299:, saying little more than "David". Admitted to a hospital's psychiatric ward in a catatonic stupor, and interrogated by a doctor, she calls herself Louise Howell, and recounts her life in intermittent spurts, starting with her memory of her lover David Sutton playing Schumann for her, she saying, "I want to have a monopoly on you." He does not return her passion, but returns her home in a boat, and tells her their relationship is over.
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if he had seen her sooner, her problems could have been averted. Re the upcoming trial about David's death, the doctor says Louise is not responsible for any of her actions. They go see the sleeping Louise, and the doctor says the healing process will be long and difficult, and she'll suffer a great deal before recovery. Dean pledges to help support his wife recover fully, no matter what.
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Back at their regular home, Louise, happy to be free of
Pauline's ghost, wants to go dancing; but she and Dean see David and Carol at the nightclub. Louise later lies to Carol that David really wants her, Louise. David drops by, and confronts Louise, who says Carol said she, Carol, is tired of David.
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positively wrote that Joan
Crawford "cops all thesping honors in this production with a virtuoso performance as a frustrated woman ridden into madness by a guilt-obsessed mind. Actress has a self-assurance that permits her to completely dominate the screen even vis-a-vis such accomplished players as
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techniques and many familiar film noir shadowy shots, the b/w film takes on a penetrating psychological tone and makes a case for a not guilty of murder plea due to insanity. Though Joan has a powerful presence in this movie, she played her mad role in a too cold and campy way to be thought of as a
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She awakens at the hospital, and admits killing David. Dean visits, and the doctor says it is psychosis, as if she is possessed of devils, but he can restore her. He also says her tortured mind and delusion that she helped
Pauline kill herself, made her present condition almost inevitable, and that
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Later, Carol invites him over to their box at a piano recital; Louise has a distressed recollection of David at the piano, and leaves. At home, she has a lengthy hallucination: Carol returns with David, who kisses Carol. Louise confesses to killing
Pauline. Carol says she'll tell Dean; Louise hits
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Louise, feeling disturbed, visits a doctor under a false name, and is recommended to go to a psychiatrist, but walks out. She asks Dean for a divorce; Dean asks why, and Louise says
Pauline hates her. On a vacation back at the lake house, Louise climbs to Pauline's bedroom, screams, and when Dean
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Later, the police trawl the lake and find
Pauline's body. Dean says she killed herself. The Graham children, Wynn, a young boy, and a college-age young woman, Carol, return home. A coroner's hearing is held, with a verdict of accidental death. Afterwards, Louise encounters Carol, who angrily says
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Dean confronts Louise, and says a doctor will come see her; she gets angry that it's a mental specialist, though she agrees to talk to him. She sneaks away to David, and says she is worried about being institutionalized. David says he will call Dean, and that he is going away that night to marry
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Louise visits Carol at college, wanting to be liked by her; there is a reconciliation. At the wedding, the uninvited David arrives late, and speaks to the crying Carol, who says she asked him for marriage at 11 years of age, which he remembers. Louise warns him away from Carol, and tells him to
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runs up there, Louise says
Pauline is in the room, saying to her, "Kill yourself, Louise". Dean says she's dead, and turns on the light; Louise doesn't see her any more, but confesses to helping her kill herself. Dean says that was false, as Louise was in the village on her day off.
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She lives, and works as a nurse, at the lakeside home of the
Grahams. Louise takes care of Pauline, the invalid wife of Dean Graham. Pauline is irascible and venomous, and thinks Louise is having an affair with her husband; Louise wants to leave.
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is somewhat marred by an ambiguous approach in Curtis
Bernhardt's direction. Film vacillates between being a cold clinical analysis of a mental crackup and a highly surcharged melodramatic vehicle for Crawford's histrionics."
