The Cobweb Reviews

An all-star cast, a brilliant director, an eminent producer, and a script from a fascinating book all contribute to making this a very dull movie, that surveys the ins-and-outs of a large psychiatric clinic and concludes that the staff may be more neurotic than the patients. There is a new set of drapes to be chosen for the institution's library and Grahame, the often-overlooked wife of clinic head Widmark, wants the honor of making the selection. Gish (making her first MGM movie in 22 years) is the spinster business affairs director who insists on muslin drapes so they can save money. Widmark asks Kerr, a new patient with suicidal tendencies, to design said drapes. (In one of the film's few good scenes, Kerr escorts Strasberg, another patient, to the movies; this was the movie debut of both.) The rest of the film concerns various romantic subplots involving sex-obsessed Boyer, Bacall, as the lonely activities director who only lives for her work, and a host of interesting patients. The picture is verbose and decidedly low-key, with none of THE SNAKE PIT's sensationalism--and that is to its credit. Levant, who spent a lot of time on psychiatric couches, is excellent, as are Albertson and Wray.