The Snake Pit (1948) User Reviews

Breakdown

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 22 August 2005]

Hollywood in the forties was not exactly ready to deal with subjects such as the one depicted in "The Snake Pit". It must have taken a lot of courage to get this project started since it dealt with a serious problem of mental illness, something not mentioned in good company, let alone in a film that took the viewer into the despair the protagonist is experiencing.

Anatole Litvak, the director, got a tremendous performance from its star Olivia de Havilland. If there was anyone to portrait Virginia Stuart Cunningham, Ms. de Havilland was the right choice for it. The actress is the main reason for watching the movie, even after all these years.

The director was responsible for the realistic way in which this drama plays on screen. The scenes in the asylum are heart wrenching, especially the electro shock treatments Virginia undergoes. At the end, the kind Dr. Kik discovers a deeply rooted problem in Virginia's mind that was the cause for what she was experiencing.

Leo Genn is the other notable presence in the film playing Dr. Kik. He makes the best out of his role and plays well against the sickly woman he has taken an interest in helping. Mark Stevens is seen as Virginia's husband, the man that stood by his wife all the time. In smaller roles we see Lee Patrick, Natalie Schafer, Leif Erickson and Celeste Holm, and Betsy Blair.

"The Snake Pit" is a document about mental illness treated with frankness by Anatole Litvak and his team.

....a ground-breaking film....

[boy-13 · 8/10 · 5 July 1999]

Considered brutal and scary in the day of its initial release, "The Snake Pit" was a ground-breaking film with its look into the horrors of a mental institution. Giving the film its vibrancy and life is the elegant Olivia De Havilland. This fine actress goes to town in this fascinating portrait of a young woman, Virginia Stuart, who, soon after marriage to the handsome Robert Cunningham (Mark Stevens) , descends into a world of paranoia and insanity. He takes her to an institution, but conditions there are foreign to Virginia. This Hollywoodization of life in a mental hospital, though tame compared to reality, still packs a punch. We follow this delusional woman as she tries to come to grips with where she is, falls in love with her kind-hearted doctor, Mark Kirk (Leo Genn), befriends other patients, and tries to hide out in the hospital. Celeste Holm has a minor, but welcome role as Grace, a fellow patient who takes a liking to and protects the confused Virginia.

What a score for the lovely De Havilland! She really gets to show her stuff in this emotional role, and got an Oscar-nomination for her efforts. And kudos to director Anatole Litvak for a wonderful, but hard-to-take visit into a woman's not-all-there mind and her institutionalized world.

Mental Illness

[gavin6942 · 8/10 · 15 March 2013]

Virginia Cunningham (Olivia de Havilland) finds herself in a state insane asylum... and cannot remember how she got there. In flashback, her husband Robert relates their courtship, marriage, and her developing symptoms.

Stephen King says this film terrified him as a child, because he felt that he could go crazy at any moment (and worst of all, not even be aware that he was crazy). And, indeed, there is something terrifying about this film. While many films have taken place in mental hospital, I think very few really address how normal most mentally ill people are most of the time, or the fine balance between sane and insane.

I do not know much about Olivia de Havilland, but she really pulled all the stops here. If she is capable of this level of intensity, she probably should have been a bigger star than she was.

An unusual movie for the times of 1948.

[julianhwescott · 10/10 · 19 March 2001]

"The Snake Pit" is based on a true story written by Mary Jane Ward in the hopes it would bring to the attention of the people, the horrors that a person faced in a mental institution at the time, pre-1948. The character, Virginia, was based on Miss Ward's own experience in a mental hospital. Even though the film was nominated for various Oscars, it only won for the musical score. I think that was probably because at the time mental illness was considered taboo. Olivia deHavilland acted the character of Virginia brilliantly as did everyone else in the film and Betsy Blair in her portrayal of Hester looked like she was completely and totally beyond help. Just look at her eyes. You will see what I mean. To this very day, I think it is the most haunting and most accurate of all films that have been released on the treatment of emotional disorders. I think all characters were portrayed as Mary Jane Ward wanted them to be portrayed, as I studied her book and watched the film while in high school in the early 1960's. Great book and a great film not afraid to show the abuse by certain medical personnel.

