Historical Comments on the Film, "A Dangerous Method"

{slider Letter to an Hollywood Agent about the Film}

August 9, 1999

Dear xxxx,

     Regarding: Sabina, script by Christopher Hampton

Dances with Wolves: A Psychological Review

(Published in the Los Angeles Times, March 18, 1991)

Psychologists analyze conflicts within people, and so it might seem they would not have much to say about Dances with Wolves, a film about conflicts between people — between Indians and U.S. cavalry soldiers.

The Silence of the Lambs: A Psychological Review

Psychologists are not trained to evaluate the artistic merits of a film, but we may try to analyze a film very much as we analyze other products of the human psyche such as dreams or myths. In fact, a film, in so far as it "grips" people, is a myth in action, and to comment on a film that fascinates its audience is to comment on a living myth, a snap-shot of the American psyche.

Phantom of the Opera: A Psychological Review

Phantom of the Opera has been playing on Broadway for twenty five years now which makes it the longest running play in the history of Broadway. It has been seen by over one hundred and thirty million people, world-wide. It is a phenomenon, a spectacle. It is tempting for a psychologist to wonder, "Why?"

Longer Observation (9): Imagination & Reality: Forgetting the difference between Imagination and Reality.

Short idea (153): There are many reasons to have censorship in movies. For example, it can be awful to see abuse and killing in films, and many would like a censor to keep these things out of what we and our children see. One reason not to censor is that films are an expression of the psyche and soul of a people. In this way they are like dreams, and like dreams, they probably have a balancing function. If you could censor dreams, the individual might become unbalanced. Also, films can be used to monitor what is going on in the collective psyche. This monitoring can give sensitive people a window into the future of a nation, into what is about to happen, and it gives some time to prepare. Censoring, whatever its value, takes away this mirror.

A Psychological Question about the Film Casablanca

Humphrey Bogart in The Petrified Forest film trailerfrom the 1936 film Petrified Forest (photo in the public domain)

My question is: Why was Humphrey Bogart chosen to play Rick in the film, Casablanca? There must have been commercial reasons involved in the producer, Hal Wallis' choice of Bogart, but, as a psychologist, I can not help but search for deeper reasons he might have had. Why was Humphrey Bogart chosen, a man who was known for his gangster roles — such as Duke Mantee in the Petrified Forest (see above photo) and Roy "Mad Dog" Earl in High Sierra? When movie goers of the day thought of Bogart, they thought of a desperate, selfish killer, but in Casablanca his role was to inspire men to leave home and go to war. Bogart seems about the least likely choice for this kind of role.

Each reader will have his or her own answer to this question. My goal is to present the question, and, in what follows, to express a few psychological observations on the subject.

A Psychological Approach to the T.V. Series, "Mad Men."

It is April 9, 2014, and it is four days until the beginning of the seventh and last season of the T.V. series, Mad Men. By the time the series is complete, there will have been, roughly, seventy five hours of the program. If a person wanted to watch all episodes of the series from beginning to end, it would take almost two, forty hour work weeks.

A Psychological Angle on The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

muirMrs. Muir and her ghost (public domain)

Halloween season is here, and T.V. stations are playing films they feel are relevant to this season which includes films about ghosts. There are a number of romances involving ghosts, and one that stands out for its romantic appeal and not for its ability to frighten is the 1947 classic, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.