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Whirlpool (Fox Film Noir) |  | Director: Otto Preminger
Actors: Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, José Ferrer, Charles Bickford, Barbara O'Neil
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $6.44
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Rating:  27 reviews
Format: Closed-captioned, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), Italian (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Dubbed)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 98 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 2227731
UPC: 024543177302
EAN: 0024543177302
Theatrical Release Date: November 28, 1949
Release Date: September 6, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Laura will always be director Otto Preminger's most beloved movie, but he gets closer to the essence of film noir in this fascinatingly slippery item about a psychiatrist's wife whose weakness for kleptomania makes her prey to an oily hypnotist, con artist, and manipulator par excellence. The fashion-plate wife (dresses, robes, and peignoirs by Oleg Cassini) is played by Laura herself, Gene Tierney. The mellifluous conniver is Jose Ferrer, coming off like the illegitimate son of Waldo Lydecker ("I'm so glad you're here--you make Tina's party seem an almost human event"). Among other things, Ferrer would probably like to get Tierney into bed, and a good many people--including Richard Conte as the caring husband--come to believe he has. But that's not the extent of his ambitions, and before long Tierney has been framed for a murder of convenience to clear up another bit of messiness in the cad's career. Whirlpool's mise-en-scène has a sinuous fluidity and subtle play of light and shadow (it was among the last films shot by that master of black-and-white, Arthur C. Miller), and the complexly structured screenplay--by Ben Hecht and Andrew Solt--takes us by surprise in reel after reel. There's nothing redeeming about Ferrer's character (except how much pleasure his villainy affords), but Preminger doesn't really side with any of the characters or permit our facile identification with anyone. Different parts of the movie are dominated by each of the key figures, including police detective Charles Bickford, and we keep learning there's more to each of them than we initially assumed. Whirlpool's a good title for it. Dive in. --Richard T. Jameson
Description
The wife of a psycho-analyst 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.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 27
 movie review July 7, 2009
Joanne Brooks
The movie is great, but I ordered this movie 19 May 09, it was suppose to be shipped by the 21st of May and I did not receive this movie until the 3rd of July.
 A repository of plot holes and psychobabble March 14, 2009
Turfseer (New York, N.Y.)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ann Sutton (Gene Tierney) is married to Dr. Bill Sutton, an upright psychoanalyst (played by a completely miscast Richard Conte). When we first meet Ann, she's getting arrested by a store detective in a department store after attempting to steal an expensive piece of jewelry. Okay, so that's a bit of a twist--our heroine is a kleptomaniac. Next into the mix is the oily David Korvo (nicely and seedily played by Jose Ferrer). He knows the department store owner and convinces him to drop the charges against Ann.
Korvo is 1949's answer to a new age practitioner: he dabbles in astrology but is principally a hypnotist. At first Ann believes Korvo is trying to blackmail her but he persuades her that he really wants to be her 'therapist'. Ann is smart enough to realize that Korvo is trying to get her to come up to his hotel room so they can have sex so she meets him downstairs in the hotel lobby. Korvo gives up on the sex idea but has more sinister plans. At first, he charges $50 for hypnotism sessions which appear to be helping Ann with her insomnia.
We learn more about Korvo from one of Bill Sutton's patients, Theresa Randolph, who tries to warn Ann that Korvo is a blackmailer and up to no good but Ann believes that Theresa is merely jealous of her relationship with this extremely crafty Svengali (apparently Bill adheres to a strict code of doctor-patient confidentiality as Ann has never met Theresa Randolph before). Bill records his therapy sessions on new-fangled long playing records which he stores in a closet in his home. Everything about Korvo's 'modus operandi' (his penchant for blackmail and physical abuse) are detailed in these recordings and Korvo realizes that he has to get his hands on them if he is to continue in his career as a con artist.
So what does Korvo do? He murders Randolph (just as she's about to change her will negating a bequest that leaves Korvo a large amount of money as part of her estate). He also hypnotizes Ann and has her steal the Randolph therapy session recordings and puts them in a closet in Randolph's house. He sets Ann up by leaving a glass with Ann's fingerprint on it in Randolph's home. The police arrive and arrest Ann for murder.
Now it gets strange, real strange! Korvo needs an alibi. Apparently he's been having gall bladder problems so he arranges to have an operation at two in the afternoon on the day of the murder. The murder occurs at nine in the evening so how does Korvo pull it off? Well we find out (quite improbably) that Korvo hypnotized himself and was able to drag himself out of bed and commit the murder.
The hypnotist's power of suggestion has a prominent role in this film but unfortunately much too prominent. I always believed that hypnotism might be a useful tool in helping people overcome minor health or psychological problems (such as Ann being helped with her insomnia at the beginning of the film). But I didn't buy it for a minute when Korvo orders Ann around in a trance and then hypnotizes himself hours after major surgery. And then Korvo does it again--he hypnotizes himself once more so he can leave the hospital and try and get his hands on the recordings. But instead of taking the recordings and getting out of the deceased Randolph's house right away (or even destroying them at the house), he tarries and begins playing them on the phonograph in the living room. This gives the Suttons and the investigating detective enough time to arrive at the crime scene where they eventually confront Korvo, who drops dead from blood loss (apparently his hypnotic suggestions are not powerful enough to stanch the bleeding--complications from his surgery earlier that afternoon).
Aside from the obvious plot holes, there is also a distasteful conceit being peddled by the film's screenwriters here. The dubious and subjective 'profession' of psychoanalysis not only is depicted as being highly 'scientific' but is also placed on par with practitioners in the medical profession. 'Unscientific', unlicensed 'healers' (represented by the evil Korvo) are presented as bogus and manipulative in striking contrast to the upright Dr. Sutton (who uses his psychobabble) to uncover the ROOT of his wife's kleptomania. With some kind soothing words, Dr. Sutton will soon solve his wife's neurosis and they can once again move amongst their social equals and bring good cheer to them without the fear of scandal.
