ingrid bergman and gregory peck star in alfred hitchock's 1954 tale of love and psychoanalsis. in a departure from his usual area of expertise, hitchcock uses the cinematically unusual occupation of psychiatry as a launchpad for an "on the run" style romantic adventure film that predates the likes of "north by northwest", but follows in the footsteps of his earlier "saboteur".
the dream sequence that falls halfway into the film, detailing the code that will unravel in the latter half of the picture is based upon a concept by artist salvador dali. familiar with the dali work in question, i found the sequence to be an absolute joy and display some of hitchcocks finest visual work.
alongside the famous sequence, hitchcock's flair is displayed through a couple of other key scenes; namely the shot from the point of view of behind a glass of milk, and the shot of the gun from the point of view of the man commiting suicide. i particularly liked the scene were peck meets bergman for the first time, in which their faces fill the screen. it is in this scene wherein bergman's character changes tone, literally instantly. gone is the stoic doctor from the earlier scenes, and in comes the familiar site of a 1940's love interest falling head over heals for her beau. its a monumentally huge scene, and a great example of the classic hollywood cinema of the time.
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