The Seventh Veil (1945)

After a failed suicide attempt, a young woman (Ann Todd) is placed under the care of a psychologist (Herbert Lom). While in her state, she refuses to speak so the doctor uses hypnosis to find out what events drove her to this state. Directed by Compton Bennett (KING SOLOMON'S MINES). A huge art house hit in its day (its screenplay won an Oscar), the film signaled cinema's interest in psychoanalysis as a film subject. Hitchcock's SPELLBOUND came out the same year and THE LOCKET came out the following year. Its dime store Freud is dubious but there's an appeal in the movie's brooding sadistic hero played by James Mason and his performance here catapulted him to the top of the British box office and Hollywood would soon beckon. It's kitsch but so well done that its foolish to resist. With Hugh McDermott and Albert Lieven.