Possessed is an example of Warner Brothers' craftsmanship at its finest, directed by German-born Curtis Bernhardt (see September 21) and edited by his fellow emigré Rudi Fehr. Joan Crawford, having spent some six weeks prior to shooting in L. A. County Hospital observing schizophrenics, gives an inspired performance as a nurse who suffers from an extreme guilt complex and an unrequited love, and whose increasingly schizophrenic behavior leads to a murderous conclusion.
“When psychoanalysis enjoyed its forties vogue, Hollywood discovered an audience fascinated by dramatizations of a hitherto unexposed subject: mental disintegration.... As is true of many '40s American films, Possessed is uncompromising in its bleak point of view. Oriented toward affairs of the heart, the film is all the more troubling because the protagonist lacks the mental stamina to extricate herself from this sordid embroglio. Crawford masterfully portrays the despair of a lonely woman slipping into the netherworld of mental annihilation and delusion. (Director Bernhardt) employs sets and a soundtrack which delineate the internal and external states of a shattered individual.” (Laura Thielen)