 |
| DIRECTED BY |
| Alfred Hitchcock
|
| STARRING |
| Ingrid Bergman |
| Gregory Peck |
| Michael Chekhov |
| Leo G. Carroll |
 |
The concept of exploring the origins and intricacies of a murder completely through psychology is an interesting premise, but it takes quite some time for �Spellbound� to really get interesting in that respect. It isn�t until Hitchcock sends his film into full-out �Dali mode� by fading into surreal dream sequences that it becomes truly memorable, but the amazing visual qualities of those few dream sequences is almost enough to recommend the film alone.
The whole first half of the film treads dangerously along the line of boredom, with Hitchcock taking his merry old time to develop and develop and develop his characters some more as they talk and talk and talk as much psychobabble as cinematically possible. Ballantine�s (Gregory Peck) obvious state of mental anxiety only gets interesting for a little while, and it gets a little tiresome to see Hitchcock play upon the same premise of Ballantine suddenly going into arcane psychological trauma whenever he sees the color white. But then, slowly but surely, the film progresses toward finalizing its plot.
For all of the semi-boredom that comes with watching what is probably Hitchcock�s artiest film, it is nonetheless commendable for its originality, ambitiousness, and � when it finally gets interesting � even for its elements of psychology.