611:"By developing the plot from the point-of-view of a neurotic and skillfully using flashback and fantasy scenes in a straightforward manner, the distinction between reality and Louise's imagination is blurred. That makes
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sympathetic figure. All the psychological treatment therapy sounded like psycho-babble and Joan's acting was overstuffed, though some of her morbid imaginations were gripping and held my attention. Too heavy with German
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David comes by, and says Dean's oil business needs him as an engineer; he is hired. Louise speaks to him and thinks he has another woman, which he denies. Louise goes with the
Grahams to
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magazine wrote, "Most of it is filmed with unusual imaginativeness and force. The film is uncommonly well acted. Miss Crawford is generally excellent", while Howard Barnes in the
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Op. 9. The Schumann piece is played on the piano by David near the beginning of the movie, and is used throughout the score to underscore Louise's obsession with David.
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Crawford spent time visiting mental wards and talking to psychiatrists to prepare for her role, and said the part was the most difficult she ever played.
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Pauline's letters said Louise was attractive to Dean. Carol wants Louise to leave; Dean, who has arrived, demands Carol apologize, and slaps her.
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Louise then admits lying, and that she's willing to do anything to keep David; he threatens to tell Dean about Louise and their past.
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argued, " has obviously studied the aspects of insanity to recreate a rather terrifying portrait of a woman possessed by devils."
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her, and she rolls down the stairs and dies. After the hallucination ends Carol then comes home for real, but not with David.
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During production, director Curtis Bernhardt accidentally kept referring to Crawford as "Bette" as he had just finished filming
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it still is fun to watch the melodramatics play out in this tale of overbearing love, painful rejection, paranoia and murder."
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The film earned $ 1,987,000 domestically and $ 1,085,000 in foreign territories for a worldwide total of $ 3,027,000.
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Glancy, H. Mark (1995). "Warner Bros Film Grosses, 1921–51: The William Schaefer Ledger".
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Van Heflin and Raymond Massey." Overall, he felt that "Despite its overall superiority,
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Crawford tried unsuccessfully to convince Warner Bros. to change the film's title to
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in a tale about an unstable woman's obsession with her ex-lover. The screenplay by
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More recently, film critic Dennis Schwartz gave the film a mixed review, writing,
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Carol. Louise gets out a gun; he taunts her, and she shoots him repeatedly.
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For the 1931 film starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, see
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since she had already starred in a film of the same title (
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Film Noir An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style
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590:"In German émigré director Curtis Bernhardt's melodrama
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712:. University Press of Kentucky. pp.
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853:Silver, Alain; Ward, Elizabeth (1992).
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822:Schwartz, Dennis (December 20, 2003).
708:Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography
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797:. New York: Citadel Press. p.
762:Schoenfeld, Herman (June 4, 1947).
607:Film historian Bob Porfirio notes,
1361:Films directed by Curtis Bernhardt
636:, Joan Crawford was nominated for
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824:"Too heavy with German stimmung"
861:. The Overlook Press. pp.
738:"Festival de Cannes: Possessed"
1336:American black-and-white films
638:Academy Award for Best Actress
528:The film was entered into the
1:
778:– via Internet Archive.
514:, the "Chopin" movement from
16:1947 film by Curtis Bernhardt
1401:English-language drama films
1396:1940s English-language films
1371:Films scored by Franz Waxman
1366:Films produced by Jerry Wald
1023:The Girl with the Five Zeros
930:AFI Catalog of Feature Films
1346:Fiction about schizophrenia
1015:Children's Souls Accuse You
789:Quirk, Lawrence J. (1968).
704:Quirk, Lawrence J. (2002).
423:as Asst. District Attorney
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793:The Films of Joan Crawford
283:was based upon a story by
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828:Ozus' World Movie Reviews
764:"Film Reviews: Possessed"
686:10.1080/01439689508604551
530:1947 Cannes Film Festival
503:) sixteen years earlier.
