The defence The Prestige Tourist
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
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Possessed
Drama · Romance · 1931
Marion is a factory worker who hopes to trade the assembly line for a beautiful penthouse apartment. Mark Whitney, a wealthy and influential lawyer, can make her dreams come true, but, there is only one problem; he will give her everything except a marriage proposal. Will this affair ever lead to marriage?
Movie details
Possessed
“How long will it last?”
1931 Drama · Romance 1h 16m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
7.0 / 10
Community rating
Marion is a factory worker who hopes to trade the assembly line for a beautiful penthouse apartment. Mark Whitney, a wealthy and influential lawyer, can make her dreams come true, but, there is only one problem; he will give her everything except a marriage proposal. Will this affair ever lead to marriage?
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Possessed?
For the defence
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Adrenaline Seeker
“If it slows down, you check your phone.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Middle-aged businesswoman Paula Tessier rejects the advances of her client's amusing 25-year-old son, Philip Van der Besh, but reconsiders when her longtime philandering partner begins yet another casual affair with a younger woman. She soon learns that May-December romances with older women are frowned upon in society.
The Age of Innocence
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Persuasion
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The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
Imitation of Life
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In 1940s New York, a white widow who dreams of being on Broadway has a chance encounter with a black single mother, who becomes her maid.
Kitty Foyle
Drama · 1940
A hard-working, white-collar girl falls in love with a young socialite, but meets with his family's disapproval.
A Summer Place
Drama · 1959
A self-made businessman rekindles a romance with a former flame while their two teenage children begin a romance of their own with drastic consequences for both couples.
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Drama · 1967
A couple's attitudes are challenged when their daughter brings home a fiancé who is black.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Clarence Brown
Written by
Lenore J. Coffee
Joan Crawford
Marian Martin aka 'Mrs. Moreland'
Clark Gable
Mark Whitney
Wallace Ford
Al Manning
Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher
Wally Stuart
Frank Conroy
Horace Travers
Marjorie White
Vernice LaVerne
John Miljan
John Driscoll
Court is in session
Put Possessed on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.