By: MDR

MDR — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:23:31 +0000

Don't you just love Frank Morgan! He made so many terrific B movies that TCM seems to celebrate his birthday (June 1) every year with a tribute. Ironically, he died on this date (9/18) in 1949. I'll have to look for Bewitched (1945) on the schedule (that's one I've not seen); thanks Moira!

By: Moira Finnie

Moira Finnie — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 18:26:25 +0000

How delightful to discover that you've also unearthed the obscure charm of producer Selznick's Secrets of the French Police (1932).While the hypnosis scenes probably gave lovely Scandinavian Gwili Andre a break from her struggle with English, I'm particularly fond of the sequence in which police chief of detectives Frank Morgan, (who smokes like a chimney in this film!), demonstrates his scientific approach to detective work, complete with charts, secret agents, and, of course, lots of Gallic arrogance. And let's not forget the mirror on the road at night and bad mesmerist Gregory Ratoff's penetrating stare, meant to connote power over the psyche of others, especially when they were seemingly wan violet sellers from the streets of Paris who just might be lost Royal. Somehow I kept thinking of the line from Mr. Ratoff's best movie, All About Eve, in which someone wondered why he looked like "an unhappy rabbit". Well, being in a movie like this probably didn't help.While that early talkie doozie is very entertaining in some ways, I've found that one of the oddest aspects of hypnosis and psychiatry on film in the forties was the naïve belief that the mere revelation of one's inner conflicts to the patient, and, occasionally to the world at large, seems to erase their burden. Hmmm, not quite that easy, something tells me. Given that the world was in flames during this period, audiences may have gotten some solace from this calm approach, and belief in the ability of people to surmount their problems. Bewitched (1945), an Edmund Gwenn film features a strong performance by Phyllis Thaxter as the doctor and his hypnotized patient. The story depicts Gwenn as an alienist (a term usually used to describe head docs prior to adopting the now common term of psychiatrist). Gwenn is treating a convict, played by Thaxter, who, it develops has another personality inside her—and guess what? None other than Audrey Totter, the über-bad film noir dame and good actress voices that personality. Since this B film was written & directed by radio stylist Arch Oboler of "Lights Out" fame, sound, such as Totter's inner narration and space, as in the claustrophobic sense created by the cheap, small sets all contribute to the psychological tension, which, to a sometimes laughable degree, is alleviated once Dr. Gwenn starts hypnotizing poor Phyllis. This odd little film shows up occasionally on TCM, as does The Secrets of the French Police.

By: Medusa

Medusa — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:49:41 +0000

"Tails of lizards, ears of swine, chicken gizzards soaked in brine, now mine eyes and thine entwine, thy will is broken, thou art mine!"So sayeth Grizelda the witch to Danny Kaye as Hubert Hawkins in The Court Jester, turning him into Giacomo, a lover of beauty, and a beauty of a lover….I suppose she's using hynosis — or a spell, the witchy equivalent, I guess – on him, but it sure works! She's no psychiatrist, but it does the trick!

Comments on: Reel Hypnosis

By: MDR

By: Moira Finnie

By: Medusa