42:Theatrical release poster
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1381:Psychotherapy in fiction
506:The musical score is by
295:A woman wanders through
1303:Kisses for My President
1215:The Doctor and the Girl
1047:The Woman One Longs For
580:New York Herald Tribune
188:July 26, 1947
1356:Films about psychiatry
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441:as Coroner's Assistant
1007:Torments of the Night
647:The Farmer's Daughter
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553:Herman Schoenfeld of
381:as Chief Investigator
21:Possessed (1931 film)
1391:1940s American films
1341:American drama films
1103:The Beloved Vagabond
1063:The Man Who Murdered
1031:The Prince of Rogues
834:on December 24, 2013
742:Cannes Film Festival
596:German expressionism
196: (United States)
1255:Miss Sadie Thompson
1143:Million Dollar Baby
634:20th Academy Awards
615:a prime example of
252:is a 1947 American
79:1943 novellette in
1386:Warner Bros. films
1271:Interrupted Melody
1135:Lady with Red Hair
1095:Gold in the Street
977:Films directed by
918:TCM Movie Database
549:Critical reception
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1295:Damon and Pythias
1223:Payment on Demand
1127:My Love Came Back
1119:Night in December
808:978-0-806-50008-9
459:as Pauline Graham
277:Ranald MacDougall
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66:Ranald MacDougall
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999:Orphan of Lowood
979:Curtis Bernhardt
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385:Moroni Olsen
379:John Ridgely
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259:directed by
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205:Running time
181:Release date
175:Warner Bros.
165:Warner Bros.
150:Franz Waxman
82:Cosmopolitan
80:
75:
25:
501:leading man
497:Clark Gable
480:Bette Davis
457:Nana Bryant
453:as Coroner
433:Don McGuire
405:as Pianist
397:Peter Miles
387:as Dr. Ames
297:Los Angeles
285:Rita Weiman
263:, starring
241:$ 3,072,000
233:$ 2,592,000
209:108 minutes
94:Produced by
88:Rita Weiman
48:Directed by
1326:1947 films
1320:Categories
1111:Crossroads
1087:The Tunnel
1079:The Tunnel
774:August 20,
747:January 5,
654:References
569:James Agee
541:Box office
487:The Secret
465:Production
447:as Interne
429:as Norris
427:Monte Blue
355:Van Heflin
269:Van Heflin
238:Box office
192:1947-07-26
157:Production
112:Van Heflin
98:Jerry Wald
1351:Film noir
1207:High Wall
1199:Possessed
1151:Juke Girl
1071:The Rebel
937:Possessed
924:Possessed
913:Possessed
902:Possessed
891:Possessed
628:Accolades
621:film noir
613:Possessed
592:Possessed
562:Possessed
536:Reception
492:Possessed
417:as Elsie
415:Lisa Golm
249:Possessed
140:Rudi Fehr
136:Edited by
31:Possessed
1183:Devotion
1167:Conflict
907:AllMovie
838:July 14,
617:oneirism
601:stimmung
517:Carnaval
318:leave.
222:Language
146:Music by
104:Starring
72:Based on
1231:Sirocco
927:at the
916:at the
863:230–231
768:Variety
714:139–141
632:At the
556:Variety
524:Release
499:as her
225:English
214:Country
190: (
159:company
1306:(1964)
1298:(1962)
1290:(1960)
1282:(1956)
1274:(1955)
1266:(1954)
1258:(1953)
1250:(1952)
1242:(1951)
1234:(1951)
1226:(1951)
1218:(1949)
1210:(1947)
1202:(1947)
1194:(1946)
1186:(1946)
1178:(1946)
1170:(1945)
1162:(1943)
1154:(1942)
1146:(1941)
1138:(1940)
1130:(1940)
1122:(1940)
1114:(1938)
1106:(1936)
1098:(1934)
1074:(1932)
1066:(1931)
1058:(1930)
1050:(1929)
1042:(1929)
1034:(1928)
1026:(1927)
1018:(1927)
1010:(1926)
1002:(1926)
994:(1925)
869:
805:
720:
680:: 27.
271:, and
230:Budget
495:with
478:with
257:drama
1279:Gaby
896:IMDb
867:ISBN
840:2013
803:ISBN
776:2021
749:2009
718:ISBN
574:Time
342:Cast
291:Plot
279:and
940:at
905:at
894:at
799:166
682:doi
644:in
571:in
86:by
1322::
865:.
826:.
801:.
766:.
740:.
716:.
694:^
678:15
676:.
662:^
650:.
623:."
532:.
482:.
287:.
267:,
970:e
963:t
956:v
875:.
842:.
811:.
751:.
726:.
688:.
684::
194:)
23:.
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