Whirlpool (1950)

Load of rubbish!!

Instant Favorite.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Otto Preminger directed this fanciful mystery that stars Gene Tierney as happily married Ann Sutton, who is also a kleptomaniac, and in an act of desperation, goes to hypnotist David Korvo(played by Jose Ferrer) to help her overcome her embarrassing compulsion, especially since her husband(played by Richard Conte) is a noted psychiatrist! Unfortunately, Korvo is untrustworthy, and involves Ann in an elaborate murder scheme that she desperately tries to convince both the police and herself that she is innocent of. Though melodramatic, with an unlikely premise, this is still reasonably entertaining, with good cast and direction.

Turgid screenplay that starts off well, but gets more obscure as the plot develops. Clearly director Preminger is hoping to repeat the allure of Laura (1944), but lacks the coherent story material. There's a lot of what critics call pscho-babble in the dialogue, which would be okay if the story gelled better. The one good part is the little mystery surrounding who killed Mrs. Randolph. Under the circumstances, there's no obvious culprit. Unfortunately, the rest of the story has Ann (Tierney) bouncing between two psychologists, the arrogant Korvo (Ferrer) and her husband (Conte) who's trying to help her overcome her kleptomania.Maybe I've seen too many gangster movies of the time, but tough guy Conte appears miscast as a highly educated professional. At the same time, Ferrer as the dislikable Korvo manages to load his elevated vocabulary with an obnoxious amount of cultivated sarcasm. And, of course, there's the gorgeous Tierney pretty much putting on the same mask she wore in Laura. All in all, the movie slows down too much of the time, given Preminger's penchant for lengthy scenes along with the turgid script. Good thing the always reliable Charles Bickford is along to provide some spark. Still, the movie amounts to a disappointment given the big studio (TCF) pedigree.

An interesting and divisive film noir thriller directed by Otto Preminger and written by Ben Hecht (under the blacklist pseudonym Lester Barstow) and Andrew Solt. Adapted from the novel "Methinks the Lady" written by Guy Endore, the film Stars Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, José Ferrer, and Charles Bickford. Arthur C. Miller is the cinematographer and David Raksin, under the watchful eye of Alfred Newman, provides the music.The plot sees Ann Sutton (Tierney), the wife of a successful psychoanalyst (Conte), arrested for shoplifting since she has some kleptomania issues. Just when it seems Ann is about to be thrust into a world of scandal, she is saved by smooth-talking hypnotist called David Korvo (Ferrer). Korvo, however, is not what he seems to be, and Ann soon finds herself involved in blackmail and murder and her marriage on the brink of collapse. Confused and emotionally torn, Ann is unsure whether or not she has committed a crime. It looks bleak unless her husband or the police can get to the bottom of the murky mystery.Combining a psychological thriller core with overt melodramatics, Whirlpool has still to convince many of the film noir hoards as to its worth. Some critics find the concept of the story silly and hard to take, whilst others have gone a step further to suggest that Preminger and Hecht have merely remade Hitchcock's Gregory Peck starrer Spellbound (Hecht on screenplay duties there too) from four years earlier. Either way, and putting a noirish sheen on a Hitchcock movie is no bad thing by the way, Preminger's movie is a compelling little piece of cinema. The central theme of hypnosis as a weapon gives the film a dark edge and Preminger nicely portrays a world containing sympathetically flawed characters. While in the form of Ferrer's oily slick Korvo, film noir gets a most intriguing Mabuse/Freudian like villain of high entertainment value.Tierney doesn't have to do much here, asked to portray confusion and a almost constant state of hypnotism, she delivers well enough whilst always remaining innocently sexy. Conte's woodenness as the husband oddly benefits the story, while also worthy of a mention is the ever watchable Charles Bickford as Lt. Colton, a thinking man's copper, Bickford keeps it serious as the daftness of the plot threatens to submerge and unhinge the drama.Frowned upon by big hitting American critics, the film found support from notable Frenchies Rivette and Godard. It seems that like myself, they also liked the quirky and creepy nature of the beast. 7/10

Just watched this last night. I'm a fan of Otto Preminger and was therefore full of hopes, but after a terrific opening 20 minutes, it sort of falls away after all that I think. However, what a fantastic performance from Charles Bickford as the Lieutenant. Brilliant. Worth it to see his performance alone -- Ferrer is wonderful in the opening scene when he defends Gene Tierney and generally adds the right dosage of menace, but the self-hypnosis in the hospital bed is unlikely and the final ten minutes in the house are vaguely ridiculous. The relationship between him and Tierney is very strong however. It is sad to think that Tierney struggled so much health-wise, because to my mind she was the most beautiful of her generation and is utterly plausible in any of the movies that I have come across..