It uses first-person narrative to tell the dramatic account of a girl who, soon after her marriage, becomes hopelessly insane and is sent to a state institution for treatment. The taut, suspenseful screenplay stays close to the pattern of the novel. Talk sells tickets, and The Snake Pit will provide plenty of conversational fodder. Such craftsmanship and integrity should be rewarded at the box office with top-flight business, for The Snake Pit, besides being one of the most fascinating pictures of the year will also be among the most discussed. From Olivia de Havilland down the line to the selection of cabaret star Gracie Poggi and musical comedy leading woman Jan Clayton to perform mere bits, painstaking effort to make The Snake Pit truly outstanding is vividly discernible. It is an extraordinary directorial feat for which the greatest credit must be given.Įvidence of the meticulousness which governs The Snake Pit is found in the excellence of its cast. The tempo Litvak achieves in his direction literally takes the spectator’s breath away as he moves his story relentlessly from one dramatic peak to another. The result is a drama that builds to a fever pitch of tension and holds itself there with superlative artistry. It makes no compromise with the shocking facts as presented in the novel. The Anatole Litvak-Robert Bassler adaptation of Miss Ward’s story about an insane asylum is intelligently geared for the mature mind. Zanuck has created a masterpiece, took a terrific gamble and won. The difference lies in the fact that our native craftsmen additionally provide also the highly necessary ingredient called entertainment. It is bold and original - a defiant answer to those who say that our American motion picture creators cannot evolve a mature dramatic subject. Certainly The Snake Pit will go down in Hollywood annals as one of the must unusual subjects ever attempted, and what is more to the point, successfully accomplished. Nothing like it has ever been done before in films. Zanuck presentation for 20th-Fox as a picture so compelling, dramatically exciting and frankly courageous as to defy comparison. Mary Jane Ward’s The Snake Pit comes to the screen in its Darryl F. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review, headlined “‘Snake-Pit’ Is Compelling, Dramatic and Exciting Hit,” is below. The film went on to earn six Oscar nominations at the 21st Academy Awards, winning one honor for sound recording. 4, 1948, 20th Century Fox unveiled the Olivia de Havilland drama The Snake Pit at its New York City premiere.
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