Starring: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov, Leo G. Carroll, Rhonda Fleming.
Release Date: Oct. 31, 1945
Running Time: 111 min
Genres: Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Commentary Spellbound is one of Alfred Hitchcock's finest films. Both Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck deliver spectacular performances in this highly suspenseful thriller. The dream sequence, with art work provided by Salvadol Dali, is also quite noteworthy.
Plot Summary
Introduction: Spellbound concerns a mentally ill man named John Ballentine (Peck), who suffers from amnesia due to the witnessing the murder of Dr. Anthony Edwardes, a distinguished physician. John can't even remember his name and uses Dr. Edwardes name instead. He confesses to Dr. Constance Peterson (Bergman) that he has amnesia, whence she tries to help him. John, who only learns of his initials J.B., fears that he killed Dr. Edwardes, but Constance believes he is innocent. She takes him to her mentor Dr. Alex Brulov (Chekhov).
The Dream: Dr. Brulov gives J.B. some milk with bromide in order to make him dream, hoping his dream will shed some light on his repressed memories. He has a very bizarre dream, which turns out to have lots of metaphorical significance to real events. Shortly thereafter, Constance and Alex learn that J.B. is traumatized by snow. From his dream, they conclude that he went skiing with Dr. Edwardes at Gabriel Valley. They go there to ski in order to try to recreate the series of events leading up to Dr. Edwardes death. They conclude that J.B. had accidentally pushed Dr. Edwardes off the cliff. This event had triggered an earlier traumatic memory of J.B. killing his brother by accident, which had been the cause of his amnesia.
Conclusion: Now he remebers much more, including his name. Unfortunately, the police find a bullet in Dr. Edwardes body and arrest John for murder. Constance ends up solving the crime herself, whence the real killer ends up committing suicide. The movie ends with John and Constance getting married.
Psychology Spellbound has been criticized in recent years for not being psychologically accurate. Although trauma can trigger repressed memory, it cannot trigger amnesia. Nevertheless I find it a thrilling story.
Movie Clips
Here's the famous dream sequence by Salvador Dali.
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Title: Spellbound 
