Freud (aka The Secret Passion) (1962)

Unlike his fellow colleagues, the young doctor Sigmund Freud (Montgomery Clift) doesn't see hysteria in patients as a ploy to get attention but rather a symptom of a deeper, underlying neuroses. With this in mind, he concentrates on exploring the subconscious, often using hypnosis, in an attempt unlock their repressed memories and bring about a cure. Directed by John Huston, it's impossible to portray a lifetime of work in a two hours, fifteen minute running time so Huston cheats by cramming many case histories in several patients. Much of it can justifiably be called simplistic (as many of Freud's detractors would say of many of his theories) but what Huston has done, and what makes the film work, is turn Freud's research into a psychological thriller and exploration of the subconscious mind that is as riveting as any Agatha Christie mystery. Clift as Freud seems a trifle more reactive than necessary. In a way, this seems like an extension of his doctor in SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER. The real scene stealer here is the young Susannah York as his neurotic patient who is a cornucopia of symptoms (my favorite moment is when York says, "I was raised Prostitute ..... I mean Protestant!"). Curiously, Huston himself narrates Freud's inner thoughts rather than Clift. There's a superb atonal Oscar nominated score by Jerry Goldsmith. With Larry Parks, Susan Kohner, Eileen Herlie, Eric Portman, David McCallum and Rosalie Crutchley.