The Snake Pit (1948)

[ChiO]

Must consider:

PEEPING TOM
GLEN OR GLENDA
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
HOUSE OF GAMES
THE COBWEB
DARK MIRROR
SISTERS
THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
FACE TO FACE
SPIDER BABY
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
THE SHINING
THE PRESIDENT'S ANALYST
THE SCAR

[moira finnie]

The Scar is a great one and have we mentioned Whirlpool (1949) or Nightmare Alley (1947) for heaven's sake?!

[JackFavell]

Robert Cummings.... giggle

[moira finnie]

Of course we need NOW, VOYAGER and KINGS ROW. If Leo Genn isn't your idea of the perfect shrink, then SURELY Robert Cummings is. I've always relished the idea of someone at the studio saying, "Hm...now which actor would be perfect as a young disciple of Freud? I know! Robert Cummings!"

My favorite movie shrink might have to be Tom Conway, whose oily demeanor and ethically challenged leer whenever Simone Simon was in the office makes him a perfect acolyte in the Temple of Sigmund, (though I tend to think treating Simone's anima/animus fixations in Cat People might be better suited to a Jungian).

[JackFavell]

My favorite movie shrink might have to be Tom Conway, whose oily demeanor and ethically challenged leer whenever Simone Simon was in the office makes him a perfect acolyte in the Temple of Sigmund, (though I tend to think treating Simone's anima/animus fixations in Cat People might be better suited to a Jungian).

Tom Conway makes us WANT to see him get eviscerated. That's good acting.

[srowley75]

Unfortunately I haven't yet had time to organize my thoughts about The Snake Pit, but I couldn't let the opportunity go by...

Do you have any favorite psyched out movies?

*Marat/Sade (1966), the film version of Peter Brooks' play and - from the perspective of a non-actor - one drama/musical I've always felt would've been loads of fun to act in.

Also these (many of which wouldn't qualify as "favorites," but might be interesting nonetheless):

*Maniac (1934) - a must-see, especially for bad movie fanatics
*Private Worlds (1935) - a Gregory LaCava classic that TCM must eventually work into the schedule
*Shock Corridor (1963)
*Freud (1962)
*Nuts (1987)
*Agnes of God (1985)
*The President's Analyst (1967)
*I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977)
*Deranged (1974) - if films about psychology include films about deviant/psychotic behavior...
*What Have You Done to Solange? (1972) - ditto

[mrsl]

.
You can't ignore the calm and excitable Lee J. Cobb in The Three Faces of Eve, when he realized what he was seeing. Then on the other hand, the scary presence of Cornelia Otis Skinner in charge of the Mary Meridith Retreat in The Uninvited.
.

[JackFavell]

Oh yeah! I love Cornelia!

[otterhere]

Do we really believe that women are "fulfilled" today by going to college, getting a degree, getting a job, then getting married, having kids, and then spending the rest of her vital years running like a maniac between home, office, meetings, soccer practice, the grocery (she still has to do most of the housework!), more office (the boss doesn't understand; is it fair to cut working mothers breaks), then divorce court (no energy for sex!), the lawyers, etc.? I don't know; we talk about how "repressed" women used to be, but it was a much more relaxing life than today's. How do we know just as many women aren't flipping out today, but are "repressed" by Prozac at the first sign of stress? You can't find a shrink to talk to you today; they just shove pills at you...

At any rate, I'm not a DeH fan, either; all I can think of when I see her is, "Oooooooh, Scawwwwww-lit!"...

[jdb1]

Do we really believe that women are "fulfilled" today by going to college, getting a degree, getting a job, then getting married, having kids, and then spending the rest of her vital years running like a maniac between home, office, meetings, soccer practice, the grocery (she still has to do most of the housework!), more office (the boss doesn't understand; is it fair to cut working mothers breaks), then divorce court (no energy for sex!), the lawyers, etc.? I don't know; we talk about how "repressed" women used to be, but it was a much more relaxing life than today's. How do we know just as many women aren't flipping out today, but are "repressed" by Prozac at the first sign of stress? You can't find a shrink to talk to you today; they just shove pills at you...

At any rate, I'm not a DeH fan, either; all I can think of when I see her is, "Oooooooh, Scawwwwww-lit!"...

The stress comes not from getting married and working at home because you want to, but from doing so because you think you have to. Even today, I see that many young women rarely think beyond the wedding to the actual marriage component, and those ridiculous wedding "reality" programs on TV aren't helping. If you are married to someone you discover you don't love (and if you lived in a time when divorce was frowned upon and meant likely poverty for the woman so that she felt she had to stay in the marriage), you likely aren't very happy or fulfilled. Such circumstances were much harder on women than on men a generation or two ago.

The whole premise of the grandly named Women's Liberation Movement was that a woman should have the same life choices that a man has, not that she necessarily wanted to take over the corporate world or work herself to death trying to "have it all." Women who knock themselves out trying to do everything now are doing themselves a disservice, and probably doing it for the same reason that their predecessors were so desperate to get married: because they think they have to, not because they want to. Perhaps a small difference today is that unmarried women are not looked on with quite as much scorn as they used to be, but the scorn is still there, just as it's there now for those women who choose to be homemakers. A women who attempts to assert herself in any arena is going to be given a hard time by somebody -- that hasn't changed.

The other half of the population hasn't done very much to help, but that's a very general statement, and another story.

[Moraldo Rubini]

It looks like we have the new film fest pretty well covered, but I'd just like to add one request: that of Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, one of my favorite insane asylum pics. I've never seen any of the remakes, so am referring to Conrad Veidt's dreamscape directed by Robert Wiene.

[charliechaplinfan]

I watched the other day Woman Under the Influence, such a remarkable film with a great performance by Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk. I was completely drawn into the story, felt so much sympathy for Mabel and her family. It's the most fascinating film I've seen that's tackled the subject of mental health.

[RedRiver]

They could include John Huston's FREUD.