FREUD (1962)

Never a good sign when the studio slaps a new title on your under-performing pic.  Here, hoping to ‘sex’ up a withering box-office with FREUD: THE SECRET PASSION.  (Has the practice ever worked?)  Time, on the other hand, has done a lot of good for John Huston’s bio-pic, now looking more substantial, or at least more interesting, than it must have upon release.  Shot in grainy, high-contrast b&w (Douglas Slocombe), not an easy choice to make against ‘60s pressure to use color or a tv-friendly compressed grey-scale, the film sticks to a few early years in Sigmund Freud’s psychological inquiries.  Focused on OEDIPUS COMPLEX issues in early childhood, it stumbles in being too on-the-nose leading us thru discoveries while shrinking Freud’s client list down to a single patient (Susannah York, overparted) for the last half of the film.  That said, it’s quite an impressive shot at a difficult subject, with more period feel than common for a 1962 film (especially from Universal), with an unusually fine turn (more or less his last work) from Montgomery Clift*, a Freud who continually surprises himself with revelations that apply as much to him personally as to his patients.  An unexpectedly strong showing, faults and all.

READ ALL ABOUT IT: *Clift was not in good shape for the shooting.  Drinks, drugs, fragile mental condition.  He only made one small indie pic four years later (THE INTRUDERS).  Huston gets a bad rap for mistreating his failing star, but his auto-bio (AN OPEN BOOK) offers convincing defense, without even mentioning he was set to work a third time with Clift (THE MISFITS/’60 was first), when Elizabeth Taylor wanted him for REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE/’67.  Clift died before filming began, replaced by Marlon Brando.  (Plus more good inside stuff on original FREUD scripter Jean-Paul Sartre.)

DOUBLE-BILL: The best on-screen Freuds come with a comic spin: Alec Guinness in LOVESICK/’83 (an apparition to Dudley Moore in this sub-Woody Allen relationship comedy) and Alan Arkin pulling Nicol Williamson's Sherlock Holmes out of his funk (and stealing the pic) in THE SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION/’76.