If you see this on DVD, there's some interesting commentary by film critic Richard Shickel. He notes that the late film critic, Pauline Kael, termed this film "a real stinker". But Schikel is more on the side of critic Andrew Sarris who felt there were a lot of worthwhile things about the film. While Tierney and Ferrer's performances draw you in, the plot holes and the psychobabble are enough to keep one from taking the DVD off the shelf and watching it every couple of months. I'm not sure if 'Whirlpool' deserves to be called a 'real stinker' but it's decidedly no great work of art!
+1/2 -- Poorly scripted, melodramatic psychological thriller January 11, 2009
hyperbolium (Earth, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Offered as part of Fox's film noir series, this 1949 drama is drawn into the inescapable spiral of noir by its psychoanalytic themes and hypnosis-based plot device. In its visuals, dialog, pacing and mood, however, it rarely delivers on the bleakness, inevitability or hardness of classic noir. The story of a troubled woman controlled by an unethical charlatan has potential, but the script (by Ben Hecht and Andrew Solt) is surprising only in its dullness and ridiculous plotting. The story is developed slowly and much of the dialog is delivered lethargically rather than with actual dramatics. In contrast David Raskin's musical score is overbearing with its flourishes, attempting to create tension where the film itself cannot. Gene Tierney's lead performance is hammy and often overwrought, and though Jose Ferrer's murderous quack rises to a sweat-soaked evilness, he's undone by the script's poorly wrought psychobabble, unbelievable police procedure and illogical plotting. The film's trailer (included as a bonus) proclaims Whirlpool "will hold you spellbound!" But unlike the real Spellbound and other psychological thrillers (such as director Preminger's own Laura), this one needs more therapy. 2-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]
The Whirlpool was a wash - sub par Fox Noir January 11, 2009
D. Steigman (USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This to me was lacking, it just wasnt a magical noir like the others Fox has released.
It didn't quick click despite the cast. Gene Tierney had a very bad haircut,and wasn't good in the acting department,Richard Conte didn't seem convincing to me as a psychotherapist and Jose Ferrer had a sleazy role but hypnotizing himself while he was sick so he could commit murder was a stretch for me. It is a murder mystery of sorts, but it is just lacking. It wasn't very noirish either. Gene wasn't very good to look at and the movie wasnt very good to watch. See Laura instead.
No 'Laura' but Still Enjoyable September 7, 2008
Brian J Hay (Sarnia, Ontario Canada)
This isn't a great film. Part of the problem lies with the character assigned to Gene Tierney. The character she plays comes across more as distraught and hysterical than anything else. It's hard to imagine that anyone, regardless of how much they loved her, could believe in her. To make matters worse some of the dialogue she delivers is awful. There isn't an actor dead or alive who could make a character like that fully believable. But part of the fault lies with Tierney herself. She spends most of her screen time looking like she's in a trance, even when she's not supposed to be in one. Many of her most emotional moments are overwrought. And there are times when she doesn't seem as involved as she should be. There are some flashes of brilliance but her work here is inconsistent.
The rest of the members of the cast fare better. Richard Conte turns in a fine performance. There's never a moment when his concern or sincerity is in doubt. His character exudes confidence but allows his vulnerability show at the same time. Charles Bickford is in fine form as the cynical and weary cop who can't ignore the improbable regardless of what his training dictates. Both play off of each other and the other characters in the film well. Barbara O'Neil brings style to the role of the woman who tries to warn Tierney about the character played by (Jose) Ferrer. But it's Jose Ferrer who gives the performance that steals the spotlight. In the scenes he shares with (Gene) Tierney he plays off her in such as way as to carry them both. His moments with Richard Conte and Charles Bickford belong to him as well. Their animosity toward him becomes palpable because he passes those feelings directly to the viewer. He ends up as one of those characters that has to be hated even though his performance is loved.
The technical work on the film is strong as well. The cinematography by Arthur C. Miller is excellent. The narrative flow from scene to scene is good. Many of the shots are brilliantly atmospheric. The sets are lavish but uncluttered and done in good taste. And there are none of the fashion blunders that plague the film 'Laura'. The outfits shown in this film are sharp and tasteful. The lighting (as is often the case with the 'Fox noir' films) is often stunning. The restoration and transfer to DVD is exemplary so it looks as good as it can look.
Unfortunately, the Direction, by Otto Preminger, is erratic. His pacing, as usual, is sharp. His placement of characters and props is solid as well. But, he has to share some of the blame for the way (Gene) Tierney's character fails. There were limits to what he could do to shape the character, that's true. It would have taken an extensive re-write to make the character more believable. But he could have pressed for more restraint when the woman was at her most overwrought. He didn't and he should have.
As a film, 'Whirlpool', has a lot going for it. The plot is an intriguing one. The story-line, which was based on a novel by Guy Endore and adapted by Ben Hecht and Andrew Solt, takes some turns that are impossible to be prepared for. It's hard to say whether all the things that take place are medically possible or not but, who cares? That's Hollywood. Viable or not the improbable premise makes for an engaging and unpredictable yarn. Many of the people, both in front of and behind the camera, were among the 'crème de la crème' of the industry at that time. Preminger did know how to pace a story, even a weak one. Gene Tierney never failed to light up a screen, even when she wasn't at her best. And the cast and crew involved in this didn't fail to make this entertaining and good to look at.
It's no 'Laura' but it does look good. And it's fun to watch.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 27
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