The Snake Pit (1948)
- Starring:
- Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, (more)
- Director(s):
- Anatole Litvak
Member Rating
My RatingSynopsis of The Snake Pit
"A woman loses her mind and is confined to a mental institution." That's the usual TV-listing encapsulation of The Snake Pit -- and like most such encapsulations, it only scratches the film's surface. Olivia de Havilland stars as an outwardly normal young woman, married to loyal, kindly Mark Stevens. As de Havilland's behavior becomes more and more erratic, however, Stevens comes to the sad conclusion that she needs professional help. She is sent to an overcrowded state hospital for treatment -- a curious set-up, in that, while de Havilland is treated with compassion by soft-spoken psychiatrist Leo Genn, she is sorely abused by resentful matrons and profoundly disturbed patients. Throughout the film, she is threatened with being clapped into "the snake pit" -- an open room where the most severe cases are permitted to roam about and jabber incoherently -- if she doesn't realign her thinking. In retrospect, it seems that de Havilland's biggest "crime" is that she wants to do her own thinking, and that she isn't satisfied with merely being a loving wife. While this subtext may not have been intentional, it's worth noting that de Havilland escapes permanent confinement only when she agrees to march to everyone else's beat. Amazingly, Olivia de Havilland didn't win an Academy Award for her harrowing performance in The Snake Pit (the only Oscar won by the film was for sound recording). While some of the psychological verbiage in this adaptation of Mary Jane Ward's autobiographical novel seems antiquated and overly simplistic today, The Snake Pit was rightly hosannahed as a breakthrough film in 1948. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 107 mins
Complete Cast of The Snake Pit
- Olivia de Havilland - Virginia Stuart Cunningham
- Leo Genn - Dr. Mark Kik
- Glenn Langan - Dr. Terry
- Leif Erickson - Gordon
- Lee Patrick - Asylum Inmate
- Ruth Donnelly - Ruth
- Frank Conroy - Dr. Jonathan Gifford
- June Storey - Miss Bixby, the Ward Nurse
- Damian O'Flynn - Mr. Stuart
- Esther Somers - Nurse Vance
- Betsy Blair - Hester
- Queenie Smith - Lola
- Dorothy Neumann - Champion
- Isabel Jewell - Asylum Inmate
- Tamara Shayne - Asylum Inmate
- Virginia Brissac - Miss Seiffert
- Marion Marshall - Young girl
- Celia Lovsky - Gertrude
- Mary Treen - Nurse
- Barbara Pepper - Patient
- Lester Sharpe - Dr. Sommer
- Mark Stevens - Robert Cunningham
- Celeste Holm - Grace
- Helen Craig - Nurse Davis
- Beulah Bondi - Mrs. Greer
- Natalie Schafer - Mrs. Stuart
- Katherine Locke - Margaret
- Minna Gombell - Miss Hart
- Lora Lee Michel - Virginia at Age 6
- Ann Doran - Valerie
- Jacqueline De Wit - Celia Sommerville
- Lela Bliss - Miss Greene
- Grayce Hampton - Countess
- Jan Clayton - Singing Inmate
- Victoria Horne - Asylum Inmate
- Grace Poggi - Asylum Inmate
- Ashley Cowan - Tommy
- Helen Servis - Miss Servis
- Sid Saylor - Visor
- Howard Freeman - Dr. Curtis
- Mae Marsh - Tommy's mother
- Sally Shepherd - Nurse
- Director(s):
- Anatole Litvak
- Writer(s):
- Frank Partos, Millen Brand
- Producer(s):
- Robert Bassler, Anatole Litvak
- 1948 - Film Daily - 10 Best Films
- 1948 - National Board of Review - Best Actress
- 1948 - New York Film Critics Circle - Best Actress
- 1949 - Venice International Film Festival - International Prize for Best Actress
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