movie making at it's best

[carol61frances · 10/10 · 7 February 2004]

I was in my early teens when I saw this movie and it has left an impression on me ever since. It was probably one of the best movies ever made on mental health, then or today. The actors were all great in their parts and believable. I just wish that it was possible to track down the song Going Home in the movie. This must one of the best kept secrets in the movie industry. Ever time I think of family and home I think of that song and it pulls on my heart. Everyone should see this movie because it helps understand the plight of the mentally ill.

fANTASTIC REALISTIC MOVIE

[virob · 11 January 2003]

The beginning of this movie has Virginia Cunningham sitting on bench but her not knowing where she is. She soon finds out that she is in a mental hospital. She doesn't know why she's there. She doesn't even know her husband when he appears. The only allegiance she can form is with Dr.Kik,who she trusts. This is a time when mental patients were treated horribly. May 6th seems to be the underlying problem with her mental condition. Everyone she lost seems to revolve around this date, and on the out side, she gets completely paranoid when she knows this date is coming. Through Dr. Kik's compassion and shock treatments & psychotherapy, she gets to understand why she became ill. But,that's the beginning and end of the picture. What happens in the middle(all contained in the hospital) is a memorable performance given by Olvia DeHavilland, the treatment she gets, the other patients, the nurses,the darkness of the hospital all add up to, I think one of the best movies made.

Fantastic performance of Olivia De Havilland

[antoniocasaca123 · 7/10 · 27 March 2018]

Well-intentioned film, merit in the way it shows us what psychiatric institutions were like at the time and the fantastic performance of Olivia De Havilland, in the role of Virginia. However, the film fails in how it "solves" the problem of Virginia's disease. After all, even excessive, sequences of Virginia's forgetfulness and confusion, her "cure" is resolved abruptly, very "in haste," and unconvincing. It was worth the director little ability to give credibility to Virginia's improvement through Dr. Kik's psychoanalysis. It was all very fast, the previous development of the film, sometimes even too slow, did not leave this anticipation so fast and implausible based on 1 or 2 flashbacks from when Virginia was a child. Still, a movie that deserves to be seen by the virudes I mentioned above.

A difficult subject treated & acted brilliantly.

[dougandwin · 10/10 · 2 July 2004]

Firstly I must say that I still find it hard to believe that Olivia de Havilland did not win the Academy Award for her performance in this film. It was a tour-de-force achievement by her in what was an extremely demanding and difficult role. As Virginia Cunningham, she had to go through many stages of depression, temporary loss of sanity, learning of her horrible environment, and gradual recovery - and each of these phases was performed with sheer brilliance and has been underrated by the critics in many cases. The supporting cast of Mark Stevens, Celeste Holm and Leo Genn were excellent but certainly were over-shadowed by the star. The scene where all the patients were at the dance, and an inmate sang "Going Home" was extremely poignant. For this film to be made at that time was a triumph for Darryl F. Zanuck.

The Snake Pit

[jboothmillard · 7/10 · 29 September 2015]

