
The Cobweb
1955, Drama, 2h 4m
7 Reviews 250+ RatingsYou might also like
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Cast & Crew
Dr. Stewart "Mac" McIver
Meg Faversen Rinehart
Dr. Douglas N. Devanal
Karen McIver
Victoria Inch

Steven W. Holte
Critic Reviews for The Cobweb
All Critics (7) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (5) | Rotten (2)
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The film remains tentative, uncommitted.
March 30, 2020 | Full Review… -
Vincente Minnelli's 1955 melodrama is set in a posh mental hospital; he choreographs the various plots and subplots with the same style and dynamism he brought to his famous musicals.
December 3, 2001 | Full Review… -
Strange, unique look at mental asylum is both visually and dramatically brilliant.
August 8, 2008 | Full Review… -
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.
March 11, 2008 -
Quintessential Minnelli melodrama is also a personal film: Set in an asylum in which the conflict concerns the kinds of drapes to be used, it offers inside look at a rigid institution in which the caretakers are as needy as the patients.
April 26, 2007 | Rating: B | Full Review… -
Quote not available.
March 10, 2005 | Rating: 3/5
Audience Reviews for The Cobweb
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May 29, 2012Minnelli managed to assemble an all star cast for such a strange concept. On paper it would seem like the plot of a screwball comedy but the movie is played completely straight, and is all the worse for it. You'll be screaming at the characters to lighten up. None of them are particularly likable, neither inmates or administrators. You would think someone with as much experience of clinics as Minnelli had, thanks to his estranged wife, would give us more of an insight. The patients just aren't convincing enough and are reduced to big name extras. The administrative staff are given cliched storylines to follow. If there are any central characters it's Widmark and Grahame, a bickering married couple. Bacall is completely wasted in a throwaway role as a chain-smoking activities director. Levant is perfectly cast as an inmate but doesn't get enough screen time to exploit his melancholy persona. Perhaps the movie would have fared better had it been made twenty years later. With it's sprawling cast it resembles the films of Altman but Minnelli couldn't call on the technology that allowed Altman his famous overlapping dialogue. Considering the subject matter the movie is far too sane. A seventies version would have allowed a lot more freedom to explore the issues. At one point, young inmates Kerr and Strasberg leave the clinic for a night at the cinema. A metaphor perhaps for Minnelli's plunging himself into his work to escape the grim reality of life with Judy? There have been some great movies set on psychiatric wards, "One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest", "Shock Corridor", but I wouldn't bother booking yourself in for treatment here.The Movie W Super Reviewer
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Sep 16, 2011It's all about the DRAPES!!!! Truly odd film is loaded with great actors and a ludicrous story. How it ever got the green light from the studio is mystery number one, that Vincente Minnelli said okay to directing it is the second although that would explain why so many great actors allowed themselves to be involved. Laughable take on mental health but good for one fun viewing as a camp catastrophe.jay n Super Reviewer
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