Home Before Dark (1958)

A young woman (Jean Simmons) is released from a mental hospital, where she had undergone shock treatments, in the care of her college professor husband (Dan O'Herlihy). But the slow road to a complete recovery is impeded by the very situation which drove her to a breakdown in the first place and which threaten to challenge her sanity again. Based on the novel by Eileen Bassing and directed by Mervyn LeRoy (I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG), the film takes its time (it runs over two hours) to let the story unfold which allows Simmons to give a nuanced, detailed but subtle performance, indeed it may well be the best performance of her career in what is usually referred to as a tour de force. The film manages to avoid the cliches of movies about the mentally ill for the most part. Simmons doesn't have any big scene going bonkers and her delusions are based on a reality, not fantasies. While the film is anchored by Simmons' central performance, the other players are allowed roles which gives them a chance to shine. In addition to O'Herlihy, who's perfect as her chilly husband, there's Rhonda Fleming in an unsympathetic role as her selfish stepsister, Efrem Zimbalist Jr, Joanna Barnes, Joan Weldon, Steve Dunne and Mabel Albertson.