This was a film I found listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, the title suggested nothing particular in a story or plot to me, but the leading actress was a good draw for me to watch as well, from Oscar nominated director Anatole Litvak (Anastasia). Basically Virginia Stuart Cunningham (Oscar nominated Olivia de Havilland) was an outwardly ordinary young woman, but all of the sudden she has found herself in Juniper Hill State Hospital, a mental institution, and she has no memory of how she got there. Through flashbacks we see that Virginia her courtship with Robert (Mark Stevens) in Chicago, they part for a short time before he moves to New York and they are reunited, she initially refuses marriage for some time, eventually they do get married, but soon after she begins to act erratically. Virginia's growing symptoms include her becoming apparently schizophrenic, hearing voices, and going into states of psychosis, going so out of touch with reality that she didn't recognise her husband. Dr. Mark Kik (Leo Genn) works with Virginia, putting her through torturous electric shock therapy and other forms of therapy including hypnotherapy, the mental hospital is organised on a spectrum of "levels", the better a patient gets the lower level will be achieved. In Level One however she encounters the cruel Nurse Davis (Helen Craig) who is jealous of Dr. Kik's professional interest and what she sees as excessive concern for Virginia, she is so severe with her that she drives Virginia into having an outburst that causes her to be expelled from the first level and being put into a straight jacket. This setback does not stop Dr. Kik, his car continues and Virgina's mental state does improve, over time Virginia gains insight and self- understanding, and through question tests she is able to remember personal information and facts she perhaps would not have before, in the end Virginia is finally able to leave the hospital to return to normal life. Also starring Celeste Holm as Grace, Glenn Langan as Dr. Terry, Leif Erickson as Gordon, Beulah Bondi as Mrs. Greer, Lee Patrick as Asylum Inmate, Isabel Jewell as Asylum Inmate, Victoria Horne as Asylum Inmate, Tamara Shayne as Asylum Inmate, Grace Poggi as Asylum Inmate, Howard Freeman as Dr. Curtis and Natalie Schafer as Mrs. Stuart. de Havilland is brilliant at being emotionally and mentally unstable, but also sympathetic and traumatised, this was really harrowing and extremely controversial film for its time, and it still remains so, seeing both the story of a woman having a nervous breakdown and the ways and methods of the hospital to cure her and other inmates, with highly emotional and traumatic scenes, and touching moments too, especially the inmates singing "Going Home", this film will definitely make an impact, a fantastic psychological drama. It won the Oscar for Best Sound, and it was nominated for Best Picture, Best Writing, Screenplay and Best Music for Alfred Newman. Very good!

Imperfect, but far ahead of its time

[ecjones1951 · 8/10 · 24 August 2006]

Year by year, the stigma of mental illness in the U.S. is easing, but it is still with us nearly sixty years after the release of "The Snake Pit." That a major Hollywood studio was willing to address such a frightening and misunderstood issue in 1948 in a sensitive and reasonably intelligent way is remarkable.

Although the film is imperfect, I think it is a fairly accurate portrayal of treatments, conditions in state mental facilities and attitudes towards mental illness in the late 1940s. What makes "The Snake Pit" work as well as it does is the truly extraordinary work of Olivia de Havilland as Virginia, and Leo Genn as the benevolent, determined Dr. Kik. Their characters have to work with what mental patients and their doctors had at the time, which was precious little. Virginia is fortunate enough to have a husband, played sensitively by Mark Stevens, who sees no shame in seeking treatment for his wife. This seems unusual for a man of that time, but he obviously loves her and he is patience personified.

Apart from months and months of confinement to a state-run hospital, Virginia's course of treatment consists of electric shock treatments (now known as electro-convulsive therapy -- this software will not allow me to call it by its initials as is standard practice in the mental health community) and "truth" serum to aid her in recovering past memories. This was a routine course of therapy for the mentally ill at the time. The two cancelled each other out, however; the primary side effect of shock treatment is loss of short term memory, and truth serum is more a product of wishful thinking than an effective therapeutic method.

Dr. Kik reduces the number of shock treatments he has scheduled for Virginia, yet one particularly sadistic nurse attempts to prep her for another, presumably to make Virginia even duller and more listless than she has already become. Making patients compliant by force and induced trauma to the brain was the extent of professional psychiatric care for decades. Psychotrophic drugs (which are true miracles) and talk therapy, which when used in tandem have given millions back their lives, were years away. Actually, by the standards of the time, the facility and staff of the hospital to which Virginia is confined are fairly humane.

The ultimate diagnosis of Virginia's illness is a classic Freudian guilt complex, arising out of events beyond her control. Armed with this facile explanation and with no further therapy available after leaving the hospital except to return should her symptoms reoccur, Virginia is reunited with her husband and sent on her way. But not before assuming the role of wounded healer in a couple of touching scenes with a catatonic patient played by Betsy Blair, that ring quite true. The penultimate scene of "The Snake Pit" takes place at a dance for the patients. It's awkward and uncomfortable to watch until a patient (Jan Clayton) takes the stage and begins singing "Going Home," a lovely spiritual the theme of which Dvorak incorporated in his "New World" symphony. Her voice trembles until she begins to listen to the words she's singing. As the entire gymnasium full of people begins to sing with her, the room begins to swell with a haunting optimism. It is a little-known but profound and inspiring movie moment.

