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An unexpected masterpiece

A Major Disappointment

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

"Possessed" was included among TCM's "Summer of Darkness" series celebrating film noir, but it really doesn't belong to that genre. It's instead one of those rather tiresome "women's pictures" from the 1940s and 50s, melodramas that usually had some talented actress swooning over some leading man or other. In this one, it's Joan Crawford so obsessed with lover Van Heflin that she literally goes crazy when he breaks off their affair and she instead marries dutiful but dull Raymond Massey. Crawford is much more fun when she's taking charge, not weeping and wailing, and though she tries her best, she can't make much of this thankless character or director Curtis Bernhardt's utter lack of recognizable style.Still, she managed to somehow snag an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her performance.Grade: C

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where the film is going as it is quite predictable and there's no question that some of the mental illness terms are out of date.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.

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.

No need for the typical make-up man or costuming maven to glamorize Joan in her role here. As Louise, care-giver to a jealous wife, she's looking either haggard or near-bonkers the whole way through. I guess our legendary diva got the career change-of-pace she was looking for, in spades. Check out her first scene with professional cad David (Heflin). It's a little gem of 40's innuendo—for him it's been a casual affair that he's now trying to ease out of. For her, it's now a consuming passion she can't let go of. And so the stage for 100-minutes of neurotic high drama is set. Director Bernhardt certainly knows how to frame the emotionally troubled with noirish photography that heightens Louise's dark mental state. Frankly, I could have done without a lot of the clinical mumbo-jumbo, but then the whole topic was rather new to the American screen, so I guess the producers wanted to reassure audiences that science had a handle on it.To me, Heflin steals the film in a very un-Heflin type role. As a slick womanizer, he's very sly about revealing his egotism, which only accumulates by degrees that sets up the eventual showdown with Louise. Speaking of casting against type, the usually imperious Massey manages his low-key role as an understanding husband better than I would have expected.All in all, it's a Crawford showcase, but a histrionic wringer she evidently didn't want to repeat, and didn't. It's certainly a long way from her usual glamorous man-eating roles. As entertainment, the movie's just okay, being unconvincing at times and slow-going until the climax.