I'm fighting for you

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Movie
German title I'm fighting for you
Original title Spellbound
I'm fighting for you Logo 001.svg
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1945
length 111 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Alfred Hitchcock
script Angus MacPhail
Ben Hecht
production David O. Selznick for Selznick International
music Miklós Rózsa
Audrey Granville
camera George Barnes
cut William H. Ziegler
occupation

I fight for you is the German title of the film Spellbound ("banned", "enchanted") from 1945 by Alfred Hitchcock based on the novel The House of Dr. Edwardes by Francis Beeding (pen name of Hilary Aidan St. George Saunders and John Palmer). Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck play the leading roles .

It is one of the first Hollywood films to deal with Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis . What is also remarkable for 1945 is the portrayal of the role of women: the psychologist Dr. Constance Petersen sees through the role play of the men around her with her psychoanalytic acumen. The men around her turn out to be embarrassing figures to which she is superior both intellectually and as a personality.

Story of the movie

Ingrid Bergman (1945)

Dr. Murchison, the longtime director of Green Manors , a home for the mentally ill in Vermont , is slated to retire after a nervous breakdown. In his role he will be led by Dr. Anthony Edwardes, a renowned psychiatrist and author. As soon as Edwardes, surprisingly young for his professional position, has arrived, he feels that the beautiful but distant psychologist Dr. Constance Petersen dressed. But soon Edwardes is noticeable for his strange behavior in certain situations. There are mounting signs that the alleged Dr. Edwardes is really a paranoid, amnesia cheater. Dr. Petersen sees through this first, but she falls in love with him. The fake Edwardes confesses to her that he believes he killed the real Edwardes and adopted his identity to cope with the guilt trauma. Due to his amnesia, however, he cannot remember his true identity.

When the other doctors are able to expose the false Edwardes, he leaves for New York . However, he leaves a letter with his address to Constance, who is still with him. She travels to New York to help the wrong Edwardes. She also wants to find out what happened to the real Dr. Edwardes, who has disappeared since leaving on a ski trip. The police are now looking for the supposed impostor. Constance and the fake Edwardes - under the code name John Brown - travel together to Rochester to see the respected psychiatrist Dr. Brulov, Constance's old teacher and mentor. During the psychoanalysis of a dream by "Brown" it turns out that he was skiing with Edwardes. On the basis of clues in the dream of the false Edward, the psychoanalysts can identify the ski area.

Dr. Petersen and "Brown" travel to the ski resort in the hope that repeating what happened could bring back the patient's blocked memories. In fact, when skiing downhill, the memory of the false Edward comes back. He remembers the crash of Dr. Edwardes and that his real name is John Ballantyne. Because he accidentally killed his brother as a child, he has suffered from a guilt complex ever since. He also had a traumatic assignment as a military doctor during World War II. Therefore he was a patient of the real Edwardes and had assumed the identity of the psychiatrist because of his guilt complex after Edwardes' death, for which he felt responsible.

The alleged accidental death in the ski area seems to have been cleared up, but when the body of Dr. Edwardes is recovered, it turns out that he was shot from behind. Ballantyne is then arrested on suspicion of murder. Dr. Constance Petersen tries to stand up for him, but then returns to Green Manor. When the reinstated head of the sanatorium, Dr. Murchison drops a disparaging remark about Edwardes, Constance finds out about the real killer. In a final confrontation, Murchison confesses to her that he killed his designated successor Edwardes for fear of losing his position. While Murchison shoots himself, Constance and John Ballantyne look to a future together.

backgrounds

  • Producer David O. Selznick himself wished that much of the film was based on his personal experience with psychotherapy . He brought his therapist May Romm to the set as a consultant. When she got into a dispute with Hitchcock over the question of how therapy works, he said: "My dear, it's just a movie."
  • The dream sequence was designed by Salvador Dalí . Hitchcock justified this with the fact that dream scenes in films are always shown with billowing smoke and are filmed slightly out of focus in order to make them appear foggy and blurry. Instead, Hitchcock thought dreams were very vivid and clear (“vidid”). The scene was originally designed around a minute longer. It also contained a scene in a ballroom with pianos hanging down and immobile figures pretending to be dancing, followed by the supposed Dr. Edwardes aka John Ballantyne, who worked with Dr. Petersen is dancing. Then Dr. Petersen into a statue, wearing a Greek robe. An arrow inexplicably pierces her neck. However, Hitchcock thought this part was too grotesque for a commercial Hollywood film, so it was removed.
  • It is noteworthy that the work, which is actually considered to be a black and white film, appears in color for a single moment: the moment Dr. Murchison commits suicide - he shoots himself - the screen turns blood red for a split second. This effect can also be seen in the TV version.
  • The one on John Ballantyne and Dr. Petersen's falling "snow" consisted of corn flakes .
  • Hitchcock persuaded Selznick to buy the rights to the novel for $ 40,000.
  • Unlike other adaptations of books (e.g. Rebecca or Psycho ), Hitchcock only adopted the basic premise of the underlying novel (one mentally ill person assumes the identity of another). Otherwise the film differs significantly from the novel. Hitchcock and screenwriter Hecht looked at various psychiatric hospitals in the New York area before the script was largely written in a New York hotel room.
  • The post-production of the film was completed in February 1945th A number of minor changes at the request of the producer and several previews had meant that the feature film was not released until October 1945.