Another meaty role for Olivia de Havilland...

[moonspinner55 · 7/10 · 18 February 2007]

For such an apparently polite, soft-spoken actress, Olivia de Havilland certainly received her share of juicy roles for women in Hollywood's heyday, and this melodrama is one of her finest efforts. A troubled, mentally unstable housewife is institutionalized and makes an arduous and brave journey back to reality. Frank, serious depiction of mental illness is definitely downbeat, but still ranks as one of the best movies on the subject of insanity. No camp overtones here, as the direction by Anatole Litvak (who also co-produced) is careful yet gripping, and the screenplay (by Millen Brand and Frank Partos--with uncredited help from Arthur Laurents--from Mary Jane Ward's book) is exceptionally well-written. Olivia is in peak form. *** from ****

As groundbreaking as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

[bkoganbing · 10/10 · 6 July 2005]

The Snake Pit opened to deservedly rave reviews about the subject matter and Olivia DeHavilland's performance. She lost that year in the Oscar Sweepstakes to Jane Wyman's Johnny Belinda. That performance by Wyman was also groundbreaking and probably that and the fact that DeHavilland had won the year before for To Each His Own prevented her from copping the big prize that year. She did get the New York Film Critic's Award for The Snake Pit though.

Seeing her in the Snake Pit and the accolades she got must have been of great satisfaction to Olivia DeHavilland because of the fights she had to get roles other than a crinoline heroine.

In 1948 seeing stuff like electroshock was a real dose of reality to the movie going public. Today it's not used as much, back then it was new and considered a panacea for all that ails you.

I'm surprised that more reviewers haven't compared The Snake Pit to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Both were ground breaking films for their time and Jack Nicholson got his first Oscar for that. I guess the crazy act is always noticed by the Academy.

Leo Genn as Doctor "Kick" had one of the great speaking voices in the world. Besides DeHavilland, he's the best one in this. I can never tire of listening to him.

56 years later this film will still grab you and hold your attention.

Is Freud Right For You?

[Putzberger · 7/10 · 12 December 2010]

"The Snake Pit" is a 2-hour infomercial for the then-budding (in 1948) field of psychoanalysis. Its view of mental illness was probably very enlightened for the time but seems positively quaint and, really, rather sexist by modern standards. Still, it features an excellent performance by Olivia de Havilland as a woman committed to an state mental hospital. Olivia resorts to histrionics in only a couple of scenes, and elsewhere finds many different ways to play a character who is not quite "right" - she'll be tired and dull-witted one moment, agitated and demanding the next, compassionate and troubled the next. In short, her character is schizophrenic, but she manages to make her sympathetic and complex without being pathetic. The pathos is left to the other patients in the asylum -- every character actress in Hollywood is granted a bit of screen time, and they all make the most of it. The best is the old lady who keeps a running commentary about how sick all her fellow inmates are -- she's funny enough to be a bit player in a Marx Brothers movie, but here she's quite disturbing.

Still, to enjoy Livvy and the loony ladies, you have to endure a pretty contrived plot. Virginia, as played by Olivia, starts having psychotic episodes shortly after she marries the most saintly man on Earth, Robert (played by the justly forgotten Mark Stevens). After Virginia committed, the most patient psychoanalyst in history, Dr. Mark Kik, begins piecing together the reasons for her breakdown on the assumption that understanding the source of her disorder will be the best way to cure it. Hence "The Snake Pit" is structured like a detective story, and the mystery, when revealed, isn't all that satisfying (although it does leave open the possibility that Virginia was bored senseless by her stiff of a husband). Still, the filmmakers are to be commended for their indictment of the mental-health system as brutal and inhumane. (And in truth, they make a far better case against it than "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" three decades later.) One wishes they hadn't been quite so blinkered by then-current prejudices, which maintained that poor mothering is the source of all evil and a woman needs a healthy relationship with a man to be rational, but on balance, "The Snake Pit" is a pretty brave film.

