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The Cobweb (1955)
Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins
Synopsis: At a psychiatric care hospital, the wife of the head doctor decides the site's library is in need of new drapes. This small change sparks a conflict among the staff members. As the personalities of the characters unfurl, a network of covert romantic liaisons and tensions is revealed. The... At a psychiatric care hospital, the wife of the head doctor decides the site's library is in need of new drapes. This small change sparks a conflict among the staff members. As the personalities of the characters unfurl, a network of covert romantic liaisons and tensions is revealed. The support staff is as frail as the patients under their care. [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall, Gloria Grahame, Charles Boyer, Lillian Gish
Screenwriter: John Paxton, William Gibson
Producer: John Houseman
Composer: Leonard Rosenman
Reviews
Strange, unique look at mental asylum is both visually and dramatically brilliant.
With its usual twist, it's surprising that The Cobweb hasn't become a cult classic. This '50's studio picture combines the ever popular Hollywood topic of mental illness with interior decorating.
A quintessential Minnelli melodrama, this personal film is set in an asylum in which the conflict concerns the kinds of drapes to be used. It offers an inside look at a rigid institution, in which the caretakers are just as needy as their patients
The highlight of the film was Oscar Levant singing "Mother" while being sedated.

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