Possessed
by Curtis Bernhardt
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Geraldine Brooks, Joan Crawford, Raymond Massey, Stanley Ridges, Van HeflinDirector: Curtis Bernhardt
Brand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Joseph A. Valentine
Cinematographer: Sidney Hickox
Producer: Jack L. Warner
Producer: Jerry Wald
Writer: Ranald MacDougall
Writer: Rita Weiman
Writer: Silvia Richards
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 108 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-06-14
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of Possessed
Movie Review: This guy picked the wrong woman to underestimate
Summary: 4 Stars
As pointed out by another review or two, this film definitely falls into the "Fatal Attraction" arena: Depending on your point of view, Joan Crawford's character either gets the "psychotic girlfriend from Hell" award or is a poor, wronged innocent who couldn't help but go a little crazy after the horrible treatment by her boyfriend, who's trying to shake her loose in order to chase the next hot thing. Truth to tell, a little of both is probably true.
It's better to go into this notable little "film noir"- notable for being understated and ultra realistic in some scenes (like the memorable opening) and dime-novel florid in others ("Don't leave me, David!!")- without knowing every little plot point. I will say this, though. This movie's worth your time just to see Joan's smirk as she's holding the gun. At that moment, wow, that's one woman you don't want to cross.
Warner Brothers' DVD of "Possessed" features a mostly crisp and sharp image, an interesting scholarly commentary by a film noir expert, the movie's enthusiastic trailer (they knew they had a crowd pleaser on their hands), and a short interview piece featuring three film buffs/college instructors discussing film noir in general and "Possessed" in detail.
It's a nice little package: great film and a handful of decent extras. You can't go wrong.
Summary of Possessed
She loves him when he goes away for months. She loves him when he refuses to marry her. But when callow David Sutton chooses to marry someone else, Louise Howell's love for him takes a darker turn. Give her a gun and she'll love him to death. Joan Crawford reteams with producer Jerry Wald of her Academy Award winning Mildred Pierce and claims a 1947 Best Actress Oscar nomination for her portrayal of tempestuous, mentally unstable Louise. ??I love you? is such an inadequate way of saying I love you, Louise says. It doesn't quite describe how much it hurts sometimes. With Crawford at her film-noir-queen best, be assured it hurts so good.DVD Features:Audio Commentary:Commentary by Film Historian Drew CasperFeaturette:New Featurette The Quintessential Film Noir
The opening shots of Possessed achieve their goal: it is startling to see Joan Crawford wandering around without makeup, her hair drawn plainly back, in the early dawn of a grungily real location. Her unbalanced character, Louise, has been traumatized and must now recount her nightmare, in true film noir fashion, to a questioning psychoanalyst.
Possessed has an abundance of noir atmosphere (everything gets to be as shadowy as the inside of Louise's brain) and a full ration of Crawford at her most florid. The story is a wild ride: an invalid wife, a lonely widower, a daughter resentful of former nurse Louise's new status in the household. Plus there's the true crazy-making love of Louise's life, an engineer (Van Heflin) whose heart is as dry as his manner is breezy ("When a woman kisses me, Louise, she has to take pot luck"). The film's overripe writing is balanced by Joseph Valentine's sharp-angled photography, to say nothing of the vectors of Joan Crawford's sharp-angled face. As a companion piece to Crawford's Mildred Pierce performance, this one takes Mildred to her extreme--single-minded obsession and derangement. What Crawford lacked in subtlety she made up for in sheer commitment, which perhaps suits this character very well. --Robert Horton
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