music

According to the film scholar Jack Sullivan , the music to Ich kkampf um dich is both the most romantic and the scariest music in a Hitchcock film. The audience was particularly impressed by the abundance and richness of the relatively modern sounding music. A striking contrast is the use of the theremin , which gives the protagonists' fears and identity crises an aura that is removed from the other world.

The decision to employ Miklós Rózsa as the composer for the film music goes back to Hitchcock and Selznick. After the preferred candidate, Bernard Herrmann, had canceled, Hitchcock and Selznick were able to easily agree on the composer from Frau ohne Conscience . Rózsa wanted to use the theremin , which was particularly striking for the soundtrack, for the film right from the start, as he had previously worked successfully with an Ondes Martenot and saw the opportunity to use a theremin as well. According to Rózsa, Hitchcock and studio boss David O. Selznick knew nothing about this instrument, not even whether one “eats theremin or takes it for headaches”. On the other hand, unlike various other filmmakers Rózsa had worked with, they were adventurous enough to include it in the soundtrack anyway.

In the production process itself, Selznick, notorious for his micromanagement , tried to interfere with the composition of all the pieces with extensive memos; Rózsa himself stated, however, to have largely ignored this. Exceptions to this were, for example, the use of violins , where Selznick insisted that there had to be more violins in the orchestra than in the score for Rebecca , and that Rózsa, who didn't have to pay the violinist himself, liked to obey. Overall, the Selznick film music was too underproduced and unemotional, while Hitchcock publicly complained several times about the overproduced and excessively heavy music.

He completed the actual composition in October 1944. While working on the music, tensions arose again and again between all those involved. Among other things, Hitchcock and Selznick accused Rózsa of using themes from I fight for you for The Lost Weekend , which was composed later but published earlier. Particularly noticeable is the almost identical theme with theremin, which characterizes Amnesia in I fight for you and the excessive alcohol in The Lost Weekend . At the end of shooting, the relationship between those involved was irreparably destroyed, and Rózsa, on the one hand, and Selznick and Hitchcock, on the other, stopped talking to each other towards the end of the film.

In 1946, Rózsa won the Oscar for best film music for his soundtrack to I fight for you . The music itself met with enthusiasm from both critics and audiences and is still considered one of the defining film scores of this decade. Among other things, she introduced the theremin and its use in exciting and eerie scenes in Hollywood film music.

The attempt to sell the original music for the film separately as a record on ARA is one of the early attempts at what would become a thriving soundtrack industry in later decades . ARA Presents Music from Alfred Hitchcock's Picture 'Spellbound' consisted of four 78 -inch 10-inch records with the tracks 'Prelude', 'Dementia', 'Love Themes', 'Scherzo', 'Terror on the Ski Run', 'Subconscious' ', and' Concerto '.

Selznick had already begun in 1939 with Gone With the Wind to bring film music separately on the market; Selznick's efforts culminated in the I-fight-for-you soundtrack. Unlike other early soundtrack releases, this one did not revolve around single popular songs or specific hits from the film; rather, it should emphasize the seriousness of an instrumental film score. Strong organizational conflicts between the film studio and the record company, together with the financial flop that the studio had to cope with with the release, led to the termination of such attempts for the time being.

Reviews

  • Lexicon of the international film : "Artfully designed, remarkably played Hitchcock crime thriller, which does not necessarily include psycho- and dream analysis in the plot very realistically, but effectively."
  • Süddeutsche Zeitung : "A high degree of mysterious tension."
  • Bosley Crowther of The New York Times , however, found the story "fairly obvious and old hat" and approved of Ingrid Bergman as the "only one" to "create credibility with the audience."
  • Gregory Peck's portrayal, however, was rated as modest. So the verdict Time Magazine : "He plays with the jaw muscles and eyes narrow to to suggest in this way that everything about him wrong."
  • Protestant film observer : "A Hitchcock film full of exciting tension, well photographed and cut and often frighteningly fading into dreamlike reality."

Awards

Cameo

Hitchcock comes out of an elevator at the Empire State Hotel, carries a violin case and smokes a cigarette (after 39 minutes).

