User reviews

The Search for Bridey Murphy (1956)

This isn't quite a normal narrative movie but a re-enactment of some true events surrounding hypnosis and supposed past life regression. And it's quite fascinating on some level, for the facts and the possibilities, and it's quite dull on another level, filled with narration and some repetitive scenes and a slow pace. In fact, as good as it is in some ways, it might have made a brilliant half hour short.

Not to take away from the singular performance of Teresa Wright. She's the subject and object all at once, and she makes a lot out of nothing (lying down on the couch most of the time). She makes the subtleties of "reading" have meaning, with slight differences of accent, and a tone of voice that is really convincing. The rest of the cast? Serviceable. There wasn't a huge effort put into making this movie, or making it interesting.

The one inventive aspect is some slightly cheesy cloudy scenes that are meant to be transporting the viewer through the subject's thoughts. It works fine. When it gets to the cosmos (stars), you do wish there had been some attempt to keep up with the audience. It's a congenial movie, and everyone has a terrific upper middle class attitude, which is pleasant.

Some research after the book was published and after the movie as well, has shown some problems with the facts, and some alternate reasons why the subject would be able to invent (or recall) in great detail (including the dance). A better movie might have layered some of the doubts into the apparent wonder and marvel of the actual hypnotic events.

So, actually, this isn't really recommended as a movie experience, but as a way to learn about the subject. It's certainly clear and plain speaking.

Even though the movie "The search for Bridey Murphy" has been noted back in the 1950's and up to now to be a story about reincarnation and if it is or is not a fact the film is really about hypnotism and hypnotherapy.

Mostly the movie is about a Pueblo Colorado housewife Ruth Simmons, Teresa White, being regressed in time by hypnotist Morey Bernstein, Louis Hayward. At first to where Ruth was a little girl to where she's regressed back to the life that she lead before she was born as Ruth Simmons in 1923 as a Irish Protestant woman named Bridey Murphy who lived from 1798 to 1864 in Cork County and later, when she was married, in Belfast Ireland.

The film makers didn't really seem to know how to handle the story and in the end opted out for the use of hypnosis in curing illnesses that are beyond the reach of modern medicine and seemed to have completely forgot about the facts or follies of reincarnation. It seems to me that the subject was a little too hot for those who made the movie to handle at that time and dropped it altogether by the end of the film.

What really frustrated me about "The search for Bridey Murphy" was that the film had Morey Bernstein get information out of Ruth Simmons while she was under hypnosis about her life back in Ireland in the 19th century. This was to see if she was truthful about what she told him since there was no why she could have known about her life as Bridey Murphy back then unless what she said was true. Still we never knew if any of that information that he got from Ruth ever checked out or not thus proving or disproving, at least in the movie, if reincarnation is a reality or just another old wives tale.

Another thing that the film "The search for Bridey Murphy" did was introduce many people to the life and works of the late "Sleeping Prophet" Edgar Cayce. Cayce was noted for his belief in reincarnation and was said to have cured, by putting himself under hypnosis, over 2,000 people by finding out what was ailing them through the illnesses that they had in their past lives. Which Cayce in his sleeping state could interpret.

Still the movie is interesting and with hundreds of books written about past-life regression and reincarnation over the last fifty or so years since the movie and book "The search for Bridey Murphy" was released. Which shows that the subject of re-birth is more then ever on the minds of millions of people here in the US and in Europe. As well as in the Orient India and many other cultures in the world where it's, reincarnation, considered by many millions of people to be an irrefutable fact of life as well as death.

The Search For Bridey Murphy was a best selling book and sparked a lot of interest in reincarnation when it came out in the middle 50s of the last century. As for Bridey Murphy herself whether she was real or something out of the mind of Ruth Simmons the questions still remain.

Louis Hayward plays Morry Bernstein and narrates the film as well. I'm having a bit of trouble believing that one could teach one self the art of hypnosis. Still Hayward becomes interested in the art and devours all he could on the subject.

His neighbor Kenneth Tobey's wife Teresa Wright seems to be an apt pupil for hypnosis. As Ruth Simmons regresses she goes beyond her childhood back into the lives of others. But the one she constantly refers to is that of Bridey Murphy whom she says lived on earth from 1798 to 1864 in a few places in Ireland.

In real life a lot of investigation is done and some parts of the Bridey Murphy for which Ruth Simmons seem to have a particular attachment for that life. Some things were proved, some were not, her case remains open to speculation. Bernstein made a fortune off the book, Simmons wanted to fade into obscurity, she didn't like celebrity focus and eventually she got it.

The characters here are your average middle Americans of the Eisenhower era and besides those mentioned Nancy Gates does well as Mrs. Bernstein.

Watch the film and read up on Bridey Murphy and come to your own conclusions.

