Olivia de Havilland enters “The Snake Pit”

The Snake Pit (1948) stars two-time Best Actress winner Olivia de Havilland.

De Havilland is Virginia Cunningham, an aspiring writer and newlywed. Early in their marriage, she begins to wonder about her husband’s love for her. She becomes confused and disorientated, necessitating her commitment to a state mental institution. Her experiences in the institution are harrowing. The movie had a profound impact on the public, and many states reevaluated and changed their treatment of mental patients.

De Havilland heads an impressive cast that also includes Leo Genn as a sympathetic psychiatrist and Mark Stevens as her long-suffering husband. The cast is populated by some of the best-known character actresses of the era, including Beulah Bondi, Ruth Donnelly, and Natalie Schafer. The Snake Pit was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress (de Havilland), and Best Director (Anatole Litvak).

The movie is based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Mary Jane Ward. Ward had a nervous breakdown and spent eight months at Rockland State Hospital in Orangeburg, New York. During her care, she was subjected to scalding baths and electroshock therapy, similar to what the Virginia Cunningham character experiences in the film.

Backstory
Director Litvak demanded that all the character actresses in the film be seasoned professionals. He wanted to be sure they could stand up to a talent like de Havilland. There are dozens of recognizable faces in The Snake Pit, making it a classic movie buff’s delight.

Celeste Holm (left) and Olivia de Havilland in The Snake Pit

Anatol Litvak (1902 – 1974) was a Russian-American film director. He got his start in film in Germany, but as Hitler rose to power, he moved to France and worked in the film industry there. Seeing that the rise of the Nazis wasn’t going to work in his favor, he emigrated to the United States. He had an early success with Mayerling  (1936), leading to a contract to direct at Warner Brothers. There he worked with the studio’s top stars, including Errol Flynn, Bette Davis, Paul Muni, Ida Lupino, Charles Boyer, Ann Sheridan, James Cagney, and John Garfield. Some of Livak’s films include Tovarich (1937), The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938), Castle on the Hudson (1940), City for Conquest (1940), and Sorry, Wrong Number (1948).

Olivia de Havilland (1916 – 2020) was a British-American actress and two-time Best Actress Academy Award winner. De Havilland’s career spanned more than five decades. She was one of the leading actresses of the 1940s and was the last major surviving star from Hollywood’s Golden Age. Some of de Havilland’s classic films include The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), Hold Back the Dawn (1941), To Each His Own (1946), The Snake Pit (1948), and The Heiress (1949).

Click HERE to watch the film at the Internet Archive.

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The Snake Pit trivia

• Thirteen states amended their laws concerning mental health institutions.
• The book on which the movie was based by Mary Jane Ward was a runaway bestseller.
• Antatole Litvak and Olivia de Havilland visited several mental institutions for three months prior to filming.
• De Havilland won the New York Film Critics award in a unanimous decision. It was the first and only time this has happened.
• Ginger Rogers and Ingrid Bergman supposedly turned down the role of Virginia. Olivia de Havilland was producer Daryl F. Zanuck’s first choice for the role.

Discussion questions

• What did you think of Olivia de Havilland’s performance? Was she convincing and worthy of her Best Actress nomination?
• The supporting cast is uniformly excellent. Did any one performer stand out to you?
• Mark Stevens played de Havilland’s husband; what did you think of his performance?
• British actor Leo Genn played Dr. Kik. Was his performance believable?
• Was there a scene that was especially impactful to you?
• Did anything about the film surprise you?

Lucille Ball and Mark Stevens find themselves in “The Dark Corner”

The Dark Corner (1946) is an American film noir directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Lucille Ball, Clifton Webb, William Bendix, and Mark Stevens. The screenplay was by Jay Dratler and Bernard Schoenfeld. The cinematography was by Joseph  (Joe) MacDonald (My Darling Clementine, Yellow Sky, How to Marry a Millionaire, and The Sand Pebbles). The music was by Cyril Mockridge.

Private investigator Bradford Galt (Stevens) has recently moved from San Francisco to New York City to leave a troubled past behind. Galt blames his former partner Tony Jardine (Kurt Kreuger) for all his troubles but is unaware of Jardine’s criminal involvement with Hardy Cathcart (Webb) an art gallery owner. And why is a man in a white suit following Galt?

With the help of secretary Kathleen Stewart (Ball), Galt sets out to discover the truth and clear his name.

Lucille Ball and Mark Stevens

Henry Hathaway (1898 – 1985) was an American film director and producer. Hathaway started working in silent films in 1925 as an assistant to established directors like Victor Fleming and Josef von Sternberg. His first solo directorial effort was Heritage of the Desert (1932) starring Randolph Scott. Hathaway, along with Scott, would be known for western movies. Besides Scott, Hathaway directed Gary Cooper in several films, including The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) which earned him his only Best Director Academy Award nomination. In 1940, Hathaway began working at Fox where he directed Tyrone Power in Johnny Apollo and Brigham Young (both 1940), Gene Tierney in China Girl (1942), Don Ameche and Dana Andrews in Wing and a Prayer (1944), and Call Northside 777 (1948) starring James Stewart and Richard Conte. After leaving Fox, he was one of three directors who worked on the western epic How the West Was Won (1962). He directed Steve McQueen in Nevada Smith (1966), directed John Wayne in True Grit (1968) which won Wayne his one and only Best Actor Academy Award.

Lucille Ball (1911 – 1989) was an American actress. Ball started her career as a model and later appeared in films while under contract to RKO Radio Pictures during the 1930s and 1940s. At RKO, she starred in B-pictures and had supporting roles in A-pictures like Stage Door (1937) co-starring Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers. Ball left RKO for M-G-M in the mid-40s but major stardom eluded her. Ball had a hit radio show, My Favorite Husband. CBS wanted her to develop the show for television but Ball insisted on having her real-life husband Desi Arnaz co-star with her. The studio wanted her to star with her radio husband, Richard Denning, but Ball held out for Arnaz and I Love Lucy was born. During her television career, Ball was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times. Ball’s reputation as one of the world’s great comedians has never been disputed.

Clifton Webb (1889 - 1966) was an American stage and film actor. Webb was a successful Broadway star and had made several silent films before he appeared in Laura (1944). As the acerbic Waldo Lydecker, Webb established himself as a character actor and eventually a leading actor in films like Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), Dreamboat (1952), and Titanic (1953). Working exclusively for Twentieth Century-Fox, Webb's last film was Satan Never Sleeps (1962) co-starring William Holden and directed by Leo McCarey.

William Bendix (1906 – 1964) an American film, radio, and television actor. Bendix usually played rough guys, gangsters, and blue-collar characters. In 1942, he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in the World War II drama Wake Island. As a youngster, Bendix was a bat boy at Yankee Stadium. He was fired for buying Babe Ruth a hot dog and soda before the game. Bendix starred in several classic films noir, including The Glass Key (1942) and Blue Dahlia (1946). Perhaps his greatest role was as Chester A. Riley a role he played on radio and television to great success.

Mark Stevens (1916 – 1994) was an American actor and director. Stevens starred in films and was also a successful actor in the early days of television. In 1943, he was signed to a contract at Warner Bros. as Stephen Richards. At Warner’s, he had small parts, often uncredited in A-pictures like Destination Tokyo (1943), and Rhapsody in Blue (1945). When his contract was up at Warner Bros., he was signed by Fox where Darryl Zanuck changed his name to Mark Stevens. At Fox, he reached leading-man status starring opposite June Haver in I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now (1947) and with Haver once again in Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949). Both films with Haver were big hits. He also starred in The Street With No Name (1948) where he was billed over Richard Widmark. He played Olivia de Havilland’s loyal husband in The Snake Pit (1948) and Dancing in the Dark (1949) with William Powell and Betsy Drake. Later in his career he directed himself in several movies and worked in television on shows like Magnum P.I. and Murder She Wrote.

The Dark Corner trivia

• The studio hoped that this film would be as successful as Laura, but although it was well received by the critics, it wasn’t a commercial success.
• Lucille Ball was borrowed from M-G-M for the role of Kathleen Stewart when Ida Lupino became unavailable.
• Ball clashed with director Henry Hathaway who was critical of her performance.
• The cast is a who’s who of 1950s television with Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy-1951), William Bendix (The Life of Riley­-1953), Reed Hadley (Racket Squad-1950 and Public Defender-1954), Mark Stevens (Big Town-1950).
• Alfred Newman’s theme music “Street Scene” was used once again. “Street Scene” was used in more Fox films than any other musical theme.

To watch the film on YouTube click here.

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Discussion questions

1. What did you think of Lucille Ball’s performance as a film noir dame?
2. The critics loved this movie but audiences didn’t. Why do you think this movie didn’t hit gold at the box office?
3. Were Ball and Mark Stevens believable as an on-screen couple?
4. What about Cliffton Webb? Was his character Waldo Liedecker 2.0?
5. Did you have a favorite scene or piece of dialogue?
6. Did anything about the film surprise you?