SYNOPSIS

When his new bride exhibits erratic behavior following a bout with depression, Robert Cunningham has no choice but to commit her to a mental institution. Despite the efforts of a kind and caring doctor, the young woman faces the horrors of being confined with other mental patients, some in much worse states than she, while also enduring shock therapy, drug treatment and hydrotherapy.

Producer-Director: Anatole Litvak
Screenplay: Frank Partos, Millen Brand
Based on the novel by Mary Jane Ward
Cinematography: Leo Tover
Editing: Dorothy Spencer
Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler, Joseph C. Wright
Music: Alfred Newman
Cast: Olivia de Havilland (Virginia Stuart Cunningham), Mark Stevens (Robert Cunningham), Leo Genn (Dr. Mark Kik), Celeste Holm (Grace), Glenn Langan (Dr. Terry), Helen Craig (Miss Davis), Leif Erickson (Gordon), Beulah Bondi (Mrs. Greer), Lee Patrick, Isabel Jewell (Asylum Inmates), Natalie Schafer (Mrs. Stuart), Ruth Donnelly (Ruth), Minna Gombell (Miss Hart), Ann Doran (Valerie), Betsy Blair (Hester), Virginia Brissac (Miss Seiffert), Queenie Smith (Lola), Mae Marsh (Tommy's Mother), Marie Blake, Minerva Urecal, Barbara Pepper (Patients), Jan Clayton (Singing Inmate), Celia Lovsky (Gertrude), Mary Treen (Nurse), Dorothy Neumann (Miss Neumann).
BW-108m. Closed Captioning.

Why THE SNAKE PIT is Essential

The Snake Pit was one of several social problem films to appear in Hollywood in response to the new taste for realism following World War II. 20th Century-Fox had previously dealt with anti-Semitism in Gentleman's Agreement (1947) and would tackle racism in Pinky (1949).

This was one of the first Hollywood films to deal seriously with the issue of mental illness and conditions in mental hospitals. Previous films had either treated the mentally ill as monsters (1932's The Old Dark House, 1946's Bedlam) or clowns (1944's Arsenic and Old Lace) or focused on the romantic lives of their doctors (1935's Private Worlds).

Olivia de Havilland's performance as Virginia Cunningham is frequently cited as her best. It also represented a significant break from the Hollywood glamour tradition, with the actress performing many scenes with little makeup and without the benefit of hairdressing.

The Snake Pit was 20th Century-Fox's highest grossing film of the year, totaling $4.1 million in grosses. It tied with I Was a Male War Bride and Joan of Arc as the year's third highest-grossing film.

by Frank Miller