The Search for Bridey Murphy

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.