Review of Obsession

Introduction

This curious thriller is a hybrid of talent from various sources. Edward Dmytryk was exiled from the USA thanks to the McCarthy Trials. He was one of the Hollywood Ten but after spending months in jail fro refusing to cooperate he left fro England and made two films of Obsession aka The Hidden Room and Give Us this Day.

Under some financial pressure he returned and decided to name names and renounce communism; perhaps he was tired of the British weather. Whatever the reason he didn`t go down well with his colleagues and it cast a shadow over the rest of his career.

Obsession stars Robert Newton, an English film star notorious for his drinking and unreliability on set, so nothing much changes then. Sally Gray who plays his wife was a great beauty of the day and married into the aristocracy. The American, Phil Brown, was also in England thanks to a brush with the Un-American Activities Committee and adds a great light touch to the film. Naunton Wayne had made a good living by working with Basil Rathbone in a long sequence of films and this was his first solo outing for some time. One almost expects Holmes to turn up in disguise and solve the case.

Dr Clive Riordan(Newton) has been cuckolded by his frivolous wife, Storm(Gray)again. As the film opens he is sitting in his club barely listening to the conversation around him. He gets a cab and rings on a doorbell which turns out to be his own. His deaf manservant eventually lets him in and he waits until his wife arrives home with her latest beau, a naïve American called Bill Kronin(Brown). His plan, it seems, is to make Bill disappear and teach his wife a lesson. Weeks go by and no one has heard from Bill but then Superintendent Finsbury(Wayne) turns up looking fort Riordan`s missing dog and he is very persistent.

Video

This is not brilliant given it is from 1949 and has not been worked on in any way. You have to be interested in the story rather than any technical achievement.

Dmytryk known for his film noirs takes an English slant and the result is a claustrophobic and intense experience; filmed on a few sets only; starting and finishing in the Gentlemen`s Club as we come full circle from plan to fruition.

Audio

There are no problems with the sound other than age. The dialogue is very clear which is good because this is a very `talkie` film with little by way of actual `action`.

Features

Cast biographies are included and are quite a comprehensive list of films if somewhat sanitised life histories.

Conclusion

Obsession is a curiosity of a film because without the political climate in the USA it is unlikely it would have been made. A combination of charismatic lead and likeable `victim` combine to make it very enjoyable indeed and prompts memories of other Dmytryk films that are worth seeking out such as Crossfire and Murder My Sweet.

A good solid will he /won`t he plot and a dispassionate examination of the method of murder is balanced by the dogged determination of Naunton Wayne`s Superintendent and our tendency to optimism . It is indeed a very English film despite its American director and for lovers of plot.script and possibly cute dogs I thoroughly recommend it.