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By
NICK ZEGARAC
Otto Preminger's Whirlpool
(1949) is a contrived bit of film noir fluff and
nonsense that reunites him with Gene Tierney --
the star of his formidably entertaining 'Laura'.
On this occasion, Ms. Tierney is Ann Sutton, the
wife of respected psychoanalyst, Dr. William
Sutton (Richard Conte). Theirs is a seemingly
enviable marriage, one marred by Ann's
kleptomania. When Ann is caught trying to steal a
broach from a department store she fears her
secret life will be exposed. Enter David Korvo
(Jose Ferrer) a spurious hypnotist who claims he
can cure Ann of her woes. At a party, Ann is
warned by wealthy middle-aged dowager, Theresa
Randolf (Barbara O'Neil) that Korvo is a hack
interested in her only for extortion.
A confrontation ensues and later that evening Ann
arrives in a hypnotic trance to discover that
Randolf has been strangled to death. From here the
plot only gets more inarticulate and confusing.
Preminger spends far too much time setting up
doubt in the good doctor's mind that his wife is
guilty of murder. He jettisons suspicion from
Korvo by placing him in a hospital bed, thereby
leaving him to taunt the police and William while
all the while obviously keeping his own crew of
pent up skeletons in the closet. The ending,
whereby it is discovered that Korvo actually
hypnotized himself after gallbladder surgery to
commit the murder, is so contrived and clichéd
it's an embarrassment. Tierney is problematically
cast -- cool, unsympathetic, static and in short,
unconvincing. There's no chemistry, either between
her and Conte or her and Ferrer that might have
kept audiences guessing.
Fox's DVD transfer is at least something to cheer
over. The grayscale has been impeccably rendered.
Save a few minor instances where grain briefly
intrudes, the bulk of the print used in this
mastering effort is clean and exceptionally
contrasted. The grayscale is bang on. Whites are
clean. Black levels are deep and velvety. The
audio is nicely represented at an easy listening
level. The only extra of merit is an audio
commentary. It makes much more of the film than
there actually is to make of it. |
