Director Arch Oboler had a successful career on radio before this film was made. It's a different type of picture for MGM, but Oboler's work had been well-received. Plus it wasn't as if the studio was allocating a huge sum of money for BEWITCHED. In fact, its modest budget helps keep things fairly basic.
Without the expenditures afforded an 'A' film, Oboler and his crew had to rely on inexpensive ways to generate suspense. Sound effects are put to good use here, and so are simple lighting techniques that suggest the importance of shadows- both visually and in terms of the story's subtext. These tricks had been used at Columbia when transferring the Whistler series from radio to the 'B'-film format.
Our main character is portrayed by MGM contractee Phyllis Thaxter. (Interestingly, Miss Thaxter's husband James Aubrey would run MGM in the late 1960s and early 1970s.) Thaxter is a fascinating choice to convey a young woman whose psychologically issues spiral out of control.
Aiding Thaxter's performance is an uncredited Audrey Totter. She provides the voice-over of the main character's disturbing alter ego...the bad dark side who causes inner frictions and dangerous situations to occur. At one point Thaxter is compelled to use a pair of scissors in much the same way Barbara Stanwyck tried to cut Judith Anderson out of her father's life in THE FURIES.
Such scenes are underscored by Totter's words on the soundtrack as the psychotic alter ego. Miss Totter was on the cusp of making a name for herself as a noir femme fatale, and she's perfectly suited to voicing the evil aspects of a woman who is bewitched. While Thaxter's horrifying identity crisis unfolds, she meets a helpful shrink played by Edmund Gwenn. Mr. Gwenn was already typecast in family-oriented fare like LASSIE COME HOME and MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET. So he probably enjoyed the chance to explore something different in this film.
Theories about psychoses have no doubt evolved since the mid-1940s. This story attempts to examine the dominant characteristics residing in a troubled woman, and I think as a work of fiction, it is generally engrossing. In some ways it reminds me of a later Paramount picture THE SEARCH FOR BRIDEY MURPHY, where confused Teresa Wright deals with a personality from a previous life, suggesting she has been reincarnated. In BEWITCHED, Oboler and his team are attempting the opposite, to show how the main character may be mentally reincarnated (rehabilitated) to live a more productive life.
Thaxter's character is vulnerable and unable to overcome a demonic possession on her own. She needs to receive the help of a doctor. If this was a Catholic-themed religious movie, she would need holy water anointed on her as well as continual prayer and vigilance. One thing that doesn't exactly work for me, is how she seems to be forgiven by the court for the heinous crimes her other self committed. Who's to say she won't lose control again? How many other personalities are still waiting to come out?
The story seems like a product of its time...where storytellers with good intentions devise a fiction to promote understanding of psychological torment. I am not sure how successful that approach ultimately is. Though I'm sure Miss Thaxter felt like this was an acting job that gave her a way to exercise and exorcise her dramatic skills.
Without the expenditures afforded an 'A' film, Oboler and his crew had to rely on inexpensive ways to generate suspense. Sound effects are put to good use here, and so are simple lighting techniques that suggest the importance of shadows- both visually and in terms of the story's subtext. These tricks had been used at Columbia when transferring the Whistler series from radio to the 'B'-film format.
Our main character is portrayed by MGM contractee Phyllis Thaxter. (Interestingly, Miss Thaxter's husband James Aubrey would run MGM in the late 1960s and early 1970s.) Thaxter is a fascinating choice to convey a young woman whose psychologically issues spiral out of control.
Aiding Thaxter's performance is an uncredited Audrey Totter. She provides the voice-over of the main character's disturbing alter ego...the bad dark side who causes inner frictions and dangerous situations to occur. At one point Thaxter is compelled to use a pair of scissors in much the same way Barbara Stanwyck tried to cut Judith Anderson out of her father's life in THE FURIES.
Such scenes are underscored by Totter's words on the soundtrack as the psychotic alter ego. Miss Totter was on the cusp of making a name for herself as a noir femme fatale, and she's perfectly suited to voicing the evil aspects of a woman who is bewitched. While Thaxter's horrifying identity crisis unfolds, she meets a helpful shrink played by Edmund Gwenn. Mr. Gwenn was already typecast in family-oriented fare like LASSIE COME HOME and MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET. So he probably enjoyed the chance to explore something different in this film.
Theories about psychoses have no doubt evolved since the mid-1940s. This story attempts to examine the dominant characteristics residing in a troubled woman, and I think as a work of fiction, it is generally engrossing. In some ways it reminds me of a later Paramount picture THE SEARCH FOR BRIDEY MURPHY, where confused Teresa Wright deals with a personality from a previous life, suggesting she has been reincarnated. In BEWITCHED, Oboler and his team are attempting the opposite, to show how the main character may be mentally reincarnated (rehabilitated) to live a more productive life.
Thaxter's character is vulnerable and unable to overcome a demonic possession on her own. She needs to receive the help of a doctor. If this was a Catholic-themed religious movie, she would need holy water anointed on her as well as continual prayer and vigilance. One thing that doesn't exactly work for me, is how she seems to be forgiven by the court for the heinous crimes her other self committed. Who's to say she won't lose control again? How many other personalities are still waiting to come out?
The story seems like a product of its time...where storytellers with good intentions devise a fiction to promote understanding of psychological torment. I am not sure how successful that approach ultimately is. Though I'm sure Miss Thaxter felt like this was an acting job that gave her a way to exercise and exorcise her dramatic skills.