By Love Possessed (1961)

Directed by

John Sturges

Genre

drama film, romance film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 55m

Rating

5.2 of 10 from 10 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A prominent lawyer gets entangled in scandal and complicated romance when his wife's past and his brother's problems collide. The story focuses on the turbulent personal lives of a small-town family.

melodramatictenseromanticsoapyglossydramaticintenseemotional

What happens

By Love Possessed is a 1961 American drama film distributed by United Artists. The movie was directed by John Sturges, and written by Charles Schnee, based on the novel by James Gould Cozzens. Lana Turner, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Jason Robards Jr., George Hamilton and Susan Kohner head the cast. Hamilton called it "an Ivy League Peyton Place". The supporting cast features Thomas Mitchell, Barbara Bel Geddes, Everett Sloane, Yvonne Craig, Carroll O'Connor, and Jean Willes. The theme song is performed by Vic Damone. This was director Sturges' first film project after his Western classic, The Magnificent Seven. On July 19, 1961, this became the first in-flight movie to be shown on a regular basis on a scheduled airline flight, by Trans World Airlines to its first-class passengers. Walter Mirsch later said "The lack of success either artistically or commercially of By Love Possessed... was a psychological and emotional blow as well as a huge personal disappointment." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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