Magnificent Obsession (1954)

As Good As It Gets

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

As already noted, excellent production values, Technicolor, a creditable performance by Rock Hudson as compared to the rug-chewing of the Jane Wyman. Points off for the dumb-ass plot and heavenly choirs jabbing their elbows into your consciousness in case you weren't weeping correctly at the sloshy parts. What I hated the most (I'm a doctor) were the most unbelievable aspects of the so-called plot: surgeons are not really all self-sacrificing saints; there is no such thing as a "resuscitator", the McGuffin on which the whole movie hangs; subdural hematomas don't make you blind; there aren't any intracranial "fibromas" that can suddenly throw you into a coma, are diagnosable with a ten-second bedside visit without any imaging, and are amenable to surgery that restores your sight; and even in the 1950's people didn't spend a month in hospital with pneumonia. It's like all those TV medical dramas: I keep wanting to throw things at the screen and yell "Bullshit!" Lloyd Douglas, the author of the book this gobbler was based on, was an MD. I assume he didn't have script approval.

When churlish, spoiled rich man Bob Merrick foolishly wrecks his speed boat, the rescue team resuscitates him with equipment that is therefore unavailable to aid a local hero, Dr. Wayne Phillips, who dies as a result. Phillips had helped many people, and when Merrick learns Phillips' secret, to give selflessly and in secret, he tries it in a ham-handed way."Magnificent Obsession" was an early starring role for Hudson, and, according to Wyman, he was very nervous. Some of his scenes had to be re-shot thirty or forty times, but Wyman never said a word. Reportedly, years later at a party, Hudson ran into Wyman and said, "You were nice to me when you didn't have to be, and I want you to know that I thank you and love you for it." Douglas Sirk mastered the melodrama, and had the greatest color palettes. He also really knew how to utilize Rock Hudson. I don't know much about his personal life, but it strikes me as interesting that Sirk is now championed in some gay circles. Did Sirk know his star, Hudson, was gay? He certainly could have... though this would have been unusual in the 1950s.

Douglas Sirk made two remakes of John M. Stahl's films, one is IMITATION OF LIFE (1934) which his remake came out in 1959, another one is this, Stahl's original film is made in 1935. Generally acknowledged as the breakthrough vehicle for his star Rock Hudson, who will continue their collaborations in Sirk's later works, including a reunion with Wyman in ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955). Lloyd C. Douglas' source novel is a quintessential melodrama markedly at the mercy of fate, there is no single villain-like character in the film, by sheer accidents, Bob Merrick (Hudson), a rakish young man born with a silver spoon in his mouth, have to bear the consequences of his unintentional behaviours. And being sermonised by the "magnificent obsession" of doing good deeds in a secret way in pursuit of destiny fulfilment through Edward Randolph (Kruger), a painter who is also a beneficiary of such deed. The self-worth upraising process of Bob is motivated by the tragedy inflicts on Helen Phillips, a saintly newly-widowed woman on the verge of bankrupting, then suffers a fatal car accident and has lost her sight, both thanks to Bob Merrick, again it is never his own intention (why on earth there is only one resuscitator is available?), mishap happens, c'est la vie! Eventually he will fully pay the old debt in the most unbelievable way and procure a teary happy ending. Certainly there is a whiff of Christianity preaching overhanging, but Sirk uses a rather light touch to emphasise on it. The script can be as maudlin as one can possibly imagine, but refuses to capitalise too much on the lies, which could be worse if the identity revelation card being overplayed. Nevertheless it is Sirk's trademark subdued lighting and graceful composition stands out of the story itself, and Wyman accomplishes an adequate job in her virtuous embodiment of a woman too good to be true in a mundane real world, despite that she is such a fine actress can effortlessly arouse audience's sympathy with her poised existence, and she is honoured with an Oscar nomination, but one jarring thing is the wanting of chemistry between Wyman and Hudson, like her character, it could only happen in a fairytale that she can be so all- forgiving and altruistic without a moment of lapse. Hudson, on the other hand, contrives to crystallise a more dramatic trans-formative arc of Bob, it is my first Hudson's movie, so on a whole, it is quite middling, plus Sirk also teases us with showing Hudson's brawny bod in a really nonsensical scrubbing scene for our eyes only. Moorehead is brilliant as always against a one-dimensional setting as nurse Nancy, she really shows off her agility and expertise of a proficient nurse, this is truly acting with top calibre. Barbara Rush as Joyce, Helen's stepdaughter, personifies a more rational profile in her than we might consider in a secondary role. Finally, Otto Kurger, impresses with his sagacity and squeezes as much leverage as possible in a larger-than-life scenario which can feasibly become a laughing stock. Lastly, Frank Skinner's schmaltzy score, can be overbearing sometimes, but frankly speaking, it is quite pleasing to my ears, entirely, the film is a competent studio product, but under the helm of Sirk, it imbues a distinctive élan that is inexplicably charming which can overshadow the narrative itself. Maybe Sirk is really the criminally under-appreciated maestro as many critics and devotees fervently contend, and I am just beginning to familiar with his school of aesthetics, yet, the first encounter is hearteningly rosy against all the odds.

"Magnificent Obsession" is Douglas Sirk's rehearsal for "All That Heaven Allows" and "Imitation of Life." The story (from Lloyd Douglas' novel) is a ludicrous drug-store romance with a smarmy tinge of Woolworth spirituality that DARES you not to take all this seriously.Through a series of unintentionally tragi-comic coincidences, Rock Hudson gamely goes from rich bad selfish playboy to -- what else? -- selfless neurosurgeon who saves the sight and life of the comatose woman he loves, eight years his senior.Oh, for the days when doctors and patients offered each other cigarettes in their offices: When even small out-of-the-way hospitals out West were staffed with full orchestras and choirs stationed just outside OR.The actors are fine. Particularly Wyman and Moorehead, who somehow make their impossible lines sound genuine. Sirk's direction, design and cinematography are, as usual, outstanding. But the script is insurmountable.One tries and tries to go with the implied emotions of these contrived situations, but succumbs to chuckling disbelief with every ham-handed twist.Thankfully, all was redeemed just one year later, when the major players returned in the superlative, "All That Heaven Allows." Followed, four years after THAT, by Sirk's incomparable masterpiece of the genre, "Imitation of Life."