The Snake Pit
The Snake Pit
| 04 November 1948 (USA)
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Virginia Cunningham is confused upon finding herself in a mental hospital, with no memory of her arrival at the institution. Tormented by delusions and unable to even recognize her husband, Robert, she is treated by Dr. Mark Kik, who is determined to get to the root of her mental illness. As her treatment progresses, flashbacks depict events in Virginia's life that may have contributed to her instability.

Reviews
Titreenp

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

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TaryBiggBall

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

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Asad Almond

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Scotty Burke

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

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Edgar Allan Pooh

. . . America cared enough for the mentally challenged to erect and staff sprawling state hospitals just for them, as painstakingly documented here in THE SNAKE PIT (an unfortunate title, if there ever was one). In this 21st Century, my native state has declared war on patients such as THE SNAKE PIT's "Virginia Stuart Cunningham," bull-dozing hundreds of acres of such facilities (including the ones in BOTH of my home towns) to make way for shopping malls and luxury condominium projects, while replacing these once-packed community job centers with a mere handful of tiny, ramshackle "group homes" (many of which turn out to be ill-equipped, under-staffed illegal scams siphoning off taxpayer funds while endangering their resident patients with sub-standard food, poor security, counter-productive treatments, and ineffective care). This neglect literally kills tens of thousands of U.S. Citizens every year now, many if not most of whom would have been cured and saved 70 years ago in "snake pits" such as Mrs. Cunningham's "Juniper Hill State Hospital." Sure, demolishing all of these hospitals across out land has over-stuffed our prisons while freeing up a little more taxpayer money for government graft. By the same token, just think of how much more swill will fill that pig trough if they bull-doze all the state universities!

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Spikeopath

The Snake Pit is directed by Anatole Litvak and adapted to screenplay by Frank Partos, Millen Brand and Arthur Laurents from the novel written by Mary Jane Ward. It stars Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Celeste Holm, Glenn Langan, Helen Craig, Leif Erickson and Beulah Bondi. Music is by Alfred Newman and cinematography by Leo Tover.Olivia de Havilland plays Virginia Stuart Cunningham, and film chronicles Virgina's time and treatment in the Juniper Hill Mental Institution."It was strange, here I was among all those people, and at the same time I felt as if I were looking at them from some place far away, the whole place seemed to me like a deep hole and the people down in it like strange animals, like... like snakes, and I've been thrown into it... yes... as though... as though I were in a snake pit..."It's still today one of the most potent and important screen explorations of mental illness and its treatment. Backed by an astonishing performance by de Havilland, Litvak and an initially sceptical Darryl F. Zanuck (20th Century Fox supremo), led the way in bringing to the masses the subject and to treat it with stark realism. Quite often it's harrowing as entertainment, with Virgina's fractured mind laid bare under duress of treatments now seen as antiquated.It's true enough to say that some of the story features simplistic motives and means, these come as a product of the time the picture was made. But with Litvak (Sorry, Wrong Number) and his principal crew members researching the subject thoroughly, the end result is an incredible blend of dramatic heartfelt suspense and rays of humanistic hope. As Virginia weaves her way through this maze of psychological discord, with flashbacks constantly adding layers to the character's make up, Litvak presents a fascinating portrait of asylum life and the people who resided there, both as patients and staff.Some scenes are brilliantly crafted, either as visual expansions of the story or as shards of light in a dark world. One sequence sees Litvak track "dancing" silhouettes on a wall, and to then do a pull away shot upwards to reveal Virginia in the snake pit, the impact is stark in its magnificence. Another sequence takes place at a dance for the patients, where a rendition of Antonín Dvorák's "Goin' Home" turns into something quite beautiful, a unison of profound optimism that strikes the heart like the calm after a storm.Leo Tover's (The Day The Earth Stood Still) crisp black and white photography is perfectly in sync with the material, and Newman's (Wuthering Heights) magnificent score bounces around the institution like a spectral observer. With de Havilland doing her tour de force, it could be easy to forget the great work of Genn and Stevens, the former is a bastion of assured calmness as Dr. Mark Kik, the latter as Virgina's husband Robert underplays it to perfection and he gives us a character to root for wholesale.It has to be viewed in the context of the era it was made, but its influence on future movies and awareness of mental health treatments in the real world should not be understated. A brilliant production that demands to be seen. 9/10

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sunznc

Olivia DeHavilland does a remarkable job in this film about a woman who suffers a nervous breakdown and can no longer function. She is placed in an asylum for the mentally deranged/disturbed. We are allowed inside the asylums of that day and see the day to day care of these patients.The acting is fantastic by everyone. Even the actors that have small parts. The direction great. Some of the dialog is of course dated as we don't talk like this anymore. Now we say "yeah, huh, what was that?" But here is a film that really drags you in to the scene. No mind-numbing CGI or computer graphics. This is gritty, hands on filmmaking. Olivia DeHavilland's facial expressions are perfect in every scene. She makes the best of everything she's given. Don't miss this one.

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edwagreen

A memorable 1948 film with Olivia DeHavilland giving a N.Y. City film critic winning performance. It would take someone of Jane Wyman's caliber in "Johnny Belinda" to have beaten her out. That was some year for best actress nominees. We also had Barbara Stanwyck, Irene Dunne and Ingrid Bergman for "Sorry Wrong Number," and "I Remember Mama," as well as "Joan of Arc."The film depicts a shocking indictment of our mental hospitals for that period of time.DeHavilland was outstanding here. The various nuances that she showed as a mentally unbalanced person were phenomenal. She got fantastic support from Mark Stevens, her husband in the film as well as Leo Genn, phenomenal as the doctor who understood her.Ruth Donnelly, Beulah Bondi and particularly Betsy Blair were terrific as mentally ill women. Amazing that Celeste Holm, who had won the supporting Oscar the year before for "Gentleman's Agreement," had such a small role in this film.The picture brings out how terrible mental illness can be and the desperation of those trying to get better.As we saw with "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," there are plenty of nurses who should not have been in psychiatric wards.It takes compassion and understanding to unlock the mystery to mental illnesses. The picture aptly did that.

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