Possessed Movie Download

8 / 10

She was the original Fatal Attraction…
If Glenn Close’s Alex Forrest had gotten the Joan Crawford treatment in the 1987 thriller “Fatal Attraction”, we’d get more of an examination into her mind rather than the Alfred Hitchcock “Psycho” finale we were stuck with. You don’t get any closer than Close with Joan Crawford as the ultimate psychopath, a woman of multiple emotional problems that make her a sad case to behold.

This was the second film called “Possessed” that Crawford made, and in each case, the word “possessed” had a different meaning. The 1931 film, her first chance to utilize her famous 1930’s MGM glamor after several years as a jazz baby, had her being possessed by a man (Clark Gable), but here, “possessed” indicates the demons inserted into her mind which have made her the picture postcard for “Diary of a Mad White Woman”. She’s also a nurse, so there will be comparisons to Kathy Bates’ character in “Misery” as well. She takes care of the equally mad heard but not seen wife of Raymond Massey, a doctor himself involved in his own hell. When she allegedly commits suicide, Crawford remains on, taking care of Massey’s young son and fighting with his older daughter (Geraldine Brooks) whom Crawford eventually becomes convinced is taking away the love of her old flame, Van Heflin, who gave her the heeve-ho months before. Like any mental illness, it subsides for a while, and Crawford settles into a seemingly happy marriage with Massey, but then Heflin returns, and all of the demons start up all over again.

Yes, Crawford does go over the top in this one, but here, it is part of the character, having fits that seem to make no sense-at first. As you see what this woman is going through in a story told through flashback, you empathize with her. Crawford is first seen wearing no makeup roaming the streets of L.A. (in heels of course) and ends up in the hospital where her back story unfolds. Van Heflin is supposed to be the one to blame for her going “Berserk” but it really goes beyond that. He is not a villain, only a bit of a scoundrel, and he does let her down gently. Raymond Massey provides much tenderness as the man she admits she doesn’t love when she agrees to marry him which shows his versatility considering all of the villains he’s played. Geraldine Brooks allows us to see the kindness in her initially resentful daughter, only resorting to distrust of Crawford when it is pushed to that.

This is without a doubt Crawford’s finest performance (closedly followed by “Humoresque”), more layered than her Oscar Winning role in “Mildred Pierce” and by allowing herself to show us what she looks like underneath all that pancake, Crawford proved she was an actress first and a star (a very close) second.Read More