Not An Easy Movie To Sit Through

[ccthemovieman-1 · 5/10 · 10 August 2006]

Yikes, this was interesting but too depressing. I found the first hour just fine, and Olivia de Havilland does a fine job in the lead role, but to me it wore thin after an hour. The fascination of the mentally ill woman began wearing off and it just got to be too depressing to watch for the second hour. It wasn't just that he was mentally disturbed but she was so unhappy and the mental institution wasn't a bunch of laughs, either. There are a lot of unhappy people in this unhappy story. It's not an easy film to sit through.

Mark Stevens plays de Havilland's patient (meaning long-suffering) husband and Leo Genn is pleasant as the caring doctor.

I don't know how accurate this film is of mental hospitals back then but I doubt you would see a doctor, as was pictured here at a review board session, wave a nasty finger in front of a patient's face. That was unrealistic. No doctor would torment a patient like that in front of all of his peers.

In all, too depressing a melodrama for me but I am sure others would find this very entertaining.

Olivia Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

[wes-connors · 8/10 · 17 May 2013]

In a beautiful and serene park setting, disheveled Olivia de Havilland (as Virginia Stuart) sits on a bench talking to herself. As it turns out, she is a 24-year-old mental patient. Believing she is in a prison, Ms. De Havilland does not recognize loving husband Mark Stevens (as Robert Cunningham). In a flashback, he begins to tell de Havilland's story. Later, she is able to elaborate events for kindly doctor Leo Genn (as Mark Kik). Unhappy events from de Havilland's childhood could provide a clue to the origin of her mental problems and put her on the road to recovery...

This film was considered shocking for revealing the despicable conditions mental patients suffered in institutions. There is a prison-like environment and the soundtrack music horrifically pounds while de Havilland receives electro-shock treatment. Other than that, the conditions are relatively good. De Havilland receives excellent care from "Doctor Kik" and the facility is spacious and well-maintained. The staff is commendable but for exacting nurse Helen Craig (as Miss Davis), who delivers exceptionally in one of the film's many small supporting roles. There are dozens of others...

If extras could still participate in "Academy Award" voting, Anatole Litvak's "The Snake Pit" might have won more than one of its six nominations. Still, de Havilland's remarkable work won her several of filmdom's most respected 1948 "Best Actress" honors, including the "New York Film Critics" and "National Board of Review" awards. Generally remembered for lighter, more secondary roles in the 1930s, de Havilland would follow-up with a most stunning performance in "The Heiress" (1949). Her acting in the 1940s made de Havilland one of the decade's finest dramatic actresses.

******** The Snake Pit (11/4/48) Anatole Litvak ~ Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, Helen Craig

I'll tell you where it's gonna end, Miss Somerville... When there are more sick ones than well ones, the sick ones will lock the well ones up.

[hitchcockthelegend · 9/10 · 12 September 2013]

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

Landmark Film

[harry-76 · 14 March 2003]

Groundbreaking 1948 production on mental illness and its treatment in state institutions, "The Snake Pit" maintains interest today.

Thanks to the lively direction of Anatole Litvak, good scripting, and the enormous talent of Olivia deHavilland as Virginia, this film makes an impressive statement.

Mark Stevens is always a dependable leading man, and Leo Genn a welcome addition to any dramatic scenario.

While the success of state-run institutions of the past were a decidedly mixed bag, today's situation is no improvement. It certainly pays to take charge of one's self, life a healthy lifestyle, and laugh a lot!

Watch the re-cut version if you have a choice!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 1 March 2018]

NOTE: The following review is based on the full-length American version. The skilfully re-cut Australian version is a much better picture.

