Main Cast: Griff Barnett, Joan Crawford, Monte Blue, Van Heflin, Raymond Massey, Geraldine Brooks, Nana Bryant, Stanley Ridges
Release Year: 1947
Country: US
Run Time: 109 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
We first meet Joan Crawford, star of the moody flashbackfest Possessed, wandering aimlessly through the city streets, moaning "David....David." She goes to pieces in public and is rushed to the mental ward, where a team of psychiatrists try to find out who she is and where she's been. Who she is is a practical nurse, hired by Raymond Massey to care for Massey's invalid wife. While going about her duties, Crawford renews her acquaintance with an old flame, architect Van Heflin. Though Heflin is indifferent, Crawford is still crazy for the man. She remains so even after marrying her employer Massey, whose wife has committed suicide. Any further details would give away the ending, but we can note that Van Heflin's character name is David. Best scene: Crawford, descending into schizophrenia, imagining that she's killed Massey's vitriolic daughter Geraldine Brooks. While the psycho-babble delivered in the asylum scenes is laughable, Possessed still holds up well as one of the best of Joan Crawford's Warner Bros. soap operas. This black-and-white film is also available in a colorized version, but don't blame us. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Joan Crawford won an Academy Award in 1945 for Mildred Pierce, and, two years later, she was trying her utmost to win another. Her gripping, melodramatic star turn helped make Possessed a hit and a prime example of post-war film noir. Crawford can't find happiness with either Van Heflin or Raymond Massey, and her fiery emotions drive her into a lethal frenzy. Based on Rita Weiman's book One Man's Secret, Possessed is told almost entirely in flashbacks, the goal being to figure out what drove Crawford's character crazy. As a dark psychological study, this is Hollywood at its moodiest; love has rarely seemed so perilous and fraught with anxiety. German director Curtis Bernhardt was known for making emotional films that appealed to women. Crawford got her Oscar nomination, but Loretta Young won the statuette that year for The Farmer's Daughter. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
Anton Grot - Art Director, Adrian - Costume Designer, Bernard Newman - Costume Designer, Curtis Bernhardt - Director, Rudi Fehr - Editor, Jack L. Warner - Executive Producer, Franz Waxman - Composer (Music Score), Leo F. Forbstein - Musical Direction/Supervision, Perc Westmore - Makeup, Joseph A. Valentine - Cinematographer, Jerry Wald - Producer, Fred MacLean - Set Designer, Robert Burks - Special Effects, William McGann - Special Effects, Robert B. Lee - Sound/Sound Designer, Ranald MacDougall - Screenwriter, Silvia Richards - Screenwriter, Rita Weiman - Short Story Author
A woman is found wandering Los Angeles, unable to say anything other than "David". Admitted to hospital she is coaxed into recounting her life.
Louise Howell (Crawford) is an emotionally unstable woman working as a nurse to the invalid wife of Dean Graham (Massey) in the Graham home. Louise is in love with neighbor David Sutton (Heflin), an engineer, who loathes her smothering obsession with him; he ends the relationship and leaves the area to Louise's great hurt. Shortly after, Graham's wife drowns; Louise remains in the Graham home to care for the two Graham children: young Wynn (Gerald Perreau) and college-age Carol (Geraldine Brooks).
Time passes and David re-enters the scene, having taken an engineering job with Graham; he is surprised to find Louise with the family. Louise - still obsessed with David - makes a pass and is rebuffed. Moments later, Graham proposes to Louise and she accepts to salvage her pride. Graham's daughter, Carol takes a fancy to David, much to the consternation of Louise who tries to dissuade Carol from establishing a relationship with him. Louise's mind begins to decline with her obsession over David; she hears voices, has hallucinations, and believes her husband's first wife is still alive.
When David and Carol consider marriage, Louise tries to end their relationship. Graham is concerned about Louise's mental state and tries to persuade her to see a doctor. Believing her husband, David, and Carol are all against her and trying to put her away, Louise bursts into David's apartment and kills him in a fit of madness.
Crawford spent time visiting mental wards and talking to psychiatrists to prepare for her role, and said the part was the most difficult she ever played.
Possessed had been tailor-made for Bette Davis and would have been her next project after Deception (1946). However, she was pregnant and took maternity leave.
Reception
James Agee in Time wrote, "Most of it is filmed with unusual imaginativeness and force. The film is uncommonly well acted. Miss Crawford is generally excellent", while Howard Barnes in the New York Herald Tribune argued, "[Crawford] has obviously studied the aspects of insanity to recreate a rather terrifying portrait of a woman possessed by devils."[1]
Film Noir notes, "By developing the plot from the point-of-view of a neurotic and skillfully using flashback and fantasy scenes in a straightforward manner, the distinction between reality and Louise's imagination is blurred. That makes Possessed a prime example of oneirism, the dreamlike tone that is a seminal characteristic of film noir."[3]