At the time of release of this film from the book, The Search for Bridey Murphy (1956), the concept of reincarnation was virtually unknown to the masses in the Western World. Today, some 56 years later, it has become fact to many scholars and researchers in this part of the world. Internationally known physicians, specializing in psychiatry, now spend their lives in its research and work in its further exploration. The real miracle of this little, low budget film is that it was made at all at a time of fear and ignorance of one of the basic keystones of ontology.

The book itself is rather shallow as the film but this is probably due to the lack of comprehension of not just the subject of reincarnation but hypnosis itself, which was then not a widely practiced form of psychotherapy. At that time, religionists and their authoritarian scripture heavily controlled the subject of human consciousness much as it is in the Middle East today.

At this writing, schools teach self-hypnosis. It is understood to be a method of focusing and nothing fearful, reprehensible or a dangerous practice of some mysterious Rasputin. In addition, it is known that regression itself is a simple guided focusing and not some bizarre scheme of being controlled by someone else. No one can control anyone else through hypnosis. They can only suggest and persuade. It is up to the subject to accept or reject the persuasion.

Edgar Cayce, who is briefly mentioned in this film, is now honored for his life's work and anyone can join the internationally important Association of Research and Enlightenment in Virginia Beach, Virginia to study his life and work as well as research into consciousness.

The movie barely introduces the subject but it does so in a very believable way and with a lot of courage.

A Colorado housewife is hypnotized at a party. During her session it becomes clear that she is something special when it comes to hypnotism; while under she recalls past lives! The party-goers split, with some finding the phenomenon interesting and some demanding it stop. The hypnotist is swept up by his new finding and decides to ask to keep hypnotizing her so he can document the case. He has to fight the powers that be and shore up backers every step of the way. This flick is based on the best-selling book by Morey Bernstein, which is in turn based on the real-life story of Virginia Tighe Morrow, a Pueblo, Colorado homemaker. This is an interesting enough movie and Theresa Wright always draws the attention. The rest of the cast not so much. The whole thing is rickety in its 50s rigidity. When you put the two together, the hinky cast and the 1950s condescension toward women, it can try a nerve or two, but, nonetheless, I find the movie interesting.

If you're at all interested in reincarnation and past lives, you've got to rent The Search for Bridey Murphy. Even if you're just skeptical about it, this movie is a must-see. As lead actor Louis Hayward explains to the camera at the start of the movie, it's based on a true story and certain dialogues are lifted exactly from the original tape recordings of the hypnosis sessions. It'll certainly make for some intense discussions afterwards.

Teresa Wright plays the wife of Louis's friend, and once Louis gets the hypnotism bee in his bonnet, he uses it as a parlor trick to entertain everyone. Teresa's case is different, though, and she goes deep into her past lives, way back to 1800s Ireland. She speaks in an accent, acts differently, dances a jig, and provides clues that prove what she's saying is true. To some, it can be creepy. To others, it can be fascinating.

Louis's poor wife, Nancy Gates, gets jealous. After all, her husband is flaunting an obsession with another woman right under her nose. Nancy is as cute as a button; what did she do to deserve that? I would recommend this forgotten silver screen drama if you're the type who likes to discuss movies after they're over. It's a really interesting story that raises questions and doubts.

I saw this film once late at night (or early in the morning) on television when I was in High School. One thing that struck me about this film that was different to so many others was its ability to captivate me even at that hour, which is generally the type of braindead time usually reserved only for the watching of 'Beavis and Butthead Do America' or 'Dude Where's My Car?'. The fact that at two in the morning ANY film could have a riveting story line absolutely amazed me.

While 'The Search for Bridey Murphy' is largely a fantasy, it is a very interesting one and the end leaves you wanting more. I urge anybody and everybody to search for 'The Search for Bridey Murphy' at all their local video stores. It is definitely worth a watch.

This film is modestly budgeted, and was no doubt hastily made. But it is nonetheless a fascinating cultural artifact, a portrait of a time when the idea of reincarnation was a radical concept in America. The director had a genuine interest in the subject, and the always appealing Teresa Wright does a lovely job dancing the "Morning Jig." In many ways, this film is a lot more forthright and a lot less hokey than "The Three Faces of Eve," which would make an interesting pairing with "Bridey" on a double bill. I have to give it an unweighted 8, and pray that Shirley MacLaine never decides to remake it.

This is one of the best films ever made on the issue of hypnosis, its use and misuse, life before birth and after death and reincarnation, all tremendously difficult issues and almost impossible to discuss, least of all to come to definite terms with, except by hard trial and error in bold experiments, which this film and story is all about.

