Writing on a Classic: Spellbound (1945)

by Brent Reid
  • Revisiting contemporary and modern critical appreciation
  • Alfred Hitchcock delves into fashionable Freudian psychoanalysis
  • True to form, the director sends a Wrong Man – or is he? – on the run again
  • Huge success was nominated for six Oscars and won Best Original Score

Note: this is part of an ongoing series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles; any dead links are to those not yet published. Subscribe to the email list to be notified when new ones appear.

Spellbound: Writing on a Classic; Making of a Masterpiece; Collectors Guide, Pt 2: Home video, 3: Soundtrack, 4: Re-recordings, 5: Concerto

Spellbound aka Je te sauverai and Ik zal u redden (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1945) Belgian 1953 re-release poster

Belgian 1953 re-release poster (alt). Its French and Flemish titles, like many other countries, translate as “I will save you”.

Research Into Nightmare
On the surface, Spellbound is a romantic whodunit with psychiatric overtones. But, basically, it is a typical Alfred Hitchcock exercise in crime and astonishment and, as such, a superior and suspenseful melodrama. Despite the pretentiously scientific treatment, Ben Hecht’s adaptation of Francis Beeding’s* novel, The House of Dr. Edwardes [retitled Spellbound following the film’s release], makes strategic box-office use of the fact that Ingrid Bergman loves Gregory Peck. Miss Bergman is a woman psychiatrist in a Vermont sanitarium. For this role the Swedish actress wears horn-rimmed glasses and a businesslike hair-do, neither of which is able to diminish her special charm and may, possibly, add to it. Peck is a young doctor suffering from amnesia, who thinks he has killed a man in his blank past and has moments when he isn’t safe to have around the house.

It is love, with only a feeble assist from science, that prompts Dr. Bergman to retrace the past and prove to Dr. Peck that he is the victim of an aberration. Encouraged by her former professor (Michael Chekhov in a delightful impersonation of a wise and kindly old bird), the pupil and the master explore the patient’s dream world and come up with clue—a remarkable feat considering that Salvador Dalí designed the décor and symbols of this schizophrenic nightmare. Miklós Rózsa, Hungarian-born composer wrote the musical score under orders from Hitchcock to produce something that would make the audience aware of its absence when it suddenly stopped.

The film’s psychiatric content has been supervised by Dr. May E. Romm and will intrigue the layman with its plausibility. But the chances are that practicing psychiatrists will take it with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, Spellbound is a fascinating departure from the trodden path. Excellent support ranges from Leo G. Carroll’s suave impersonation of senior psychiatrist to Wallace Ford’s impromptu comedy as a would-be wolf in a hotel lobby.

*Francis Beeding is the pseudonym of a prolific working unit: Hilary A. St. George Saunders and John Leslie Palmer. Together they wrote 25 popular mystery and adventure stories [sic: It was actually 31 plus four more as “David Pilgrim” and “John Somers”]. During the war Saunders wrote The Battle of Britain, Bomber Command, Coastal Command, and Combined Operations. – Newsweek

Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman in Spellbound (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1945)

Peck, with eyes and razor; Bergman, sound asleep


The motion picture Spellbound is one of many classic suspense stories associated with the master of the genre, Alfred Hitchcock. In Spellbound, Mr. Hitchcock weaves an intriguing story of mystery and madness dealing with the efforts of an amnesia victim (Gregory Peck) to recall events that would clear his name of the murder he fears he has committed.
Aided by a lovely psychiatrist (Ingrid Bergman), he sets off on a journey, both of mind and place. The film becomes a chase drama on two levels, physical and mental. Always one step ahead of the police, the two travel through the intricacies of memory in an attempt to restage and clarify events.

All the circumstantial evidence tends to incriminate the man. As the psychiatrist, Miss Bergman falls quickly and hopelessly in love with the victim and attempts to unravel his confused and tormented mind. In some ways the story could have turned into a routine chase film, but the expertise of the performers and creators integrated the elements into an amazing psychological flow. The suspenseful elements of the film amazingly swept the audience into the mystery. The dream segments in Spellbound are especially noteworthy thanks to both expert direction and to fascinating sequences designed by Salvador Dalí and underscored with composer Miklós Rózsa’s theme.

The picture contains many of the elements popular with master creator Alfred Hitchcock and the film works on many levels, some not immediately apparent to the audience. Missing is the light touch found in some Hitchcock films, but like much of his work, Spellbound has an inner, dark, probing side which moves along with the more obvious action. The film is also visually powerful with massive white mountain slopes and Dalí dream sequences contributing not only sensual gratification, but also clever psychological implications.

The film contains many Hitchcock touches in characterization. Often unable to rely on conventional authorities for help, the characters find themselves trapped within situations that are physically or mentally claustrophobic. Even when they run across wide spaces they have not really escaped their pursuers. That final key unraveling the mystery still remains unturned. Many think of Alfred Hitchcock as an excellent technician and entertainer, but fail to recognize his immense psychological awareness of the human mind.

In over 50 films dating back to his first directorial effort (The Pleasure Garden, 1925) and his first suspense film [sic] (The Lodger, 1926), Alfred Hitchcock has been a master storyteller weaving fascinating spells. The marriage of this score by Miklós Rózsa to a film by Alfred Hitchcock is the meeting of two men, both of whom are geniuses in their particular art.