Soundtrack

  • Miklós Rózsa : Spellbound. Excerpts of the Original Motion Picture Score , on: The Sound of the Movies: Movie Box Vol. 3 (2-CD-Set). History / TIM, Hamburg no year, audio carrier no. 203120-302 - digitally restored original recording of the film music under the direction of the composer
  • Miklós Rózsa: Spellbound. Concerto for Orchestra , on: Psycho. The Essential Alfred Hitchcock (2-CD-Set). Silva Screen Records, London 1999, sound carrier no. FILMXCD 320 - digital new recording by The City of Prague Philharmonic under the baton of Paul Bateman

literature

  • Francis Beeding [Hilary St. George Saunders, John Leslie Palmer]: The House of Dr. Edwardes . Little, Brown and company, Boston 1928 (no German translation yet)
  • Robert A. Harris, Michael S. Lasky, Joe Hembus (Eds.): Alfred Hitchcock and his films. (OT: The Films of Alfred Hitchcock.) Citadel film book from Goldmann, Munich 1976, ISBN 3-442-10201-4

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for I will fight for you . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , January 2007 (PDF; test number: 31 22D DVD).
  2. ↑ a b c d e http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038109/trivia
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Gene D. Phillips: Out of the Shadows: Expanding the Canon of Classic Film Noir . Scarecrow Press 2012, ISBN 978-0-8108-8189-1 , chapter 6.
  4. ^ Jack Sullivan: Hitchcock's music Yale University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-300-11050-2 , p. 106
  5. ↑ a b c Jack Sullivan: Hitchcock's music Yale University Press, 2006 ISBN 0-300-11050-2 , p. 107
  6. ^ Kyle S. Barnett: The Selznick Studio, 'Spellbound', and the Marketing of Film Music in: Music, Sound, and the Moving Image Volume 4, Issue 1, Spring 2010, p. 84
  7. ↑ a b Jack Sullivan: Hitchcock's music Yale University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-300-11050-2 , p. 108
  8. ^ Kyle S. Barnett, The Selznick Studio, 'Spellbound', and the Marketing of Film Music in: Music, Sound, and the Moving Image Volume 4, Issue 1, Spring 2010, p. 85
  9. ^ Jack Sullivan: Hitchcock's music Yale University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-300-11050-2 , p. 116
  10. ^ Kyle S. Barnett: The Selznick Studio, 'Spellbound', and the Marketing of Film Music in: Music, Sound, and the Moving Image Volume 4, Issue 1, Spring 2010, p. 86
  11. ^ Jack Sullivan: Hitchcock's music Yale University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-300-11050-2 , p. 115
  12. ^ Kyle S. Barnett: The Selznick Studio, 'Spellbound', and the Marketing of Film Music in: Music, Sound, and the Moving Image Volume 4, Issue 1, Spring 2010, p. 79
  13. ^ Kyle S. Barnett: The Selznick Studio, 'Spellbound', and the Marketing of Film Music in: Music, Sound, and the Moving Image Volume 4, Issue 1, Spring 2010, p. 87
  14. ^ Kyle S. Barnett: The Selznick Studio, 'Spellbound', and the Marketing of Film Music in: Music, Sound, and the Moving Image Volume 4, Issue 1, Spring 2010, p. 78
  15. ↑ I fight for you. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  16. ^ A b Robert A. Harris, Michael S. Lasky: Alfred Hitchcock and his films . Ed .: Joe Hembus. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, Munich 1976 (original edition).
  17. ↑ Evangelical Press Association Munich, Critique No. 138/1952
Films by Alfred Hitchcock


1920s

Maze of Passion (1925) • The Mountain Eagle (1926) • The Tenant (1927) • Downhill (1927) • Easy-going (1927) • The World Champion (1927) • The Farmer's Wife (1928) • Champagne (1928) • The Man of the Isle of Man (1929) • Blackmail (1929)

1930s

Juno and the Paycock (1930) • Elstree Calling (1930) • Murder - Sir John intervenes! (1930) • Mary (1930) • Down to the Knife (1931) • Number Seventeen (1931) • We Are Finally Rich (1931) • Waltzes from Vienna (1933) • The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) • The 39 Steps (1935) • Secret Agent (1936) • Sabotage (1936) • Young and Innocent (1937) • A Lady Disappears (1938) • Reef Pirates (1939)

1940s

Rebecca (1940) • The Foreign Correspondent (1940) • Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941) • Suspicion (1941) • Saboteurs (1942) • In the Shadow of Doubt (1943) • Bon Voyage (1944) • Landing in Madagascar (1944 ) • The lifeboat (1944) • I fight for you (1945) • Notorious (1946) • The Paradin case (1947) • Cocktail for a corpse (1948) • Slave of the heart (1949)

1950s

The red Lola (1950) • The stranger on the train (1951) • I confess (1953) • Murder when I call (1954) • The window to the courtyard (1954) • Above the roofs of Nice (1955) •

Always Trouble with Harry (1955) • The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) • The Wrong Man (1956) • Vertigo - From the Realm of the Dead (1958) • The Invisible Third (1959)

1960s

Psycho (1960) • The Birds (1963) • Marnie (1964) • The Torn Curtain (1966) • Topas (1969)

1970s

Frenzy (1972) • Family grave (1975)