COMMENT: Olivia De Havilland's performance is faulty and too obviously contrived, though she does seem real enough most of the time, unlike young Lora Lee Michel who convinces none of the time. Mark Stevens is none too solid in support and Leo Genn is too conventionally re-assuring. Fortunately Stevens' role is small but Genn's is large and his too-pat doctor is unconvincing enough to seriously fault the film as a whole. Celeste Holm has a funny role. She disappears from the film without explanation. Some of the patients are too much like caricatures to be believable. There is an obvious straining after effects in the acting, in the too-contrived script, too much weight on boring or unconvincing or stagily written, delivered and directed dialogue (note the scene in which all the kinky patients get a chance to display their particular brand of lunacy individually, each giving a turn one after the other like so many vaudeville acts). Contrivances in the plot ensure that the heroine gets a chance to sample all the wards, patients, nurses, doctors and treatments. These twists were probably not so obvious in the original novel but the mechanics are very patent in the film. Still director Litvak and his photographer and the art directors are at their best in the broad effects. The De H. story is too weighed down by her unsympathetic character, the too great a weight on dialogue, the clichés, and the director's penchant for unflattering (De H.) or too flattering close-ups (Genn). The main plot just isn't interesting enough because the De H. character herself isn't interesting or sympathetic enough. Oddly, the fact that she is so unglamorous weighs against her! If the doctors had been less cliched, the script might have got away with it, but as it is, the formula is not right. The film as a whole does not succeed, despite the power and the impact of many sequences. Litvak is at his best with groups, using effective crane and dolly shots, but otherwise the handling tends to look like superior TV.

Olivia De Havilland: actress extraordinaire!

[dbdumonteil · 8/10 · 4 March 2007]

Anatole Litvak 's interest in madness didn't begin with "the snake pit" In one of his thirties French movies,"Coeur de Lilas" ,one sequence depicted a person gone crazy and it was already impressive.

Some will say times have changed and the hospital which Litvak depicts is a thing of the past.Sure it is.But what could he have done?Just have a look at the scenes in an insane asylum in Mankiewicz ' s "Suddenly last Summer"(1959) or those in Georges Franju's "La Tete Contre les Murs"(1960)?A decade later ,mentally ill people were still regarded as monsters.That scene in "Suddenly..." where Elizabeth Taylor accidentally ends up with the raving mad women and which is not in the original Tennessee Williams' play was certainly influenced by "the snake pit" .Some will say the Freudian methods are childish and simplistic .They are for sure.But have a look at Gregory Peck's treatment in "Spellbound" (1945) or De Havilland's in "Dark Mirror" (1946).And I love all those movies I mention.60 years on.Think of it.People will not argue when they watch a school or a prison of long ago.That's why I do not understand the "It has not worn well" which too many critics (mostly European) use when they talk about Litvak's 1948 film.

One thing which has worn well is De Havilland's performance.After being Erroll Flynn's fiancée in (excellent) movies by Walsh or Curtiz ,she tackled much more ambitious parts after the war.She was never afraid to make herself ugly

or old ("the heiress" "hold back the dawn"),she and her peer Bette Davis were actresses ahead of their time ,not just pretty faces as too many contemporary actresses are today.It's no wonder if Davis named Meryl Streep "her successor" .

In "snake pit" De Havilland's acting should be studied by future actresses .She can express everything ,and the moments when she becomes a human wreck down in a "snake pit" (the snakes might be all those arms and hands)are the most impressive.

Disturbing look at psychotherapy and shattered lives awaiting a cure

[movieman-200 · 7/10 · 30 August 2005]

Anatole Litvak's "The Snake Pit" charts the atypical view of psychoanalysis prevalent in most classic films – a.k.a - everything is linked to one's childhood trauma, repression and guilt. That shortcoming aside, "The Snake Pit" is a stark, often disturbing, melodrama about life inside a mental asylum. It charts the dementia of Virginia (Olivia de Havilland), a woman suffering from an emerging psychosis. De Havilland certainly delivers a stellar and shockingly dramatic performance in this apocalyptic vision of insanity under horrendous conditions. Leo Genn plays the sympathetic psychiatrist to whom Virginia's mental health is entrusted. Although it is through his care and patience that Virginia's psychosis is finally laid to rest, the film remains a sobering and critical view of the inner mental anguish that, more often than not, is incurable and debilitating.

