Hitchcock’s Psychoanalytic Thriller–What You Need to Know
Screenplay
In December 1943, Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville began working on the novel, and consulted prominent British psychologists and psychoanalysts so as to accurately represent the psychological elements of the story.
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Theatrical release poster
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hcock hired Angus MacPhail, with whom he had collaborated on several war-related short films, to co-author the treatment. MacPhail was given the credit; the extent to which Reville was involved is unknown.
There were contract disagreements between Hitchcock and producer Selznick. Hitchcock’s contract began in March 1939, but only resulted in 3 films: Rebecca (1940), Spellbound, and The Paradine Case (1947).
Notorious was sold to RKO in mid-production. Selznick wanted Hitchcock to make a film based upon his own positive experience with psychoanalysis; Selznick purchased the rights to the 1927 novel The House of Dr. Edwardes by Hilary St. George Saunders and John Palmer (writing under the pseudonym Francis Beeding), for $40,000.
After the completion of the treatment, scribe Ben Hecht began writing the screenplay.
Censorship Issues:
Between May and July 1944, Selznick submitted drafts of Hecht’s screenplay for approval from the MPAA, who objected to various words and phrases in it, including “sex menace,” “frustrations,” “libido,” and “tomcat.”
Alterations in the script included the removal of most of a character named Mary Carmichael, a violent nymphomaniac at Green Manors.
However, the suicide of Dr. Murchison—which typically violated the MPAA’s rules against depicting suicide—was allowed to remain, as it was reasoned that the character was “of unsound mind,” rendering him an exception.
Casting
Selznick originally wanted Joseph Cotten, Dorothy McGuire, and Paul Lukas to play the roles ultimately portrayed by Peck, Bergman, and Chekhov, respectively.
Garbo, also Swedish, and in retirement, was considered for the role of Dr. Constance Petersen. Hitchcock wanted Joseph Cotten to portray Dr. Murchison. Selznick also wanted his wife Jennifer Jones to portray Dr. Petersen but Hitchcock objected.
Ingrid Bergan, bigger star than Peck at the time (fresh off from winning Best Actress for Cukor’s thriller, Gaslight), received top billing.
Ingrid Bergman as Dr. Constance Petersen
Gregory Peck as Dr. Anthony Edwardes/John Ballantyne
Michael Chekhov, Dr. Alexander “Alex” Brulov, teacher of Petersen’s
Leo G. Carroll as Dr. Murchison, the head of Green Manors
Rhonda Fleming as Mary Carmichael, wild patient at Green Manors
John Emery as Dr. Fleurot
Norman Lloyd as Mr. Garmes, a patient at Green Manors
Bill Goodwin as House Detective of the Empire State Hotel
Steven Geray as Dr. Graff
Donald Curtis as Harry, a staff member of Green Manors
Wallace Ford as Stranger in Empire State Hotel Lobby
Art Baker as Det. Lt. Cooley
Regis Toomey as Det. Sgt. Gillespie
Paul Harvey as Dr. Hanish
Filming
Selznick brought in his own therapist, May Romm, MD, to serve as technical advisor on the production.
Dr. Romm and Hitchcock clashed frequently.
Salvador Dali
Surrealist artist Salvador Dali conceived certain scenes in the film’s dream sequence. However, the sequence as designed by Dalí and Hitchcock, once translated to film, proved to too lengthy and complicated for Selznick, so the vast majority of it was edited out.
Two minutes of the dream sequence appear in the final film, but according to Ingrid Bergman, the original had been 20 minutes long.
The cut footage is now considered lost footage, though some production stills have survived in the Selznick archives. Selznick hired William Cameron Menzies, who had worked on Gone With the Wind, to oversee the set designs and direct the sequence. Hitchcock himself had very little to do with its filming.
Bergman and Peck Romantic Affair
Both Bergman and Peck were married to others at the time of production—Bergman to Petter Aron Lindström, and Peck to Greta Kukkonen—but they had brief affair during filming.
Their secret relationship became public when Peck confessed to Brad Darrach in interview in 1987, years after Bergman’s death. “All I can say is that I had a fiery kinda love for her, and I think that’s where I ought to stop… I was young. She was young. We were involved for weeks in close and intense work.”
However, in January 1944, Hitc
Hitchcock’s Cameo
Hitchcock’s cameo occurs approximately at the 40-minute mark, when he can be seen exiting an elevator at the Empire State Hotel, carrying violin case and smoking a cigarette.
The trailer for Spellbound‘s original release in US made great fuss over Hitchcock’s cameo, showing the footage twice and even freeze-framing his brief appearance while narrator informs that this ordinary-looking man is Hitchcock himself.
Two Frames in Red
Spellbound was shot in black and white, except for two frames of bright red at the conclusion, when Dr. Murchison’s gun is fired into the camera. This detail was deleted in most 16mm and video formats but was restored for the film’s DVD airings on TCM.
Locations
Parts of the film were shot in Alta, Utah, at the Alta Lodge and Wasatch Ranch.
The film’s picnic sequence between Peck and Bergmans’ characters was filmed at the Cooper Ranch in Northridge, LA, while other sequences—such as the train depot scene—were shot on the Universal lot.
Music
The film features orchestral score by Miklós Rózsa that pioneered the use of the theremin, performed by Dr. Samuel Hoffmann. Selznick originally wanted Bernard Herrmann, but when Herrmann became unavailable, Rózsa was hired and won the Oscar for his score.[13]
Rózsa considered Spellbound to contain some of his best work, but said “Hitchcock didn’t like the music — said it got in the way of his direction. I haven’t seen him since.”
During the film’s protracted post-production, disagreement arose about the music, exacerbated by lack of communication between producer, director, and composer.
Rózsa had scored another film, Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend, before Spellbound was released, which had used the theremin. This led to allegations that he had recycled music from Selznick’s film in the Paramount production.
Selznick’s assistant tampered with the Spellbound scoring by replacing some of Rózsa’s material with earlier music by Franz Waxman and Roy Webb. The tangled history of the scoring process has been explored by Jack Sullivan (Hitchcock’s Music, 2006) and Nathan Platte (Making Music in Selznick’s Hollywood, 2018), both qualify and sometimes contradict early accounts.
Rózsa’s music achieved great popularity outside the film. Selznick’s innovative use of promotional recordings for radio broadcast eventually inspired Rózsa to prepare full-scale Spellbound Concerto for piano, theremin, and orchestra. This work became popular staple in the movie concerto genre with multiple recordings.
Intrada Records recorded the complete score with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. This album also included music not heard in the finished film.
Credits
Director – Alfred Hitchcock
- Producer – David O. Selznick
- Writing – Ben Hecht (screenplay), Angus MacPhail (adaptation)
- Cinematography – George Barnes (director of photography)
- Music – Miklós Rózsa
- Art direction – James Basevi (art director), John Ewing (associate art director), Emile Kuri (interior decoration)
- Film editing – Hal C. Kern (supervising film editor), William H. Ziegler (associate film editor)
- Production assistant – Barbara Keon
- Special effects – Jack Cosgrove – special effects
- Assistant director – Lowell J. Farrell
- Sound – Richard DeWeese (recorder)
- Design of dream sequence – Salvador Dalí
- Psychiatric advisor – May E. Romm, M.D.
