levchenkostefan
One of Hitchcock's most aesthetically pleasing and understandable for a common viewer movies along with another underrated masterpiece 'To Catch a Thief'. Both young Bergman and Peck are so stunningly talented and beautiful that one wouldn't be sorry to die for them. Numerous beautiful yet simple scenes (the suicide scene, for instance) and an amazing surreal scene of a dream just makes this film a must-see.
Bofsensai
Ingrid is spectacularly spellbinding, indeed: although it's supposed to be Gregory that's under the spell; and he is, but rather, again of Ingrid's dazzling radiant beauty that Hitchcock has fawned over in his camera direction - although as for Greg, portraying a guy who's got amnesia, but smitten by Dr. Constance, he's merely as wooden as furniture they caress around!As for the era's constant oh so overt sexist putdowns of her in this profession - seen from today it becomes amusing as though deliberately done to poke fun at the patriarchal world of that time: just listen to some of the hokey, if not female insulting, dialogue (= thanks one by Ben Hecht - see the quotes sidebar), yet likely exactly the sentiments for women in such professions in that closing world war period (check out the old - OLD! - out and out creep that hits on Ingrid in the hotel foyer: yeuch! Is that satire? Or actually how life really was for women, then?! Remember, Hitch had a reputation to creep out / harangue his young starlets.)In the film, are of course, some reputable cinematic 'tricks' to keep an eye out for: no plot spoiling here, other than to mention 'Dali' and also 'colour', as they should stand out as you watch: but back projection wasn't one of them, so the interminably long ski down hill makes you wonder that if they are shown as having HIKED up the perilous mountain side (no ski lift in sight), just how long must that have taken them, for such a lengthy ski down
?!Overall, gorgeous (count how many times Ingrid is presumably directed to fiddle with her hair - she's a woman, see?), but at many twists and turns, unintentionally hilarious. But psychoanalysis, interpret the dream, was serious, then y'know. So, enjoy one of Hitch's - and Ingrid's - best.
John Brooks
The beautiful Ingrid Bergman and the handsome Gregory Peck star in this excellently crafted and executed now-seasoned Hitchcock mystery-romance. The plot is good, but it is more the attention to detail in the finesse of the psychology elements that are the precious good here, while crafting a plausible and realistic platform to highlight the reality of a mental complex and all its processes. At the heart of that, is a smoothly designed romance that falls into place perfectly with the film embracing the complexities of mental pathology, along with love; all the while delivering a fluid viewing with excellent, really very good dialog, both technical/complex at times and meaningful, as the story and plot consistently remain at a high level whether early on laying the foundation, or during any of the later events up til the conclusion at the end. Superb film.
vincentlynch-moonoi
For a number of reasons this is one of my favorite Hitchcock films.My review is based on the Blu Ray edition of the film, and let me begin by commenting about that. If you already have the DVD version, I don't think you're going to gain much by moving to the Blu Ray edition. Some have questioned whether Ingrid Bergman was an appropriate choice as a psychiatrist. I have no problems with her portrayal, in fact I rather enjoyed it. I also thought that she and Gregory Peck had great chemistry in this film...and of course, they did have a brief affair according to Peck after Bergman died.Gregory Peck is excellent here...as always. This was only Peck's fourth film, but he was already reaching the peak of his career with a number of strong performances around this time.Leo G. Carroll, one of Hitchcock's favorite supporting actors, is here, and I enjoyed his portrayal as the departing head of the psychiatric institution.Michael Chekhov is wonderful as the professor-mentor of Ingrid Bergman. It's a charming portrayal of an old-world psychiatrist.An interesting small part is played by Rhonda Fleming as a psychiatric patient who lusts over men but hates them.Of course, the highlight of the film is the dream sequence which was designed by Salvador Dali. Unfortunately in the final editing for release the almost 20 minute dream sequence was cut to about 2 minutes. Personally, my only real criticism about this film is that the balance between action suspense and dialog is decidedly on the side of dialog. However, it's good dialog. And, it's through memory flashes and dialog that Peck's character slowly begins to piece together the mystery in his life, It's really quite intriguing how Hitchcock very slowly and gradually leads the characters and the audience into discovering the truth. Incidentally, the musical score is excellent here, though rather repetitive. To me, at least, the ending was a surprise.I give this film an "8", albeit a weak "8". What puts it beyond a "7" for me is that the film is relatively unique, particularly for the mid-1940s.
AD
