The Snake Pit (DVD)

Brand new case. Disc in mint condition. Stock image.

Olivia de Havilland stars as Virginia Cunningham, an outwardly normal young woman, married to Robert (Mark Stevens). As Virginia's behaviour becomes more and more erratic, her husband comes to the sad conclusion that she needs professional help. She is sent to an overcrowded state hospital for treatment -- a curious set-up, in that, while Virginia is treated with compassion by soft-spoken psychiatrist Leo Genn, she is sorely abused by resentful matrons and profoundly disturbed patients. Throughout the film you will see Virginia constantly threatened with being clapped into the snake pit -- an open room where the most severe cases are permitted to roam about and jabber incoherently -- if she doesn't realign her thinking.