THE TRANSFER: Troublesome. The gray scale is presented at a well balanced level. Blacks are generally solid. But age related artifacts are sometimes glaringly present. Film grain, as well as edge enhancement and pixelization are present for an image quality that is rarely smooth and only moderately easy on the eyes. The audio has been cleaned up and is nicely presented.

EXTRAS: Fox Studio Line is about as skimpy on extras as is the rest of their output of classic films on DVD. One wonders why the distinction is made between "Studio" titles and just regular releases. Here we get a sparse audio commentary, some stills and theatrical trailers. Big deal!

Bottom Line: I recommend this film for its performances. The DVD is not up to reference quality or anywhere near what it should be looking like.

Into the harrowing snake pit

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 7 August 2020]

Can't believe it took me so long to watch 'The Snake Pit', and can't think of a reason why when it had all the reasons for watching it as with most of the films watched by me. The subject, based upon a semi-autobiographical novel, was very daring back then as was its approach to it. The cast is such a great one (hard to go wrong with Olivia De Havilland, Celeste Holm and Leo Genn), Anatole Litvak did a lot of good to brilliant films and Alfred Newman seldom disappointed when it came to film scoring.

'The Snake Pit' is an outstanding film in every regard and its courageousness in attacking such a hard subject with the amount of impact it did is truly admired. Have not seen a film this harrowing for a long time, by both late 40s standards and today's) and it is one of my most emotionally powerful recent film viewings. Being somebody myself with mental health problems this struck a chord with me. Some may consider the portrayal of the medical department "old-fashioned" today, but that wasn't an issue with me when everything else was so brilliant. 'The Snake Pit' is a contender for Litvak's best film, has one of Newman's best scores and has one of De Havilland's best performances.

Visually, 'The Snake Pit' is beautifully made. It is very beautifully and atmospherically shot with some very creatively vivid camerawork that adds to and even enhances the claustrophobia and seething atmosphere. Personally do not think Litvak's direction was too strident, any harshness that it had was not overdone and was effective in showing such a difficult subject so uncompromisingly instead of any sugar-coating. Newman's score is one of his most haunting and suitably unsettles and the sound quality adds to the eeriness.

It is a very intelligently scripted film that is both eerily seething and movingly sympathetic. Not an easy balance to achieve and even either or is hard to do, but 'The Snake Pit' is one of the few films to nail it. The story is hugely compelling and is boldly harrowing for showing how scary mental breakdown is, intelligent in showing the slow recovery process and is also very moving. Much has been said for the heart-wrenching "Going Home" sequence and for good reason, while the realism of the characters and the setting is frightening.

One would be hard pressed to find more moving portrayals of female inmates anywhere on film. De Havilland's performance, authoritative and affecting, is one of her very best, while Celeste Holm and Beulah Bondi are excellent as always. Leo Genn's sympathetic turn is striking too.

Summing up, wonderful. 10/10

Medication Time

[tomronning50 · 7/10 · 19 July 2020]

Great acting by Olivia deHavilland . . . drags a little sometimes . . . I think about 10 minutes is a rendition of "Goin' Home"

Fabulous! Excellent acting. When actors could really act.

[sunznc · 9/10 · 17 June 2013]

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.

A Well Done Movie About A Taboo Subject For The Time

[sddavis63 · 7/10 · 19 June 2008]

This portrayal of conditions in a 1948 mental hospital is both interesting and disturbing, and also interesting is the relatively early movie depiction of psychotherapy. Olivia de Haviland put on a really quite brilliant performance as Virginia, a woman institutionalized after suffering a nervous breakdown, who tries to get at the root of her problem through psychotherapy with Dr. Kik, played by Leo Genn, who also put on a completely believable performance in the role. Virginia essentially gets a "tour" of the State Mental Hospital as she moves from ward to ward, from the relatively comfortable Ward 1, from which most patients are expected to be released, to the absolutely horrific Ward 33, which resembles more than anything a group of cages for the truly disturbed. Aside from Kik and his colleague Dr. Terry (Glenn Langan) the staff come across as cold and in many cases uncaring, the most characteristic being Nurse Davis (Helen Craig) and, in perhaps the scene that stands out most to me, Dr. Curtis (Howard Freeman) essentially seeming to be cross-examining her (complete with wagging his finger a couple of inches in front of Virginia's face) at an interview to determine if she's ready to be released. In the movie, one of the reasons Virginia isn't released is that she bit Curtis's wagging finger. If that's a sign of insanity, I must qualify for the designation too because I think in the circumstances I'd have been tempted not just to bite it, but to bite it off! The progression of Virginia's treatment from Dr. Kik is interesting, as is her evolution from helpless patient to a sort of caregiver to her fellow patient, the very disturbed Hester (well portrayed by Betsy Blair). The viewer really is drawn into the story, wanting to know what caused Virginia's breakdown in the first place, and you certainly find yourself rooting for her to get out of this place.

