Review 2009-02-11T08:24:43-08:00 33 Movie review of Possessed (1947), starring Joan Crawford movie,review,noir,possessed,Joan,Crawford,1947,schizophrenia 2009-02-12T00:00:00-08:00 [i]Possessed[/i] is the story of a woman (Joan Crawford) who falls obsessively in love with a man (Van Heflin) who wants to play the field. Rather than a lighthearted love story with a happy Hollywood ending, this is an early psychological thriller in the noir style with a touch of gothic horror.[img size="375x282"]/images/articles/reviews/possessed.jpg[/img][capt]Joan Crawford and Van Heflin in [i]Possessed[/i][/capt] Aside from the ham-handed explanations of schizophrenia and mental illness, this film feels more modern than its 1947 date implies. In particular, Joan Crawford, who started her career in silent pictures, brings a certain maturity to the role of the jilted - and possessed - lover. She balances the melodrama of a mid-20th century woman-in-love with a character who becomes progressively more unhinged. The combination tempers the overly innocent, gag-me style of story telling that I often associate with films from the '40s. The tone of the film is undermined by simplistic and dated psychological treatment and dry explanations of the subject. Frankly, mental illness in film is most powerful when shown and most mysterious when left unexplained. Then again, even Hitchcock felt the need to tell the audience about Norman Bates' inner workings at the end of the 1960 film, [i]Psycho[/i]. I found it helpful to view the film as two separate, but intertwined movies: a drama about a possessed woman - and a comedy about psychiatric care in the 1940s. True to the noir genre, there are deaths, mysteries, and a gun. There are also scenes that turn out to be fantasies, if not full blown hallucinations. In a remake, I would like to see the first person point of view hallucination thread more progressively developed. Hinting at uncertainty early in the film and bringing it to a slow boil would be a fun ride for the viewer. My wife tolerates my love of older films; however, [i]Possessed[/i] drew her into the story as strongly as any modern film. The acting, in particular by Crawford and the young Geraldine Brooks, is excellent, as is the cinematography, editing and score. Crawford was nominated for an Academy Award. Just two years before, she won an Oscar for her leading role in [i]Mildred Pierce[/i]. I give the film an eight out of ten stars. If you are able to relax and be comically entertained by the treatment of 1940s psychology, give it a nine. 2009-02-12T09:19:42-08:00 1