picture frames
spellbound full frame
as alfred hitchcocks classic psychothriller opens the staff of a posh mental asylum eagerly awaits the arrival of the new director . when the man in question shows up it turns out to be handsome psychiatrist john ballantine gregory peck . but somethings wrong here ballantine seems much too young for so important a position ; his answers to the staffs questions are vague and detached ; and he seems unusually distressed by the parallel marks left by a fork on a white tablecloth . dr. constance peterson ingrid bergman comes to the conclusion that ballantine is not the new director but a profoundly disturbed amnesiac and possibly the murderer of the real director . but is she correct in her inferences scriptwriters angus macphail and ben hecht soon add to this the complication that constance begins to fall in love with john . director hitchcock tapped surrealist artist salvador dali to design the visually arresting dream sequences in the film . hal erickson all movie guide . br br commentary with author and film professor thomas schatz and film professor charles ramirez berg dreaming with scissors hitchcock surrealism and salvador dali featurette guilt by association psychoanalyzing spellbound featurette a cinderella story rhonda fleming featurette 1948 radio play directed by alfred hitchcock peter bogdanovich interviews hitchcock original theatrical trailer still gallery .