The only sub-par performance I thought was from Mark Stevens as Virginia's husband, Robert. He came across as altogether too unemotional all the way through, including in some of the flashbacks. (I think especially of the scene when he unexpectedly runs into Virginia in New York City after six months with no word from her, and his reaction is a slight smile and "well, hello Virginia." I would have expected a bit more surprise from him.)

Overall, I thought this was a pretty courageous movie, dealing with a subject that in 1948 would still have been relatively taboo, and not afraid to make a statement about the pathetic conditions in the mental hospitals of the day. 7/10

Sanitised treatment

[Lejink · 5/10 · 25 January 2020]

Psychoanalysis was obviously in vogue as a film subject in Hollywood in the 40's but this time it's not tagged on to some apposite thriller pretext as in say, "Spellbound" or "The Locket". Adapted from a contemporary autobiographical novel, it seeks to tell the story of one amongst many everyday female patients suffering from mental illness. Said patient of course is star Olivia de Havilland in the role of Virginia Cunningham, a pretty young would-be writer, who after a whirlwind courtship and marriage to her handsome young auditor husband, starts to exhibit symptoms of paranoia.

It's not long before he's had her committed to a sanitarium where she comes under the benign stewardship of Dr Kik, a good-looking, svelte-voiced psychiatrist played by Leo Genn, who takes a personal interest in her well-being, which being the backward forties sees her almost immediately forced to endure electric shock treatment and hydrotherapy in seemingly ineffective attempts to bring her back to her right mind. Having read stories of the likes of Rosemary Kennedy and Frances Farmer, these scenes are quite appalling to witness, the more so as they seem to be completely commonplace and acceptable practices of the time.

Naturally we see Virginia ensconced with a large number of fellow-patients all exhibiting their own different neuroses, giving the asylum a cliched, almost Bedlam-esque sense of strangeness and danger. I'm pretty sure that not every patient in an asylum exhibits such individually unusual characteristics as the women with whom De Havilland shares her accommodation do and felt this aspect was overdone. Just as cliched is the representation of the white uniformed female nursing staff who are largely depicted as strict, uncaring and unprofessional in their duties and wouldn't you know it, the senior nurse's intolerant behaviour towards De Havilland is explained down to her being in love with the good doctor.

But having dispensed with the afore-mentioned inhumane treatments, of course it's good old Freudian technique (the venerable professor's photograph is prominently featured on the doctor's wall) which gets to the bottom of Olivia's phobia and is unsurprisingly revealed as a father complex, which seems to miraculously heal her in a pat conclusion and allow her to leave for home with her ever-loving and ever-supportive husband, but not before director Litvak gives her a stomach-churning send-off with all the patients singing "Going Home" at the annual dance in the hospital where we see the sexes rather awkwardly mixed for the first time. Even as I appreciated the acting of principals De Havilland and Genn amongst others and some imaginative shots from director Litvak, especially when depicting the snake pit of the title, I couldn't fully connect with what I saw here. I suspect in reality conditions were far harsher for the patients.

Of course any unease on my part may have been the point of the movie, in exposing to public gaze the harsh and often cruel treatment of, in particular, female mental patients in America at that time. However for me, the film somehow seemed to lack any great whistle-blowing zeal and I also felt there were too many concessions to melodrama which only served to imbalance the narrative.

In summary, a well-meaning if ultimately misjudged treatment of a serious subject, one that is if anything even more relevant today than it was then.