The wife of a psychoanalyst falls prey to a devious quack hypnotist when he discovers she is an habitual shoplifter. Then one of his previous patients now being treated by the real doctor is found murdered, with her still at the scene, and suspicion points only one way.
Gene Tierney José Ferrer Richard Conte Charles Bickford Eduard Franz Barbara O'Neil Constance Collier Fortunio Bonanova Lawrence Dobkin Robert Foulk Larry Keating Myrtle Anderson Gail Bonney Lovyss Bradley Margaret Brayton Sue Carlton Ruth Clifford Clancy Cooper Oliver Cross Joan Dix Johnny Duncan Eddie Dunn Jay Eaton Sally Forrest Alex Gerry Mauritz Hugo Ruth Lee Ian MacDonald Joyce Mackenzie Show All…
Il segreto di una donna, Le mystérieux docteur Korvo, Vorágine, Le Mystérieux Docteur Korvo, Örvény, A Ladra, Wir, Ο Γκρεμός, 旋涡, گرداب, 소용돌이, Damen bedyrar
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USA
A psychological melodrama from Otto Preminger that isn't afraid to go full on with its dafter elements. It's a film that sees themes of past guilt and trauma wound around a ludicrous narrative involving hypnosis and murder. I've seen Giallo that are more believable than this! Whirlpool begins with a high class lady stealing from a shop, only to be saved by a slimey hypnotist, who seems to want to cure her. Before long she's the chief suspect in the murder of one his former patients, and its really not difficult to see what is going on. The film is carried off well by the director and cast. Gene Tierney's blank expression somehow makes the material more believable - but…
The opening shot looks mundanely common but the space and flow into the department store include two moments where what our eyes are trained to see suddenly shift and we follow something else. Perspective becomes misdirection, which moves from the mise-en-scene to the narrative level, a story about the literal control of sight and thus the mind. Routinely dismissed compared to the other Premingers of this era, perhaps because of absurdity of the plot (which is not that different from Gene Tierney's magical entrance in Laura ), but beloved by Godard and Rivette as well as The Cinema McManhon. Perhaps it's because of all the Preminger films it sparks the closest that the film's visual structure is the core essence…
Born into hereditary wealth, Ann Sutton was raised to prioritize outward graciousness and the appearance of serenity over all else, learning to cover her feelings and fears with a hard, gracious shell, one so beautiful people fall in love with it, and don't even notice the woman it conceals. Hiding the dangerous, shameful version of herself propels Ann through society, securing her a respected, loving husband, regard from her neighbors and peers, and the authority that women of a certain class carry with them, no matter where they go.
Ann lives her life in response to the direction of others.
"Put your napkin in your lap, dear."
"Little girls should be seen and not heard, Ann."
"Oh no,…
Spoilers ahead.
Cleverly disguised as merely a twisty mystery, Otto Preminger's Whirlpool also manages to include some rich commentary on gender roles, and perhaps even some criticism of traditional American marriage.
From the first moment we meet her, Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney) is malleable and agreeable to a fault. Though she uses initially employs her instinctive class defenses when questioned by a mere store security man, she quickly returns to form when among those she considers her own class, immediately allowing Dr. Korvo (José Ferrer*) — a man she's never previously met — to take complete control of her situation, speaking for her as if she isn't there, and not allowing her a word in her own defense.
When she…
Every time I watch Whirlpool, I'm surprised anew by how spectacularly dark it is.
It's a movie about the danger of feminine compliance — and not just the danger, but the real, severe damage that results from women being trained in obedience and deference. And it's about a man whose fury at a society's elitism has turned him into a monstrous abuser of women: a man who controls and uses upper class women to punish the men around them for their disregard of him. It's as sordid as anything to come out of Hollywood during the Code era, and so clear eyed in its critiques that it's a miracle the PCA allowed it to exist at all.*
The…
This Otto Preminger noir from 1949 hasn’t dated as well as some of his other films. The female murder suspect in this is ably played by a very glamorous Gene Tierney, but she is poorly served by a script that requires her to be either simpering or confused as she puts up with various amounts of nonsense from her husband, her blackmailer, and the detective.
There’s no real attempt at suspense as the script gives all the information up front – we know what’s going on, so the foolish husband’s short-sightedness is just frustrating. The ending also makes little sense and feels rushed. They spent a long time setting up everyone to be in the same location but then there…
Really dug this slippery film. What a complex, at times ambivalent view on its intertwining issues of mental illness and marriage. Great, great performances from Gene Tierney and José Ferrer. Supremely graceful camerawork and editing that smartly uses misdirection to its advantage. I wrote about the film for my newsletter.
Less acclaimed than Laura but for me, just as gorgeous and sophisticated, with an equally effective use of Gene Tierney. Instead of playing a proverbial woman of mystery, here her character is a mystery to her myself .
Another 40s film reflecting Hollywood's newfound fascination with the mysteries of the mind (hypnotism, therapy, psychological disorders).
Let's talk about José Ferrer first (and wasn't Miguel the spit of his dad). It is a great piece of casting as he makes a marvellously charismatic villain without being over the top. He has this wonderful mellifluous voice and I couldn't help thinking that his character's vanity is pricked when - minor spoiler! - he hears Mrs Randolph saying on the recording that his once-thrilling voice now disgusts her (or words to that effect).
And what about dear darling Gene Tierney, one of my favourite Hollywood faces. She is beautifully expressive when she needs to be but utilises that porcelain-doll face to…
Deliciously loopy. One of those movies that makes the "credibles" mad, but has a great method to its madness. It is so playful in the way it moves through its many surface melodramatics. Whirlpool is usually listed as noir, and it is easy to understand why, but it is close to Hitchcock's more delirious thrillers, but in a way that anticipates how someone like De Palma will approach them. Ferrer's hypnotist is great, but everyone does very good work.
(...) Comparando os diferentes filmes de Preminger uns com os outros, percebemos menos a persistência de certos temas dramáticos que de certos tipos de situações, adequados para estudar certas reações, observar certos gestos: a virtude dramática da droga em The Man with the Golden Arm, como, em Angel Face, da obsessão criminal ou, em Whirlpool, da dominação hipnótica, é de provocar certas manifestações psicológicas. No entanto, a independência que os filmes de Preminger estabelecem sem adornos entre o elemento dramático (a intriga, a narrativa) e o elemento psicológico (os gestos, os movimentos, as reações) nos convida a avançar ainda mais a análise. Se o romancista, se o roteirista aplicado se preocupam em mesclar esses elementos e apoiá-los um no outro,…
“You need treatment.”
Gene Tierney in the vinyl storage closet, a scene from my fantasies come to life.
Ann Sutton (Tierney) is free, white and kleptomaniac. Also, “healthy and adorable.” When she gets caught up in a blackmail and hypnosis confidence scheme, she goes along with it, so she can sleep. The problem is, all those hypnosis sessions lead people to think she’s stepping out on boring husband Bill (Richard Conte). And the square-headed police chief (Charles Bickford) somehow thinks this frail, confused woman has the strength to strangle a lady with her bare hands.
A bit silly and hollow in how it discusses psychoanalysis and hypnosis in the same way that Spellbound is. A bit of fluff, but Hecht’s…
