Let There Be Light (1946)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

John Huston

Writer:

John Huston (writer)

Release Date:

16 December 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

The final entry in a trilogy of films produced for the U.S. government by John Huston. This documentary film follows 75 U.S...

Plot Keywords:

Soldier | Depression | Hospital | Trauma | Psychiatric Hospital

Cast

Walter Huston

...

Narrator (uncredited)

Runtime:

58 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-8 (1982)

Filming Locations:

Edgewood State Hospital, Commack, Long Island, New York, USA

Company:

U.S. Army Pictorial Services

Trivia:

A controversial work at the time, this film was suppressed by the United States government for over thirty years after it was produced.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Level Five (1997)

Shocking.

This must be one of the most shocking movies I have ever seen. Well actually it's more like a documentary than a movie. It shows American soldiers in a hospital, after coming home from World War II. Some of them can't speak, some can but it's impossible to hear what they're saying, others can't walk. Some shiver uncontrollably, some cry. We also see the hypnotist curing patients, and like magic they're able to walk again, or talk or whatever their problem was. This film was banned for 35 years because the American government thought it was unsuitable for the American people (and I understand why, this is the most disturbing thing I've seen since the sliced eye in Un Chien Andalou), and it was shown for the first time at the Cannes festival in '81.