Mark Habeeb This has got to be one of Hitchcock's best films ever. And I would say top film from the 40's. The movie slowly develops into a very suspencful ride that really did catch me on the edge of my seat. The charectors are very well developed and you really get attached to them. The concept of this movie involves a woman psychiatrist who falls in love with a man who at first claims to be a psychiatrist as well. Soon we find out that he is an imposter, but he does not remember why. As he leaves for new york, the woman go's after him. The movie from there takes on an adventure. As the woman falls deeper in love with the man, but does not know if he is truly insane, possibly a murderer, or simply experienced a bad case of amnesia. As the mystery unravels, the movie will keep you guessing. Only Hitchcock can blend, Suspense, Romance, Psychological thriller, and Adventure all into one perfect harmony. Truly a Masterpiece.

JohnHowardReid In his excellent study of Ingrid Bergman for the Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies series, Curtis F. Brown tells exactly what is wrong with Spellbound: "In addition to Gregory Peck's callow appearance and wooden acting, the film has other serious faults. One is its pretentious and simplistic 'dream sequence. Another is the dialogue." Most of the picture is thrown Bergman's way and she is such an accomplished actress and lights up the screen with such a charismatic inner radiance that it doesn't really matter what she says. The logical, pragmatic side of our brain is only half-listening. And as for Peck, for once his very shallowness and lack of presence is ideally suited for the part he is called upon to play. The support cast, led by Leo G. Carroll, is also sufficiently professional to either smooth out or neatly contrast the gauche acting of the amateurish Peck. Though why Michael Chekhov was honored with a Supporting Actor nomination is beyond me. Competent enough he certainly is, but he is among the least interesting of the supporting line-up. Other names that spring to mind well before Chekhov' are John Emery, Rhonda Fleming, Norman Lloyd and Wallace Ford. The Criterion DVD can be thoroughly recommended.

HotToastyRag In general, I don't like Alfred Hitchcock's movies, and I tend to avoid watching them whenever possible. Spellbound, however, is the exception. It is my favorite Hitchcock movie, with an interesting psychological story, great acting, a beautiful Oscar winning theme from Miklos Rozsa, a strange but interesting dream sequence designed by Salvatore Dali, and a well-paced mystery.Ingrid Bergman plays a psychologist in a clinic, and while she's very well liked among the staff and her patients, she has no love in her life. She's pursued, but always declines. A new doctor joins the staff, and since it's a very young, very handsome Gregory Peck, Ingrid falls in love. But is he hiding something? Usually, I find Hitchcock's movies slow and boring. Maybe I like Spellbound so much because the always-present psychological mystery actually correlates to the setting of the story. The main characters are psychologists, so it makes sense that they would want to dig deep in the psychosis and analysis of people's problems. Whatever the reason, I really love this story and the way it's played out for the audience. Both leads give heartfelt performances, and one of Ingrid Bergman's lines has become a household phrase in my home. A patient starts having a meltdown in a very public place, and Ingrid says to him, "Pull yourself together!" What a terrible doctor! I just find that line hilarious.

sharky_55 This finds itself to be severely dated. Psychoanalysis and Freud have both been long swept aside so the core of the film feels a little silly, and all the mind-boggling symbolism and trance-like states that Peck is struck by all seem bizarre, and not in the right way. Psychoanalysis subscribes diligently to the theory that repressed childhood trauma sticks with you long after it is over, so we have that creepy POV shot of the brother being impaled by the fence, and Peck is triggered by symbols along the way that mimic this; lines etched by forks, lines in couches, bars speeding by from a train. But he is also strangely struck by other things like sharp knives cutting meat and a phantom burning in his hand, which seems less coherent and more just another attempt to link violence to his troubled state of mind. The few moments of tension draw attention to themselves overtly with cutaways to closeups and furtive glances - it's all a little too theatrical. Dali's clever (and laboriously constructed) surrealist sequence seems like a vague stab in the dark for some sort of connection, which is of course brilliantly and deductively deciphered by Bergman. If it was the intention to empower her character the film goes about it the wrong way by drawing attention to her gender all too often. This was of course unavoidable in the 40s as a female in a male-dominated profession, but it begins to feel like overkill when every single colleague is unsubtly trying to flirt and demean her at the same time (even Petersen's mentor dismisses any rational point she tries to make). Unsurprisingly Petersen is also privy to a little romance; why else would you cast Ingrid Bergman, after all. It becomes futile to slap spectacles on that face and make her a respected physician, because the script doesn't call for logic, but passion as a means to unravel the mystery behind Edwardes' amnesia. Everything seems to point to his guilt (even he admits it himself), but Petersen is determined to get to the bottom of the case, not because she wants justice, but because she is head over heels in love with the dashing Gregory Peck. Rather insulting, even is she is somehow right. The double mental and sexual metaphor of the 'locked doors of the mind' and the vagina is straight up silly. They both try to convince themselves they are professionals and it isn't about love (which is also unethical), but from that first glance and catch of the eye, and the way the soundtrack always blooms as they embrace, this is less psychological thriller and more romance.