Word: pit
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Thus far, audiences have shown one remarkable reaction. Many have tittered at times, or laughed out loud at the grotesquely pathetic antics of the mad. This laughter is probably no more than a release from nervous strain. In a sense, occasional nervous laughter at The Snake Pit is a measure of its excellence: U.S. moviegoers are not usually troubled by overdoses of reality. The Snake Pit suggests that Hollywood itself might even be cured some day of its own mild schizophrenia, which has made it live for so long in a world of fancy. It also suggests-at a time...
...point that schizophrenia is something that "can happen to anybody." And Virginia's cure, once she turns the corner, seems suspiciously quick, easy and well-timed for a happy ending (in reality, she might very likely suffer a relapse). But with all its minor faults, The Snake Pit is an important motion picture. One of its notable achievements is that it establishes Olivia de Havilland not so much as a star, a dubious title she already held, but as an actress...
...while she listens meekly) is that she needs a firm hand. He watches over her, keeps an eye on her business and social engagements, sees that she gets enough sleep, discourages overwork. She rarely stops acting (or rehearsing) when she leaves the set. During the shooting of The Snake Pit she practiced her screams so convincingly at home that soon all Hollywood was abuzz with the story that that man Goodrich was beating his wife. To disprove it, Goodrich finally took to sitting in the patio in full view of the neighbors while Olivia went on screaming inside...
...chooses her roles with meticulous care (she has read and rejected over 100 stories this year). She has just finished The Heiress for Paramount. Her great ambition is to play Juliet on the stage (Max Reinhardt's suggestion for her). She is frankly delighted with The Snake Pit: "Thank God that...
...Note of Hope. Snake Pit's merit as a movie may be generally acknowledged; its value as an enlightening document may be questioned. Some hard-to-please movie critics have suggested that the picture might be harmful to the young and to the emotionally unstable, and that it should therefore be shown only to limited audiences. Psychiatrists, who have deplored most Hollywood explorations (and vulgarizations) of their specialty, disagree; they commend The Snake Pit in terms which studio pressagents could not improve on. It has even been seriously suggested that the picture be shown to borderline cases and patients...