In 1945 Miklós Rózsa was nominated for three Academy Awards (The Lost Weekend, A Song to Remember, and Spellbound). He won his first Oscar for Spellbound. The score for Spellbound is regarded as a landmark in film music. A suspense film on both a mental and physical level, it concerned an amnesia victim and his fear of being a murdered. The eerie sound of the sound-oscillating instrument, the theremin, integrated perfectly with the mysterious score and intensified the film’s theme of potential madness. The score also contained a theme which has become one of the most popular in the history of motion picture music. It was later adapted into an orchestral piece, the Spellbound Concerto which has been recorded many times and featured in numerous concert hall performances. – Thomas Wesley, US Stanyan Records LP (1974)


Spellbound (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1945) Astor Theatre, Times Square, New York, 1946

Astor Theatre, Times Square, New York, 1946 (close-up)

A Classic Alfred Hitchcock Thriller!
Spellbound is one of the late, great Alfred Hitchcock’s most tantalizing mystery masterpieces. Suspense, the primary ingredient in all his films, is firmly woven into the story. Based on Francis Beeding’s novel, The House of Dr. Edwardes [aka Spellbound], the screenplay for Spellbound was written by Ben Hecht. Director Hitchcock imbues the film with his notable trademarks—clever camera work, deft timing. skillful sleight of hand, and wonderful comic bit parts. Featuring a fantastic dream sequence by surrealist Salvador Dalí and the beautiful, haunting music of Hungarian-born composer Miklós Rózsa, Spellbound is one of Hitchcock’s finest offerings!

A riveting psychological thriller, directed by the master of mystery Alfred Hitchcock, Spellbound is a gripping, suspense-filled drama! Nominated for Best Picture, Spellbound won Ingrid Bergman New York Film Critics Circle prize for Best Actress [shared with her role in The Bells of St. Mary’s], and it won Miklós Rózsa the Academy Award for Best Musical Score.

Scintillating from start to finish, the story unfolds at Green Manors, a plush Vermont sanitarium. Ingrid Bergman portrays Dr. Constance Peterson, a beautiful psychoanalyst who falls in love with a man claiming to be Dr. Edwardes (Gregory Peck), the institution’s new director. Bergman realizes that her lover is an amnesia victim and resolves to cure him. Time is precious for the police are hunting Peck as the prime suspect in the murder of the real Dr. Edwardes. During their journey by train and stay at a ski resort. Dr. Peterson must join together, like a complex puzzle, all the bits of information she gathers to uncover the truth about her pathological patient Dr. Edwardes.

Always one step ahead of the law, the couple flee to Dr. Peterson’s mentor. Dr. Brulov (Michael Chekov) Together, the two doctors prod Peck’s memory forcing him to discover the horrible, hidden secrets of his mind… and his true identity Spellbound tingles with excitement. A sudden train whistle screaming in the night, a crack of light under a door, a seemingly innocent glass of milk, and the shimmering gleam of a razor blade inject tension into scenes throughout the film. Alfred Hitchcock’s impeccable timing and creative cinematography makes Spellbound one of the greatest suspense thrillers of all time! – US CBS/Fox CED (1983)


Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck star in a gripping psychological thriller created by the master of onscreen suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. Dr. Constance Petersen (Bergman) is a psychoanalyst at a pastoral mental asylum. Her clinical surroundings allow her to keep her own passions under tight control—until the new director of the facility, Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Peck). arrives. Young and handsome, he and Constance instantly fall in love. Yet almost as quickly, Dr. Edwardes exhibits strange behavior and shocking emotional outbursts. Soon it becomes apparent that this man is not Dr. Edwardes, but someone suffering from amnesia who has taken over the Doctor’s identity. He may have also killed Dr. Edwardes—or he may be an innocent man suffering the effects of a devastating psychological trauma.

The key to the answer—and to their future—lies in Constance’s ability to break through his protective barrier of amnesia and make him remember his past. (In exploring this world of the subconscious, Hitchcock creates one of the greatest fantasy interludes ever filmed—his—famous sequence designed by Salvador Dalí.) However, with a possible case of murder to investigate, the police are at least as interested as Constance is in examining this mystery man’s past. Fleeing from the law in a desperate race for time, the two of them now are being hunted, But Constance may have more to fear from her possibly homicidal companion than she does from the police. The heart-stopping suspense leads through a series of twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final shattering frame.

A haunting dream holds the clue to solving the mystery at the heart of Spellbound, and Alfred Hitchcock wanted to find a totally new way of bringing this reverie to the movies. “l was determined to break with the traditional way of handling dream sequences through a blurred and hazy screen. I wanted to convey the dreams with great visual sharpness and a clarity sharper than the film itself.”

To realize his goal, Hitchcock selected Salvador Dalí to design the dream sequence. His choice was probably inspired by Dalí’s work with French director Luis Bunuel on the surreal movie Un Chien Andalou (1929). [Its famous shot of an eyeball being sliced with a razor blade is echoed in Spellbound’s cutting of a curtain of eyeballs with a giant pair of scissors.] The effect Dalí achieved was mesmerizing. This surreal sequence, haunting and disturbing, is among the most visually arresting episodes ever captured on film. – US CBS/Fox LD (1990) LDDb

Spellbound: Writing on a Classic; Making of a Masterpiece; Collectors Guide, Pt 2: Home video, 3: Soundtrack, 4: Re-recordings, 5: Concerto


This is part of a unique, in-depth series of 150-odd Hitchcock articles.

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