The Snake Pit (1948)
…………………………………………………
The Snake Pit Movie Review
The Snake Pit is a 1948 drama film directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Olivia de Havilland. It’s definitely one of the darkest, most difficult to watch films from this period.
………………………………………………….
“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“
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
It is about a woman who ends up in a mental asylum and tries to get better with the help of her doctor while the rest of the place is in a much more serious condition than hers. It’s most definitely a difficult, at times even painful watch, but a highly important, even necessary one nonetheless. That’s because the film was the first to seriously deal with mental illness and mostly in a professional manner. It also influenced change in those institutions which makes it even groundbreaking.
Now, that’s not to say that the film is perfect because clearly it isn’t. Yes, some of the pseudo-science bothered me here. Especially, the hypnosis and the doctor’s way of extracting the painful truth from the past obviously felt unrealistic, exaggerated and done in a typical 40s manner which brings to mind Hitchcock’s ‘Spellbound’. The film definitely is overly simplified at times.
But other than that problem, the rest of the picture is amazing. I particularly liked the character interactions and relationships, especially the sweet one between the doctor and the protagonist which was so well portrayed. The titular sequence steals the show as the most striking moment in the film, but I also loved how they portrayed the doctors and nurses realistically – some are horrible, others are really nice. I also really liked the happy ending.
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
Mark Stevens is solid as Robert, though a bit underutilized. Leo Genn is excellent as charming, highly likable Dr. Kik. Nurse Davis is a terrifying villain and I also really liked some of the other patients and I found the relationship between Virginia and them endearing and mostly wonderful. The characterization and acting are strong across the board.
The standout player is naturally Olivia de Havilland. She not only steals the show, but this is honestly her movie and her moment to shine. She was awesome in films like ‘The Heiress’, but this just might be her career-best performance. That’s because it’s her most mature, most incredibly difficult role both physically and emotionally. She managed to pull it off thanks to tremendous dedication and preparation along with unprecedented talent, leading to the performance of the ages. It’s ridiculous that she didn’t get that Oscar.
The Snake Pit was nominated for six Oscars and it deserved all of those nominations. It deserved to win for sound recording as the film sounds amazing for its time. The score is also excellent and accompanying the mood of the film so well. The movie is intriguingly noirish at times. The Best Picture nomination was much deserved too as was the script one.
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
The script is terrific and the dialogue is mostly very sophisticated and realistic. The film is actually much more realistic than you would think from a 1940s film dealing with such a serious issue. Full props should also go to Anatole Litvak who directed the movie with such confidence, grace and professionalism and again he deserved his nomination too. The entire movie is very dramatic and also very well paced, holding the viewer’s attention throughout its runtime. It’s also amazingly shot with stark black-and-white photography.
The Snake Pit is at times a bit too simplified, but mostly a realistic, sophisticated and groundbreaking movie when it comes to its subject of mental health. It’s a dramatic and highly difficult to watch, but necessary and important look at 40s mental asylums with strong direction, script, pacing and a phenomenal score and cinematography. The standout is of course reliably amazing Olivia de Havilland who owns her immensely difficult role and gives what might be her career-best performance
