quickly, when it’s not what happens in real life. There’s infatuation at first sight, like lust, but not love.

Alfred Hitchcock movies are hit and miss with me. I’ve seen Psycho, Rope, Spellbound, The Bird, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Rebecca. So far I’ve only been impressed with Psycho and Rebecca.

Carmen Jones (1954)

Star Rating: 2
Length of Film: 105 minutes
Director: Otto Preminger
Cast: Harry Belafonte, Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey, Olga James, Joe Adams, Brock Peters, Roy Glenn, Nick Stewart, Diahann Carroll, LeVern Hutcherson, Marilyn Horne, & Marvin Hayes
Oscar Nominations: Dorothy Dandridge ( actress), Herschel Burke Gilbert (music)
Berlin International Film Festival: Otto Preminger (Bronze Bear)

Carmen Jones is based off of George Bizet’s opera Carmen. Oscar Hammerstein II kept Bizet’s music, but changed the lyrics. As an opera fan, I am very partial to the opera. They kept with the same story line, but modernized it. The actress who plays Carmen (Dorothy Dandridge) is absolutely breath taking and perfect for the role of Carmen because of her raw sexuality. I was disappointed, however, that her voice was dubbed over by opera singer Marilyn Horne. Soldier Joe (Harry Belafonte) singing voice was also dubbed and replaced by LeVern Hutcherson.

I think I would have enjoyed the movie more if I hadn’t had any background knowledge on Bizet’s opera, because it’s really hard to compare to an opera that’s one of the greatest in the world.

Splendor in the Grass (1961)

Star Rating: 4
Length of Film: 124 minutes
Director: Elia Kazan
Cast: Natalie Wood, Pat Hingle, Audrey Christie, Barbara Loden, Zohra Lampert, Warren Beatty, Fred Stewart, Joanna Roos, John McGoverrn, Jan Norris, Martine Bartlett, Gary Lockwood, Sandy Dennis, Crystal Field, & Marla Adams
Oscar: William Inge (screenplay)
Oscar Nomination: Natalie Wood (actress)




Set in Kansas 1928, Dean (Natalie Wood) & Bud (Warren Beatty) have been going steady for 4 years. The movie starts out with the two main characters in a parked card facing a waterfall making out. Things start getting hot and heavy...

Deanie- Bud..
Bud- Deanie, please..
Deanie- Bud, I'm afraid. Oh Bud...don't, Bud.
Bud- Deanie...
Deanie- No...we mustn't, Bud...no...no...
[Bud gets out of the car]
Deanie- Bud, don't be mad
Bud- I better take you home

Bud has a sister, named Ginny (Barbara Loden) who's very promiscuous; she's already had an abortion, and an annulled marriage, to say the least, she's very experienced, sexually. Bud becomes frustrated not getting any from Deanie, after 4 years of dating, and discusses it with his father. His father Ace, (Pat Hingle) tells him NOT to get married, and that he needs to go to school first. Once he's done with college, then he can marry Deanie. Dad even offered to pay for their honeymoon. Then...dad told Bud to find another girl, to fulfill his needs, sexually. He breaks it off with Deanie, and goes for the girl with the reputation for giving it away, sending Deanie into a depression.

Deanie's mother (Audrey Christie) kept pushing Deanie, asking if she has given herself to Bud and that's why she's upset. This whole scene is going on while Deanie is taking a bath. This is Deanie's response:
"No mom! I'm not spoiled! I'm not spoiled mom! I'm just as fresh and virginal like the day I was born, mom!"

Very powerful! Natalie Wood did a really good job playing a teenager whose life was turned upside after being broken up by her longtime boyfriend. She didn't know where her place was in the world anymore, especially since her life was wrapped around Bud. She had to deal with the stress that her boyfriend broke up with her, because she wouldn't have sex with him.

During English class, she had to sit behind the girl who her ex boyfriend is currently sleeping with and the teacher reads a poem by William Wordsworth:

"That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind."

The teacher calls on Deanie, she gives her interpretation of the poem, and asks to be excused, storming out crying. Deanie mopes around the house for months, and her girlfriends bring up the dance, Bud's friend "Toots" (Gary Lockwood) asks Bud permission he could ask Deanie. Bud agrees, and he asks Deanie. While getting ready, Deanie sings the same song, that promiscuous Ginny was singing. Deanie is not the same girl she was in the beginning of the movie. She cut her hair, and dressed more seductress like, in a red dress, revealing her shoulders.

Toots puts the moves on Deanie (at the same spot where Bud took Deanie in the beginning of the movie). She got upset and ran towards the rocks, started climbing, and was headed toward the waterfall, jumping to her death. Classmates caught her before she could, and her parents decided to send her to a hospital, for help.

While Deanie is in the mental institution, Bud goes off to Yale, where he can't focus, and ends up being kicked out. Depressed and drinkin, he meets an italian waitress named Angie. She flirts with him and invites him to the kitchen for pizza.

He's so handsome! I absolutely loved him in Bonnie & Clyde

Time goes by and we visit Deanie at the hospital. She is painting and chatting with a man. Deanie's parents visit and invite her to dinner at their hotel, and she turns to her nurse for guidance. She speaks up and tells the parents shes had a long day and needs her rest.

After 2 years being hospitalized, Deanie goes back home and is engaged to a doctor she met at the hospital, he was also a patient. While at home, the first thing Deanie wanted to do was visit Bud. Her mom tried to sidetrack Deanie, but she was determined to see him. Her father, gave Deanie the address, and she went with two of her friends from school to see Bud.

Deanie got the closure she needed...foreshadowing to the quote Deanie read in school, 2 years ago. "Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind."