Amor que mata

Before "Play Misty For Me" (1971) and "Fatal Attraction" (1987), comes this story of a nurse (Joan Crawford) who's attached to a man (Van Heflin), who eventually finds her too possessive and breaks it off, but she can not let him go. When they meet again at her employer's (Raymond Massey) residence, she wants to resume the relationship, saying its awful for a woman to lie down at night and not be able to sleep, but he still won't take her back. She eventually accepts widower Massey's marriage proposal, explaining that it's terrible for a woman to be unwanted, although she's not in love with him. Eventually, Massey's daughter Geraldine Brooks starts to date Heflin, further complicating matters, and putting Crawford over the edge. Script, photography, direction, music are exemplary, the 4 leads are memorable, but Crawford is particularly riveting. Her first breakdown (at Massey's waterfront mansion) with Heflin might be considered over-the-top 40s style acting (pre-Method), but she delivers it beautifully, her face and expressions a towering display of emotion and angst. It's a performance that Crawford must have pulled from her own life experiences to achieve such rising momentum. No wonder actor Cliff Robertson (her co-star in "Autumn Leaves - 1956) once stated in a documentary that she's "a damned good actress."

Just what does Van Heflin's David have the makes Joan Crawford's Louise go literally mad for him?

Doesn't appear to be that much in the looks department. Perhaps just that special touch that signals, "either you've got it or you haven't."

Whatever the case, Louise pleads, cajoles, rants and raves for David the entire film. What does our David do?--merely tell Louise the truth: that he's simply not in love with her.

Granted, David's rather flippant, self-absorbed and bored, but that's his prerogative. Instead of accepting this and moving on with her life, Louise insists on minding David's old business and clinging to bygone days.

All this "to-do," when a simple scan of a Dale Carnegie text might have solved the problem.

Louise does have her supporters: young stepdaughter Carol and aging hubbie Dean do what they can to bolster Louise's confidence. Since Geraldine Brooks and Raymond Massey portray these respective roles, there's sure to be strong convictions expressed.

Made just two years after her Oscar-winning turn in "Mildred Pierce," Crawford is in her mature mettle here. Although the same title was used for a Crawford film 16 years earlier, the similarity is in name only.

"Possessed" allows Joan to suffer royally and she does, pulling out all the schizophrenic stops to slam this one home. Since no one reels better than Crawford, it's an engaging performance in an engrossing film.

Joan Crawford turns in one of her best performances as a mentally disturbed woman in love with Van Heflin but married to Raymond Massey. She's found wandering the streets at the start of the film. At the hospital, she tells the film's story to doctors through a series of flashbacks. After winning an Oscar for Mildred Pierce, it seems obvious Joan wanted badly to win another. So she followed a formula that is still being followed by actors today. If you want to be recognized by your peers, play someone with an alcohol or drug problem (Humoresque -- check!) or play someone who is mentally ill (Possessed -- check!). Joan did receive an Oscar nomination for this role but didn't win.

The rest of the cast is fine. Raymond Massey is solid as her husband but it isn't one of his better roles. Geraldine Brooks is lovely in her film debut. Van Heflin plays the object of Joan's obsession. He's a thoroughly unlikable character. Heflin does fine in the part but I couldn't help wondering if the movie expected me to feel sympathy for this guy or what because he was a jerk and a cradle robber. The film is a little overlong and drags a little in the middle when Joan is acting her most normal. This is not related to Joan's other movie titled Possessed from 1931. That film was a soaper with Clark Gable.

This movie has nothing to do with the 1931 version that also Joan Crawford. It's more along the lines of The Snake Pit. It stars out with Joan Crawford walking the streets in a trance-like state and she keeps on repeating the name David. She's sent to the mental ward at the hospital and the movie goes in flashback to show how she ended up like this. The flashback stars with Joan Crawford wanting to marry Van Heflin but he just wants to break the relationship off. She never gets over it and goes to work as a nurse taking care of Raymond Massey's wife. Pretty soon, they find his wife's body in the lake but they don't know if it was an accident or suicide. Raymond Massey asks Crawford to marry him but she's still in love with Heflin, who is working with Massey. She agrees but Massey's daughter doesn't like her and she slowly stars to go insane. I guess this is one of the first movies that deals with mental illness.

Possessed (1947)

*** (out of 4)

Joan Crawford's incredible performance is the highlight of this thriller. In the film she plays Louise Howell, a woman who begins to suffer a mental breakdown after the man (Van Heflin) she loves walks away from her. Even though she marries another man (Raymond Massey) the stress of the other one leaving her just causes her mind to collapse. It's very important to point out the fact that this film was released thirteen years before Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO and I say that because of how much credit that film gets when it comes to looking at mental illness. Viewing POSSESSED today it's easy to see where the film is going as it is quite predictable and there's no question that some of the mental illness terms are out of date. With that said, for the most part this is a fairly good thriller that manages to keep your attention thanks in large part to the terrific cast. I'm not sure what else can be said about Crawford but there's no question that she was on quite a row at Warner. First with MILDRED PIERCE then HUMORESQUE and finally POSSESSED, the actress was really pushing herself and it made for three incredible performances. What's so amazing about her performance here is how many different personalities she manages to play. This character goes through all sorts of mental "issues" and I really loved the various ways Crawford brought them to the screen. It could be as simple as someone turning their back on her or someone telling her that they're not in love. There are several scenes where she's imagining things happening to her and Crawford is just flawless. It certainly doesn't help that Heflin is perfect as the snake and Massey is also extremely good as the supporting husband. Geraldine Brooks also deserves a lot of credit for her wonderful supporting performance as the step-daughter. Director Curtis Bernhardt brings a lot of style and atmosphere to the film and there's also some wonderful cinematography that helps. Again, the film is quite predictable but this doesn't take away the fun or the brilliant work by Crawford.