Stars:
Four and a half out of five stars
"Possessed"
begins with a pale, disoriented woman (Joan Crawford) in a plain, but impeccably cut black dress, wandering the streets of
Los Angeles, murmuring the name "David." This is film noir and the wonderful angles and black and white cinematography,
the German expressionism, all lend to the off kilter feeling of the story which describes Crawford's mental state. The
woman winds up in a hospital where her story emerges through flashbacks.
Apparently Louise Howell (Crawford) was having
an affair with bachelor David Sutton (Van Heflin), but although Louise is becoming increasingly fervently attached, David
is ready to cut the cord. He reminds her that he never pretended to love her -- this after they've just returned
from "swimming." Oh, that beautiful code language! This rejection sends Louise over the edge. After he boats
her across the water to the house where she is employed, we learn that she is a private nurse for the ill wife of
wealthy Dean Graham (Raymond Massey) and that the delusional Mrs. Graham believes Nurse Howell is having an affair with her
husband. When Mrs. Graham is found drowned in an apparent suicide, Mr. Graham eventually makes known his growing love for
Nurse Howell and begs her to marry him. Louise's heart lies elsewhere, but he convinces her to give the marriage a go. Initially
Graham's daughter Carol (Geraldine Brooks) rejects Louise, believing her responsible for her mother's death although Louise
insists that Mrs. Graham was "more ill" than Carol realized. (Wonderful touch since Louise is "more ill" than she realizes). With
time Carol accepts her new stepmother, but the plot thickens when Carol begins a relationship with David which becomes
serious and threatens Louise's sanity. Like a bad penny, David keeps showing up.
Joan Crawford
gives a powerhouse performance in "Possessed" (for which she earned an Academy Award nomination), making Louise's
emotional state properly edgy and palpable, but the script never satisfactorily explains why Louise is as she is except
in terms of irrational gender mumbo jumbo. The male white coats in the hospital comment on her condition as she
languishes in a stupor, no less, with howlers like: "Beautiful woman, intelligent, frustrated. Frustrated just like
all the others we've seen." Hello? No wonder she's frustrated if this is what women face in way of medical
care. Crawford deserved an Academy just for keeping a straight face during that speech. Certainly love
can make people insane, but would unrequited love for David so upend Louise? Is Dean attracted to unbalanced
women? In spite of some irrational rationale, "Possessed" is an A-quality, entertaining and extremely
watchable film with intricate twists, turns and ironies and solid performances from Crawford, Heflin and Brooks.
Both Louise and David are self-absorbed characters, suitably matched as antagonists. Brooks as Carol also
has a fascinating duality to her personality like Ann Blyth in "Mildred Pierce," able to appear sweet and almost powerfully
viperish as the plot demands. At times, like Louise, it's impossible to discern what is real and what is delusional as
the drama enfolds. In my initial viewings, my sympathies lie completely with Louise, but after seeing it on the big
screen recently, it struck me that Louise was a bit of a stalker and David, cad or no cad, had promised her no rose garden.
Still, seeing Louise become "very objectionable" is part of the fun.
Entertaining melodrama, in spite of unintentionally
amusing psychobabble, with Crawford in full command of the screen, if not (according to the script) of her wits. –
D. Nowak