The one responsible for the book, a tremendous bestseller in its day, a certain Morey Bernstein, has no interest whatsoever and doubts everything, rejecting all psychic business as mumbo jumbo, until a hypnotic experiment in his presence is too authentic to be rejected, which propels him into studying the subject. By pure personal interest he trains himself into an amateur hypnotist and achieves results as such and finds a very susceptible guinea pig for his risky ventures into the unconscious in a young mother Ruth Simmons, whose husband isn't happy about it. With her under hypnosis the amateur hypnotist stumbles into past lives, as she unconsciously remembers her life as a certain Bridey Murphy in Ireland 1798-1864 in great detail including her teacher, her father, her husband, her brother, local songs and dances of that time and finally even her death, how she died and what happened afterwards, going into the existence of afterlife in limbo and that drifting existence in a vacuum of nowhere - where she almost gets lost.

This increasingly hazardous experimentation ultimately risks getting out of hand, so that Ruth's mental health is put at risk, wherefore her husband steps down and will have no more of it.

However, the results already achieved, all documented on tape with witnesses, which sessions are truthfully revived on the screen, provide enough material for Morey Bernstein to write his book, which by no means is any proof of anything - who can even prove God's existence or anything metaphysical at all? - while it certainly is intriguing enough to raise discussions without end.

To this interesting intrigue comes the terrific acting by all persons involved, especially Louis Hayward and Teresa Wright as the hypnotist and his guinea pig, but all the others also are fully convincing - it's all perfectly organic, as Polanski would have put it. Thus it almost becomes like an documentary, and as such it is invaluable.

Today this would be an episode of one of those cable docs on the paranormal. It is introduced, Twilight Zone-style, by the actor playing the hypnotist, Morey Bernstein. He steps into the first scene and the story begins.

Ruth Simmons is a friend of Morey and his wife whom Morey hypnotizes one night at a party. He is a self-taught hypnotist, having witnessed a demonstration at another party years earlier. Ruth reveals (after much prodding) that she is a reincarnation of Bridey Murphy, a 19th century Irishwoman. Very few, almost none, of the "facts" she reveals can be verified, a fact which the movie conveniently overlooks. The whole scenario was subsequently debunked by articles in major newspapers and magazines and by various authorities in the scientific establishment.

The movie, however, is an enjoyable fantasy, just don't take it as literal truth unless you are a follower of Ramtha or believe in Shirley MacLaine as some sort of spiritual pioneer.

I have always been interested in the Bridey Murphy case. I found this dramatization of the story by some of my favorite actors to be intriguing.

Morey Bernstein (Louis Hayward) is introduced to stage hypnosis at a party where his friend Dr. Deering (Richard Anderson) makes a snide remark saying that Morey is not the type of person that can be hypnotized. So Morey takes up the challenge and soon gets enamored with the mechanics. He practices on his wife and the mirror.

Then a friend tells him about Edgar Cayce. Now Morey goes off on a regression tangent using his neighbor's wife, Ruth (Teresa Wright.) There he meets Bridey Murphy from 19th Century Cork in Ireland. It gets a touch and goes as if Ruth will ever come back or be Bridey forever.

I can relate to this movie as I practice a bit and even learned how to hypnotize the unhypnotizable by using different methods. In one of my classes, I was to be the guinea pig for regression, worked pretty well for this life. When we went to do previous lives I figured I had to be someone important naturally. So we went at it with somber faces. I ended up naked on a rock naming animals.

Here are some fun movies that have regression as a theme.

Death in Disguise (1998)May Cuttle (Judy Cornwell) is regressed to Gaius Quintus a food taster for a Roman general.

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970). Under Hypnosis Daisy Gamble reveals a Victorian past and the hypnotist falls in love with the girl from the past.

Odd structured film has Louis Hayward start out talking to the viewing audience as though he's introducing a TV play, but then he walks onto the set of the story, a cocktail party in 1956 Pueblo, Colorado.

Morey Bernstein (Hayward) is at a boring party where a visiting blowhard is doing parlor tricks by hypnotizing guests. Bernstein thinks it's stupid but his interest in piqued and he investigates hypnosis after being told the stories about Edgar Cayce.

He learns how to do it and starts investigating the phenomenon of hypnosis. One night Ruth Simmons (Teresa Wright) is at a party and lets him put her under. The room is stunned when Ruth seems to regress to a past life where she was the young Bridey Murphy in 1800s Ireland.

Bernstein tapes the session as Wright tells stories full of specific detail about places she's never been to. In a series of taped sessions, Wrights elaborates on the story of Bridey and even talks about her life after death, spooking everyone.

The film uses transcripts of the actual tapes from the real-life sessions Bernstein taped with the real-life Ruth (Virginia Tighe) in Pueblo. His resulting book was a sensation although it was condemned by several churches as it seemed to "prove" the ideas of reincarnation and post-death experiences.

The film basically presents the facts of the sessions and lets the viewer draw his own conclusions.

Wright gives a superb performance, but Hayward is very hammy and rather obnoxious. Co-stars include Nancy Gates as the wife, Kenneth Tobey as the husband, Richard Anderson as a doctor, and in the regression scenes, silent stars James Kirkwood, Hallene Hill, and Anne Cornwall.

Very interesting.