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Possessed (1947)
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by MGM (Warner)
Sales Rank: 28880
Price: $19.98
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The opening shots of <I>Possessed</I> achieve their goal: it is startling to see Joan Crawford wandering around without makeup, her hair drawn plainly back, in the early dawn of a grungily real location. Her unbalanced character, Louise, has been traumatized and must now recount her nightmare, in true film noir fashion, to a questioning psychoanalyst. <p> <I>Possessed</I> has an abundance of noir atmosphere (everything gets to be as shadowy as the inside of Louise's brain) and a full ration of Crawford at her most florid. The story is a wild ride: an invalid wife, a lonely widower, a daughter resentful of former nurse Louise's new status in the household. Plus there's the true crazy-making love of Louise's life, an engineer (Van Heflin) whose heart is as dry as his manner is breezy ("When a woman kisses me, Louise, she has to take pot luck"). The film's overripe writing is balanced by Joseph Valentine's sharp-angled photography, to say nothing of the vectors of Joan Crawford's sharp-angled face. As a companion piece to Crawford's <I>Mildred Pierce</I> performance, this one takes Mildred to her extreme--single-minded obsession and derangement. What Crawford lacked in subtlety she made up for in sheer commitment, which perhaps suits this character very well. <I>--Robert Horton</I>
Viewer Reviews
POSSESSED (1947) is a somewhat underrated Warner Bros. film noir! With an
excellent central performance from its star Joan Crawford this highly charged drama should be better thought of than it is and deserving of much
more exposure. It is one of Crawford's best pictures so this overdue
release on DVD is something of an event.
Crawford, fresh from winning an Acadamy Award for "Mildred Pierce" looked
as if she was trying for another one here and was even nominated for her well measured portrayal of a neurotic private nurse in the employ of Ramond Massey, but she is unable to deal with the intensity and frustration of her unrequited love for a young engineer (Van Heflin). It eventually gets all too much for her and she finally snaps culminating in a tragic last reel.
Crawford gives one of her great wide-eyed antagonistic performances with
fine support from Van Heflin, Raymond Massey (in one of his more amiable
roles), Geraldine Brooks (whose previous picture for Warners just before this was her debut as Errol Flynn's younger sister in "Cry Wolf") and Stanley Ridges as Crawford's psychiatrist.
From a cracking screenplay by Silvia Richards and Ranald McDougall (who
also wrote "Mildred Pierce") The picture turned out to be a splendidly
absorbing drama thanks to the smooth and solid direction by Curtis
Bernhardt, the stylish and sharp monochrome cinematography of Joseph
Valentine, an effective score by the great Franz Waxman but most of all
to the outstanding performance of Miss Joan Crawford.
A nice package - extras include a 10 minute featurette on the Noir aspects
of "Possessed", a good commentary by Film Historian Drew Casper and an
excellent Trailer.
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Possessed (1947)
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